Interview by: Chris Rockson

Contributing writer: DJ Ola

 

 

Bebe Buell is an amazing lady. Muse, model, mother and rock n roll performer all fall into her prestigious list of achievements.

At 8 years old Bebe fell in love with a photograph of Oscar Wilde, she thought he was supremely rebellious looking and fabulous. It was a taste of things to come. As a teenager, she moved to New York and became a model. She’d turn up to a conservative work environment in platforms and glitter and became known as the rock n roll model. Shortly thereafter, she was introduced to the scene at Max’s Kansas City by then boyfriend Todd Rundgren.

 

As she described it: “I was just a young girl who came to New York and fell into my niche. I found my home as soon as I landed there.”

 

What a home indeed. Max’s was notorious and the people that hung out in the infamous backroom were as celebrated as the place itself. Frequent visitors included Andy Warhol and his entourage, Patti Smith, Mick Jagger, Alice Cooper, David and Angie Bowie. That era was a pivotal moment in Bebe’s life; a playground filled with the most subversive rock stars, poets, painters, photographers, drag queens, pimps and movie stars.

Bebe became the 70’s It girl. Her inner sanctum of friends were the cream of rock royalty. She was photographed by the best magazines, went on tour with Aerosmith and saw New York and London in some of their most exciting musical climates. Later, she became a mother, successfully raising her talented actress daughter Liv Tyler.   

Despite all the acclaim she received as a model and partner to many a famous rock musician, Bebe's main ambition in life was always to be a rock singer. She fulfilled that ambition in 1981 with her first band the B sides. She took time out in the 90’s for family commitments and returned to music in 1998.

I caught up with her whilst she was taking a break during the recording of her forthcoming album in New York City

SC: Well, many thanks for taking time out from the studio to do the interview with SoundCheck Magazine Bebe; I promise not to keep you too long.

BB: Oh that’s ok, I’m just recording some ‘scratch’ vocals for the basic tracks right now, so if they need me, they’ll come and find me.

SC: How is the record coming along?

BB: It’s going really well. I started getting the idea for the record about two years ago. I recently relocated back to New York from Maine. I was writing quite a lot and we had a lot of stuff going on around us at the time with my husband’s parent’s both passing away…so we decided to put some of the songs down as recordings. I’m hoping to have this completed soon for a 2009 release.

SC: How does it differ from the music you have done in the past, I read to expect some surprises?

BB: It’s really autobiographical and it’s very introspective. My lyrics in the past tended to be real rock n roll, kick ass and fun. I definitely come from a pretty in your face, school of entertainment. I don’t do lightweight shows, I like noisy rock n roll. I’m still hoping that the new lyrics are going to have a huge sonic boom but I’m trying some new things. This album is very atmospheric, I’m exploring mood, texture and emotion. It’s a great record for dancing, having sex or even having a dinner party to. I don’t want to call it my grown up record but I guess I should.

SC: I do love your cover of 'Baby Baby' by the Vibrators. It’s one for the girls.

BB: Thank you! Yes, that’s like THE ‘perfect’ rock n roll song. I’d played it live for years and just really wanted to record it, and everyone was constantly saying ‘Bebe, you need to record that song’! So we did! I heard that Knox actually likes my version of it too, which is great!

SC: You were also going to record a Johnny Thunders song?

BB: Yes, I‘ve been doing Untouchable for years. Johnny Thunders used to do it all the time too.  It’s a song Johnny wrote for The Heartbreakers. I first embraced the song in my old band the 'B-sides'. One time, Johnny Thunders was in the audience and he started crying, it might have been the drugs too! We had known each other for years, suddenly he tried to pick me up for the first time after this gig while also weeping and it was hilarious!

SC:  You're in the studio right now. Who is recording the new stuff with you?

BB:  Yeah, I'm recording most of the basic tracks up at Bobbie Rae's studio. I’m just recording with two people at the moment – my husband Jim, who is playing all the guitars and bass, keyboards and most of the melodic instruments. He’s one of those multi-faceted genius boys, and Bobbie Rae, who plays with Jim in his band Twin Engines, he’s doing the drums and percussion. Bobbie plays keyboards too. Bobbie and Jim are a great production team - very visionary.

SC:  Are there any plans for touring the album once it’s released?

BB:  That’s exactly what I intend on doing. As soon as the record is finished, I will do a complete world tour with major cities in the USA, UK, Spain, France etc and there will be my first gigs ever in Japan and Australia! I am going to go full hog with this record, I’m not going to rest, and it’s going to be quite full on.

SC:  Will you be releasing the album as a download too?

BB:  Yeah, of course it will be available as download. You’ll also be able to get it from places like Amazon and the others. It really depends upon the distributor. Each one has their own ‘vision’ for how best to get your stuff out there, and I guess there really is a big place in the ‘download’ world for my stuff. One thing I do know is that the record will be distributed very well!

SC: When you were a kid, who were your favourite groups and what was the
first record you ever bought?

BB: I had lots of 45's as a kid; everything from Roy Orbison to Little Eva,
Chubby Checker’s The Twist, Dusty Springfield, and The Animals. I adored
the British Invasion and all things English including the fashion. My first LP was "Meet The Beatles". Then I became obsessed with The Rolling Stones and The Kinks.

SC:  Are there any musical groups or individuals who have specifically left an influence on your musical style?

BB:  Iggy Pop, The Flaming Groovies, The Stones of course, some stuff from the
MC5’s and early Alice Cooper.


 

SC: Looking back at   your involvement with the scene at Max’s Kansas City during the early 70’s, it must have been an amazing time? 

BB: In those days, all walks of art travelled together. It wasn’t a music scene as such; it was a smorgasbord of art really. You had the musician’s of course, but you also had artists, painters, poets, sculptors mixing together. I don’t remember even thinking that these people were famous, it wasn’t like that, we were all just there, right in the middle of something that we knew was a very special time and place. You didn’t look at someone and go ‘Oh look who’s over there…’ the degree of ‘fame’ didn’t really matter. There wasn’t a VIP room or anything like that; the backroom at Max’s was the room. Either you got in or you didn’t.

SC: Amongst many others, you met Salvador Dali in New York, what happened?

When I met Salvador Dali, I felt more like he met me, because I used to go to the news stand at St. Regis Hotel and he came up to me.  He said, ‘Do you want to have tea?’ I had heard about his little tea parties they were legendary. It’s fascinating, he would get together Truman Capote, Amanda Lear, somebody different like Sylvia Miles or just his pick of who had their finger on the pulse of fashion or art. I’m actually working on a song, which is a reflection of that time. So far, it’s my favourite track. In fact, there are quite a lot of things that I’m exploring, stuff that people have asked about in the past; things that were either left out of my book or edited out. It’s very exciting! I always tease people when they ask ‘why was this or that not featured in the book?’ I’m saying ‘well, whatever didn’t make it into the book, will make it onto the record!’

SC: You dated Stiv Bators?

Stiv was a wonderful boyfriend, my favourite. I knew Stiv before the drugs. He did some crazy stuff in the Dead Boys, he had his nutty persona. But when I started dating Stiv in 1979, he was still pretty untouched by the poisons. He was a Midwestern boy with those values deep down. Stiv was my favourite house guest, meticulously tidy. He was good with my Liv and he managed to charm my very conservative family. He just had a way.

SC: You seemed to have had this ability to be accepted as ‘one of the boys’, in what can be a chauvinistic world of rock royalty?

BB:  I wasn’t afraid to discuss interesting topics. A lot of these guys are very talented men, interested in metaphysics, interested in why we are here. It’s not all about sex. It’s escapism for people to think that it’s all ‘sex, drugs and rock n roll’. That’s a huge part of it, but there is another dimension and either you have the brain to go there or you don’t. I had this quest for knowledge. I think being with guys like Todd (Rundgren), opened me up to all of that.

SC: I read somewhere one of your heroes was Ann Boleyn?

BB: I think every girl was fascinated with Ann Boleyn, there is a certain infamy about her affect on the king and where it led her.

SC: Would you agree that Ann Boleyn’s life is like a rock n roll story set in a Renaissance time period?  Her experience reflects what could have happened to a woman involved with a man in a successful rock group for example?

BB: Yes. Ann wasn’t afraid to show physical affection to people she cared about and that killed her in the end. I think it’s very symbolic of a double standard; women have had to fight a little harder to be understood. I used to get in trouble with my boyfriends all the time for having male friends, men that I had no interest in sexually.  It was the same back then, but they sliced your head off. Any women who think it hasn’t gotten better though should go back six hundred years and see if they still feel the same way.

 

SC: Did you find it a challenge to make the transition from being a muse to a musician?

BB: I wasn’t lucky like Marianne Faithfull, Debbie Harry or Annie Lennox; I didn’t get into music through the men I was with. I was so well known as a 'Wild Child/ IT girl'. If before all that, I could have been known as a singer first... It just didn’t happen that way for me. I don’t have any regrets. I’m perfectly happy right now with the fact that I can make another record, tour and play for people. I don’t need to have 'Madonna-like' fame to feel artistically happy. I wouldn’t want that kind of pressure. Cult standing has its own edge and badge
of success.

 

SC: Is there anybody that you would rate as a musician in the current scene?

BB:  I’m madly in love with The Kings Of Leon, The Killers, The Subways, The Kills, Marilyn Manson and Jack White. I think he is old school rock n roll, brilliantly talented and he looks great, not afraid to wear a tight pair of trousers!

SC: You are involved in several charities, what are some of your favourite causes and why are you so passionate about them?

BB:  I love animals and they deserve to be treated with respect. It breaks my heart to see them being tested on. I’m not so opposed to eating animals if it’s done in a Buddhist way, like thanking the animal and killing it in a humane way. It’s more about taking responsibility and understanding just what is behind that piece of meat on your plate. I also feel a great deal of compassion for women with breast cancer and people that are in need. I don't want to get preachy but I try to live by the creed "Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You".

SC: What do you like doing in your leisure time?

BB: Writing lyrics all the time! I'm getting song ideas in the strangest places these days. I still go out to events that interest me like art exhibitions, films, plays, charity functions and rock shows. I think seeing live music is important for the soul and for inspiration.

SC: How did you find going back to the world of modelling, again at a late age?

BB: I was surprised that they asked for me. Personally, I was very flattered to be photographed by legendary fashion icon, Francesco Scavullo, again at age 53. He passed away three months later, so I’m grateful that I did that sitting. I take it as a blessing. I hope other women my age can see there are no age barriers. At this point, more than sexism, we have to fight ageism.

 

SC: Of all the interesting people that you’ve met over the years, is there anyone that you would say influenced you the most and why?

BB: I don’t have anyone, except maybe my Mother or my Daughter, as I don’t allow people to influence me in that way. I try to learn from people rather than be influenced. Everyone has an important spot in my heart and life, no matter how large or small their role was.

 

SC: Bebe, I’d like to say a big thank you for talking for to me for SoundCheck Magazine and I look forward to the release of your new album and seeing you on the UK part of your tour.

BB: It's a pleasure talking with you guys!

 

 

© 2008 SoundCheck Magazine

Images: Bob Gruen, Kitty Kowalski