The Primitives know their craft so well, that their first full album in over 20 years made me hyperventilate. When I heard the rumours of a reunion in 2009, I never expected to see such a revitalized band stand their ground a few years later.

Second time around, they continue where they left off in 1991 and I love every tiny bit of it. The Primitives are one of very few 80’s bands to rise from the ashes with authority.

Their commercial comeback was launched with the Never Kill a Secret EP in 2011, followed by the full length cover album Echoes and Rhymes in 2012. The album contains a couple of my younger year’s guilty pleasures like Sue Lyon’s Turn off The Moon and Sandy Posey’s Single Girl along with great classics like Little Ann’s Who Are You Trying Fool? and Jackie DeShannon’s Till The Day You’ll Be Mine. One surprise after the other and an appetizer for songs I didn’t know (but certainly should), like Sue Nicholls’ Where Will You Be.

The chills really came rushing when I heard Gordon Lightfoot’s I’m Not Sayin’, one of the best covers I’ve heard in years and definitely the best version since Nico’s ’65 interpretation. I’m sure Paul Court’s vocal chords have never been put to better use. Perfect pop, proper production and undeniably Primitives at their best.

Now they’re at it again, with a new album due for release in March with the concise title Everything’s Shining Bright – The Lazy Recordings 1985 – 1987. As the title states, it’ll be a compilation of early recordings, previously unreleased tracks and rarities. In the meantime, there’s a single coming out any day soon.

Tracy Tracy

Tracy, you auditioned for the band, right? Do you still remember that day?

Yes, It was in a rehearsal studio in Coventry. There wasn’t very much communication between me and them. I sang a song by The Triffids and they made a terrible racket. It didn’t sound like it was going to work at all.

Why The Primitives? Were you comfortable with the material they had for you or did that develop after your entrance?

They sounded very different before I joined. More like The Birthday Party and The Fall. They changed there sound to suit me, once it was decided that there was a way forward together.

You’ve done some vocals for various artists, did you ever consider going solo?

It crossed my mind to maybe do something in my own name, but The Primitives name was dirt during the 90s in the UK, so it always made sense to collaborate with others and to play down the singer from the Primitives tag.

If you did, would we see a different Tracy Tracy?

I guess if I’d released something as Tracy Tracy it would have had a hint of The Primitives, but I think there may have been more of an electronic element.

You were often associated with Debbie Harry, as all (fake) blondes were at the time. Now, prettier than ever, you’ve probably shaken that ghost off your back, but how important was the image really back then?

Yes I think it was important, but we never really discussed it. There was no stylist or anyone telling us how to look. We were just ourselves. You look a certain way in a video or photo session and it becomes magnified a thousand times and suddenly you’re some kind of icon, but that’s how the entertainment industry works I suppose. We all like to be fooled by these things.

Were Debbie and Marilyn part of the wrapping of The Primitives?

We were mixing 60s pop with punk, so Blondie comparisons were inevitable. I was a fan of Blondie, so I think there may have been a slight influence.

Looking back, how would you describe the pop scene in the late 80’s and where did it go?

I try not to remember the mainstream pop scene…it was all S.A.W. acts and Bros. As far as the indie scene goes we were part of the noisepop, twee thing, but I don’t think anyone really labeled it that at the time and it was a very small part of the late 80s indie scene. You can see how it lead on to the Manchester thing and then Britpop, but these scenes are often made out to have come out of nowhere.

Did you ever feel any familiarity with bands like The Darling Buds, Shop Assistants, Heart Throbs and other female fronted powerpop bands at the time?

Other than being lumped together in the music press, no.

Who were your greatest influence, then?

Nancy Sinatra, Go Betweens and Edith Piaf.

Which artists are worth mentioning today?

Are The Ettes still going?…I like them. I like what I saw of Savages recently. Veronica Falls are good.

Paul Court

Paul Court’s been Tracy’s faithful string-plucking companion since the start.

You’ve set a very high standard with such a good cover album. Will we see a full original album in the near future?

We have a new single featuring two new songs just about to come out on Elefant records. No plans to do anymore recording, but you never know. we also have a compilation coming out of all of our indie releases along with some unreleased demos, and half of a shelved first album. The Lazy stuff was out on a CD about 5 years ago, but we had nothing to do with that.

We’ve recently taken ownership of the early recordings, and it’s been great to have been involved in putting the comp together and also rediscovering the early version of our first album, some of which sounds better than the one we released.

Why covers?

About two thirds of the songs are from records I’ve collected over the past 15 years or so. Some of them reminded me a little bit of The Primitives and made me like the band again – I pretty much wiped the band from my memory in the 90s almost believing that we were as shit as the British music press and others made us out to be. These songs made me love pop music again and I began to think that if we ever get back together and ended up recording it would be great to pay tribute to some of these genius pop records.

You have known each other for many years. Did you keep in touch during the years “outside” The Primitives. Was there ever any talk about a reunion?

I hadn’t seen or spoken to Tracy for 5 years, before the death of Stevie D brought us back together in 2009. We were in touch during the 90s, but completely drifted apart after that.

The only time the idea of a reunion occurred to me was in 2008, with Crash and our debut album being 20 years old, but I heard Tracy was living in Argentina, so that put paid to that.

I understand the reunion was a reaction to Steve’s death in 2009. Can you tell me a little about your motivation to start up again?

As I said, Steve’s death was the thing that forced us back in contact with each other and we promised to keep in touch after that.

We were asked, not long after Steve’s funeral, to help and contribute to an exhibition about the local music scene in our home town Coventry later that year, and we ended up playing our first gig for 17 years on the opening night and from that things gradually began to happen again.

What was and what happened to Starpower/ Hedy? Did you want to move in a new direction? I understand that Tracy followed

Starpower was a secret side project from around the time The Primitives were winding up and featured Tracy to begin with. Hedy came later. Both bands were an elaborate waste of time and of very little interest to anyone.

18 years off the stage. What were you up to all those years?

Dole, manual labour, art.

What are your ambitions with the comeback.

After the plan to do a couple of gigs, the covers album was top of the list and maybe the odd single.

What came first, the touring or recording plans?

Initially touring, or just playing the occasional show again. Writing and recording is a whole different level of commitment

You’ve done some fantastic cover versions on Echoes and Rhymes. What was the criteria for the choices?

Songs sung by females that were as good as if not better than the stuff everyone knows – that sounded like they could be made into Primitives songs. A lot came from my record box, but a handful of the songs were new to us all. We thought about including some punk and post punk stuff, but decided to stick with early 60s to early 70s…it seemed more of a purposeful concept to keep it in that period, plus there was such a wealth of great songs to choose from.

As Echoes and Rhymes still sound very The Primitives, are the songs picked to fit the Primitives formula or are these songs that would influence you even back then? (bad English, hope you understand).

Some of the songs we thought could almost be Primitives songs stylistically speaking, for instance Amoureux D’une Affiche or with a band like Shocking Blue we just felt a kind of affinity, ie only really known for the one big hit, but with other great songs, for anyone that cares to delve. Obviously The Primitives were influenced by 60s pop, but the obscurer 60s stuff we listened to back then tended to be psychedelia and garage bands.

Now that you’ve done a bit of touring again, do you see a lot of your old
fans out there?

Yes the most loyal ones are still with us.

Indie has become highly commercial. Where do The Primitives fit in today?

There seems to be quite a bit of respect these days for what we did prior to Crash, although we’re often written out of the the 80s indie story for whatever reason, which is odd considering what we achieved.
We feel more independent, in the true sense of the word, now than ever before. We’re not reliant on anyone and don’t expect any press or radio play….there’s a lot of good will out there and that’s what’s keeping it
rolling along.

Would you mind sharing a few words about the production of Echoes and
Rhymes?

It was recorded in Cabin studio in Coventry, where we recorded most of the old stuff, with our original producer Paul Sampson. It took a couple of weeks to record. Sometimes I would send Paul a song we wanted to do and he would put together a basic backing track and we would then add the the band on in the studio, or I would send a home demo of a song done in a completely different way. It was a fairly easy and trouble free process.

We’ll have a thorough review of their upcoming album as soon as we’ve got our hand on it.

The Primitives

The Primitives were formed in 1985 by Paul Jonathan Court (vocals, guitar), Steve Dullaghan (bass), Peter Tweedie (drums) and Keiron McDermott (vocals). Vocalist McDermott was replaced by Tracy Tracy (Tracy Cattell) in late 1985 and Tig Williams replaced Pete Tweedie on drums in October 1987. Steve Dullaghan died in 2009, a major factor behind the band's reunion the same year.

The Primitives were part of the indie music scene of the mid-1980s alongside bands like The Jesus and Mary Chain, Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine, the Soup Dragons and the Wedding Present. Their major rivals within the 'blonde pop' scene were Transvision Vamp and The Darling Buds.

Current members: Paul Court, Tracy Tracy, Tig Williams, Raph Moore

Discography:

LOVELY 1988 (Remastered June 2013)

PURE 1989

GALORE 1991

NEVER KILL A SECRET (EP)2011

ECHOES AND RHYMES 2012

EVERYTHING'S SHINING BRIGHT 2013