FEATURE:
When the Cameras Stop Rolling and the Crowds Go Home…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush, at her home in Eltham, London on 13th September 1989/PHOTO CREDIT: Kevin Cummins/Getty Images
Imagining the Private Kate Bush Behind the Scenes
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I was going to write…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush on the set of Cloudbusting in 1985
another feature about Kate Bush’s Cloudbusting but, as I recently did so for a run of features to mark the fortieth anniversary of its sister album, Hounds of Love (which turned forty on 16th September), I will start off mentioning it and expand. The single turns forty on 14th October, so I needed to highlight it. That song is fascinating because of its video. That is not the only fascinating element, though its video was a huge production. Featuring the late Donald Sutherland, it was a like a short film. Shot around the White Horse Hill in the Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire (you can read more about this location in this excellent new book), I can imagine there were these moments of contemplation and quiet. No doubt her and Donald Sutherland chatted in each other’s trailer/dressing rooms. Sutherland had a word with Bush about smoking marijuana before filming the Cloudbusting music video, and Bush responded that she hadn't been straight for nine years. It is these kind of moments that we do not really think about often. What happens when the camera stop rolling or just before they start. I often imagine what happened on the set of music videos or just before a live performance. The Cloudbusting video is an example where Bush and team would have travelled to set and there would have been these conversations about the video and the excitement of what was ahead. I think about Bush waiting on stage to do a performance. Maybe Top of the Pops in 1978 when Wuthering Heights was climbing the charts. Perhaps just about to go and perform a set for The Tour of Life in 1979. Before the Dawn in 2014. The sort of conversations that were happening before and after. Sometimes Bush has spoken about these times in interviews, though most of the truth and all these possible stories will never be told.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in the make-up chair whilst filming for The Line, the Cross and the Curve in 1993/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari
It is the video shoots that are especially interesting. You know there would have been a lot of setting up shots and technical equipment chat. If everything was working and what needed to be done. I feel there would have been hours of Bush waiting around to go on set. However, I often dream of these great videos and what was happening between takes. Some of these shots are captured by John Carder Bush (her brother) for his 2015 book, KATE: Inside the Rainbow. Where she was sitting with extras or in make-up. I do love these moments. Guido Harari also documented many of the behind the scenes moments during filming of the 1993 short film, The Line, the Cross and the Curve. Those videos for Hounds of Love would have been bustling with activity and chat. Think about the title track. Kate Bush directed that video. Directing herself, there would not have been much time for contemplation and peace. Instead, she was thinking about the shots and her acting too. I’d love to think that there were these chats with costume designers ands wardrobe. Small talk about what she was wearing, but also her thoughts on the video. As director, Bush would have been getting advice from others, but also would have been keeping the actors and crew up to date with everything happening. Like song outtakes and demos, it is fascinating learning about the components that go into making a video what it is. We don’t have a lot of that kind of footage. Some artists have behind the scenes documentaries or there are interviews with them where they are shooting a music video and we get to see those moments away from the camera. There is not anything like that for Kate Bush. Bits of her in the studio though, for the most part, we have to imagine what that would have looked like.
As Cloudbusting is forty on 14th October, it did get me thinking about that video and the fascinating chats and moments that not only would have shed more light on the Kate Bush that we only really see in interviews. It also gives us window into what the shoots were like. I think about photoshoots too. What was being discussed before and after the shot. We are unlikely to ever get unheard demos and early takes from Kate Bush. Audio from the vault. There are some of these candid and rare photos where we see her on sets or in studios. Catching her playful or unguarded, these are among my favourites. As much as I love the finished product, my mind wanders and I can’t help but speculate what was happening before and after! Into the studio when she was recording an album. Life at Abbey Road Studios for Never for Ever or The Dreaming. Maybe bonding with her team or there being these private moments between her and Del Palmer (her boyfriend until the 1990s, he worked as a musician and engineer on many of her albums). I know Kate Bush, as a producer, had this special relationship with the musicians. There would have been games and times when she was having fun with them. You can see in some photoshoots how there would have been a lot of laughter behind the scenes. I think The Tour of Life is my favourite scenario to imagine. The rehearsals and what happened after the shows. Bush in a new place exploring and what she and her crew were talking about in transit. Maybe the Cloudbusting set is the most vivid and epic, so that would have heralded a lot of interesting times. However, there must be stiff competition from Experiment IV (from 1986’s The Whole Story), Army Dreamers (Never for Ever, 1980) and There Goes a Tenner (from 1982’s The Dreaming).
THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush and an extra during the shoot/rehearsals for the There Goes a Tenner video in 1982/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
I will wrap up in a minute. A happy forty-fifth anniversary to Cloudbusting for 14th October. It made me step inside the video and what was going on before the camera rolled and after a scene was completed. Also, the sort of dialogue and snapshots that you could have imagined when Kate Bush performed live. I am not sure whether we have seen the last of Kate Bush as a live performer. She has not emphatically ruled it out. Same with interviews. If there is a new album, then there will be moments where journalists get to meet Kate Bush at her home. What goes on then? The chat and tea before the interview starts. The sort of conversations that would take place. Now, as Kate Bush’s son, Bertie, is grown up and is not at home, what is the energy and feel of the Bush household with her partner, Dan McIntosh? Also, what about possible music videos? I don’t think Bush will ever appear in any of her video. I suppose there will have to be photoshoots for promotional reasons. Will Kate Bush work with a new photographer or stick with a trusted pair of hands? If she is directing a music video, what form will that take? The life of Kate Bush has so many facets and layers. We all know about the videos and the visible stuff. However, many of us want to go deeper. Kate Bush has not really allowed much out into the world that is private and behind the scenes. I am guessing there would have been video shot at times that is personal. Photos from various recording sessions she will not allow out. What we have is pretty good, though there is that tantalising possibility that there is stuff in the archive that will never see the light of day. Because of Cloudbusting’s fortieth anniversary, I imagined the conversations where Donald Sutherland tried to dissuade Kate Bush from smoking weed. What they were talking about before shots. The sort of interactions and scenes that unfolded. These are the unseen and private moments that…
LIFT the spirits.