Bertie Blackman interview | My Chemical Toilet

Bertie Blackman’s brain is like mush

bertie blackman Bertie Blackmans brain is like mush

Hey, she said it. But to be fair to her, Bertie was a tad tired at the time. BUT NOT TOO TIRED TO CHAT TO JANE BRADLEY FOR THIS HERE BLOGAZINESITE.

Yes, since I asked “Who is this Bertie Blackman person, then?” a couple of months back after encountering her splendid single “Thump”, Jane went along to have a mouthwag and find out ‘first-hand’.

They talked about Bertie’s ARIA-winning album Secrets and Lies (which is vay good), crushes on Fronch pop stars and, um, “nanimals”. BEHOLDIFY:

I became a bit smitten with Bertie Blackman while I was interviewing her. Not only is she infuriatingly talented, she’s also disarmingly charming; whimsical but self-assured, and a pleasure to natter to. By the time we meet, jetlag, exhaustion and a gruelling schedule of interviews and photoshoots have taken their toll, and I’m gobsmacked she’s still able string a slurred sentence together.

“My brain is like mush,” she explains. “This feels like it’s all a dream.” Guessing that I best take advantage of her whilst she’s still awake, and better still, amiable and articulate, we press on in all haste.

In swotting up about her before the interview, I read about an art exhibition she’s having in her native Australia comprising weird and wonderful large-scale ink illustrations of deformed woodland animals. Thinking this is a suitably abstract opening gambit, I ask her for an explanation:

“The exhibition came about unintentionally, after I designed the stage set for the Australian Secrets and Lies tour. I’d been drawing these ‘nanimals,’ which is my word for creatures that are not quite animals. And then I painted them onto plywood and made them into a giant mobile hung from fishing wire around the stage.

(*Sound the kook alert* - Ed)

“So they came on tour with us, and I had a dedicated crew member to take care of the nanimals, and if they didn’t make it back into the van at the end of the night, there’d be trouble. One got stolen, an evil bunny. I did a call-out on national radio for the guilty culprit to bring it back, but they didn’t return it. Some drunk disgusting feral probably took it.

“So I re-made it and gave it an axe to ward people off, so that no one would dare steal him again. And because everyone liked the naminals being onstage, we made t-shirts of them. Then when those went down well I decided to have the exhibition, and then auction them off for charity.”

This exhibition must have earned her many a raised eyebrow from Australian media, who are well aware of Bertie’s artistic legacy. Her father, the artist Charles Blackman, is mega-famous in Australia, so I’m curious as to whether she’s ever accused of exploiting his name for her own gain:

“The thing is that I haven’t. I’ve been very reluctant to talk about him in the press, and for a long time I didn’t do it. I’ve been asked a lot for quotes about him, and until recently I’ve always said no. I was conscious of wanting to make my own way.

“Some of his other children really abuse his name, and I’ve always been completely the opposite. And I love art and drawing, but I never went to art school or anything like that. It’s not my great passion. I love it, but it’s not something I stay awake at night thinking about. Except for the naminals. They torture me a little bit.”

Of course, in addition to her famous father, she’s also been working with a lot of big showbiz names, including a recent tour supporting Goldfrapp. But Bertie’s very restrained, and won’t confess which famous faces she’s met and hated.

She may only be in her early twenties, but she’s also cleverly cautious; media and business-savvy, and wise enough not to dish the dirt, no matter how much I beg. But she will own up to one crush on a certain band member:

“I almost met Thom from Phoenix, who I’m completely in love with. We were both doing interviews for the same TV channel in a bar in Sydney, and there was a moment where I could have gone over and talked to him, but I was too scared because he’s so beautiful.”

I enquire about whether it’s strange to come to the UK, where she’s not so well known, when in her native Oz she’s fast becoming something of a celeb.

“To tell you the truth, that’s not why I do it. I’m not walking around hoping to be recognised and fawned over. That’s the side of things I shy away from, because some people really encroach on your personal space. They come up to you and grab you and tell you how you’ve changed their life, which I still find a bit strange.

“And on the plane on the way here I was nervous, because I wanted to nurture my career and reputation in Australia before I took it anywhere else. I don’t like to leave things half-done. And I was worried that I’d be starting from scratch again, but then we’ve come here and because things have gone so well in Australia all the hard work’s paid off, so it’s not like starting again at all.”

So, what’s next after current album Secrets and Lies?

“I’m working on the next record now. I’ve got all my friends to make me mixtapes so I can immerse myself in things I haven’t heard before. And I’ve been reading The Brothers Grimm and Edgar Allan Poe, as well as art books and films. Just saturating myself with media so that when I start writing the music it will have a real strength behind it in terms of ideas and language.

“Secrets and Lies is the beginning of where I want to go, and so I want to build on that. It was a departure in many ways from the records I did before, because I was finally working with people receptive to my crazy ideas. I feel much more comfortable and more like me, which was not so much the case with the other records.”

So the next album won’t be a radical departure from what we’ve heard on Secrets and Lies?

“No, I’m not going to make some crazy drum’n’bass record or anything.”

You could.

“Don’t! Don’t say that to me, or it’ll be keeping me awake at night! No, what I want is strong songs, with drama and femininity and storytelling. That’s what I’m doing next. I like bittersweet. I like the combination of soft and hard; music that’s dark but that also has a soft, beautiful, enigmatic edge to it. We’re all complicated creatures, y’know?

“And I’m not all about chick power, that’s not who I am. But it’s an interesting card; being a woman and being able to honestly express sensuality in music, because it seems so taboo to talk sincerely about personal emotions and sexuality.”

And that’s where we decide to call it a day, because by this point I’ve blathered away to poor Bertie for ages and ages, and she’s wilting from the exertion. But when she returns to these shores to tour at some point next year, I’ll definitely be harassing her again. If Stuart will let me, and I haven’t been slapped with a restraining order by then.

Bertie Blackman on MySpace