Mick Boskamp has sent me the full transcript for the unreleased May 29, 1981 Prince interview. ---------------------------------------------------- Mick Boskamp: The first album is totally different from the last one. Can you tell me something about it? Prince: Hmm-hmm... MB: The evolution you make... P: One is that I have different managers... MB: Yeah... P: I listen to the managers... a great deal. They would tell me how to write the songs and how to play em... And how to sing em... producers okay. tell me saying things like,.. this kind of album would be nice and you did or whatever and the new managers did what the old man did. saying its important for you to establish a black American base. (yeah) Regardless what wanted to do or whatever. Another reason is ehr.. I think Ive matured a great deal. the way I approach my work is ehr. I think ehr... you know in there beginning I was a little different (uh-huh) My lifestyle was a little different. I wasnt allowed as much freedom as I am now ehrm... I tried to do anything I wanted to back then but I feel .... free ...... and now its ... this new album I was allowed to do anything I wanted. What happened was ehr... it started out as demo tapes I had no I idea that it was gonna be an album and I just wrote songs and I recorded songs that ehr meant more to me there more of an existence. and that was that. MB: your form Minneapolis? P: Hmm-hmm. MB: Is there a happily music scene back there? P: Uh-huh. MB: No? Not at all? P: No, nothing MB: Nothing? P: nothing weird no. They make an attempt and ehr... I guess ehr.. the last guy told me there wasnt much of a music scene here... just... not a local music scene... well, I think theres a little bit more than here. but its not really important. MB: Can you introduce your band members? Bobby Z. P: yeah... MB: Wheres he from? P: He plays the drums. Hes a friend of mine. I didnt even know he could play drums He was ehm, he was an errand boy he worked for my manager, my first manager. And... I thought sooner or later Ill have to get a band and ehm.. Bobby and I were hanging out, talking and he would help me with little things in the studio... and ehm... He told me he could play drums, so... And I said okay, and I listened to him and he ended up getting the job. And Dez, hes the guitar player, he ehr.. I actually dont know where he comes from.. theres a lot of rumours going around where he came from. He looks very strange... To most people, Im used to him, but. just to describe him.. he looks very strange. And ehm... I dont know exactly where he came from he just popped up by our rehearsal studio one day and asked if he could play guitar....... and ehm. Matt he plays keyboards, ehr... I think ehm... see I, I know a lot about them and then I know little. I know little about their background and a lot about their personality. ehr... Ill tell you how it got with me though.. Bobby, told me about this guy who wanted to play music but his father didnt want him to, And he was going to some real... traumatic experiences behind him. May. he was a great player but maybe he wouldnt be so good in the band because of this... hes really schizophrenic he can be real... messy sometimes, you know. And ehm... its, its stupid cause hes said ehrm... when I talked to his father a little later and his father he said that he wanted Matt to be a doctor... and I guess its sort of a compromise, Matt wheres this suit on the stage, while he plays rock and roll, so... I dont know... Ehrm.. Lisa, I met through a friend in ehrm.. Los Angeles when I lost my first keyboard player. And Andre Ive know since.. birth I think... MB: Keyboard player he also co-wrote the song Dirty Mind... P: Hmm-hmm. MB: Well, on the albums you play all of he instruments yourself and not using a band. Why? P: one reason is ehrm.. a very small reason, I wanted to do it because I recorded at very strange hours. another reason is.... its hard for me to play with people who dont know exactly where a song comes from And ehrm.. it hard to explain.... an overall idea to five people its easier for me to do it. and play a tape of the song to make up the whole picture. And its real cohesive MB: Are you satisfied with the sound the band producing on stage? P: Yeah, very much so. Its, its far more aggressive. Because... one reason: we play this stuff a great deal, another reason: then they know it really well another reason is ehrm... I think theyre older than I am and ehrm live and the studio is two different things, but I am satisfied with what theyre doing. MB: The last album sells pretty good in America... even without airplay. Can you explain that? P: Ehrm... I think a lot of people getting hip from press. ..... once they see whos playing the music always increases sales. I think people sort of write.... wrote it off as some kind of publicity stunt or a joke at first. And once they see us play they realise that we are like the odd one. it might be our fault but thats too bad and if it didnt get two or three { and publicitys not so much} MB: Ehrm... Every album you made you thank God first and then you then you thank a lot of people. Do you believe in God? P: yeah MB: And you also write very controversial lyrics .On the first album ,ehrm... is there any song directly written to God? P: Ehrm... ... No. On the next album therell be. Sin And Salvation, .... thats basically what I know. Ehrm.. Torn between two lovers, maybe... I dont know. MB: But do you believe in God?... P: I think Ill explain myself a little better. I do it better in reading than I do... talking. Im sure I will... I want ....stage in matter in my life to explain.. im practising.......... MB: You dont really want to do interviews? Youre not youre not really fond of it... P: No not really. and the reason for it is that ehrm.. Im stronger behind a microphone. Unless its a radio microphone.. heheh... and ehrm, Im stronger with... my guitar in my hand and I write better letters than I do.. than I make telephone calls. MB: But it has nothing to do with being two persons? P: Ehrm? No-no-no, I dont think so. I think its ehrm.... MB: Next album. working on it? P: Not yet. MB: not yet... P: ehrm... Im waiting for.. I have to say after visiting London and being here for a day a lot of thing are running around in my head. No titles of songs or ideas what theyll sound like but... just feelings, you know. Its a real interesting {seeing it} this way. Its real free and people.. people believe in themselves. and London is real {form}, which makes you wonder about the silence and the whole... you know parts of the world. MB: Your last album... there are some European influences on it... musically. Agree with that? P: Ehrm, I dont know. I dont know, Ive havent been in touch with Europe... is all I want to say. MB: But as you told me about London, the music scene there in London is very ehrm.. musically aggressive, Punk influences, etcetera etcetera. And on the album cover you wear a button: Rude Boy. P: Hmm-hmm, That was a present from ehrm, from my manager Jamie. who ehrm.. though it appropriate ... of because who I am, but ehrm I.. to this day I ask people and they cant tell me what I means. It came from somewhere but... I get different things from everybody, so ... MB: But it has no special meaning? Okay P: No, no... I wonder if she thinks {Im warning it}. Thats why. thats why Im sure {shell miss it.} MB: do you consider yourself rude? P: No. MB: How do you write your songs I mean how do you come up with the ideas for lyrics? P: Ehrm... true life experiences. When something occurs Im used to didnt write left out. Thats one of the main differences in the albums. Its get ehrm.. I used to write from visions and fantasies and they way I thought perfect loves should be and I dont do that so much anymore. Ill say what it is, I think.. MB: I think youre a great producer when you listen to the albums P: Thank you MB: are you gonna produce other people? P: I dont think so. not for a while. Ive... I dont know I think Ill be. I think Ill be into something else before I start producing records. {Ive been ehr ...... doing recently So Im not gonna do it for two years or so } MB: Youre sure? P: yeah MB: So what do you want to do. P: Just something different. I ehrm... Im very into what Im doing now. I think its a good medium to express myself and ehrm I think in time Ill grow tired of it. MB: Its kind of a shock to me P: Thah! MB: But there will be a fourth album? P: Yeah... Im sure {it wraps}. Like I say I do have some ideas you know, and Im sure once I get back from London and I spend another night here and go to out Paris Ill be dying to write {about{, see I dont write that much... MB: Maybe thats one of the reasons that the last album... there so much. Well theres a lot of songs on it but the time, recording time is very... very little, eh? P: well I ehrm.. MB: Each side is... 12 or 15 minutes P: Yeah I think so... I think that has something to do with it. I didnt write that much songs during this time period. I, I never record in excess. I never record more songs than, you know, you can put on your next album. Cause I never worked on songs in a totally different space by the time the next album comes out and the..... MB: You told me you record at strange hours. Middle of the night? P: uh-huh. yeah. Three or four, like that. MB: Is that because you get an impulse? To do that. P: Yeah... uhm... I think I am afraid of some light, sometimes. And I dont do .. I dont stay up... very much during the days, and so I record... working on a record. MB: Youre not someone who plans an album? P: Oh no... MB: I think it is ehrm, it is wrong that a lot of people now youre talking to me.. have compared yourself into new wave. A lot of people say its a special blend between, between Black music and New wave music. Do you agree with that? P: No. First of all I dont know if Im black or not. Second of all ehrm... I lived in a place that gets no new wave music at all. All we have is country and western. even more country than Western.... the songs and the towns. New waves harder and ehrm... You know, I dont know. Its just harder... I hope MB: What kind of audiences do you attract when you perform? P: Well a lot.. a lot of different types. It depends on where we out. And what support act. you know. Ehrm.. if were down south we get primarily black. Because ehrm.. black and white dont mix down south. either you get a white either audience or you get a black audience. And it.. you walk in a line youll get more ehrm {brave}, heh...I guess... So on. Id New York its like.. a lot of black a lot of white. a{long with being} straight and gay, conservative and not conservative. there goes. MB: What do you like best; performing, writing?... being in your studio P: ...I dont know... I Like... I like whatever Im doing at that particular time. Ehrm... if its time to record or... I feel like I want to. {Whatever at that moment I dont wanna be doing... } Like right now I would not want to be recording. I wanna play, right now so.. thats ehrm {.... now Im doing whatever Im} supposed to be doing. Its like a cycle its like... when its time to go to sleep then I wanna go to sleep. Ehrm... MB: Well you think a lot of people they dont... live.... you dont have a... watch? P: No. MB: So youre not living on it? P: No. I dont care what time it is. (laughs ) MB: like a lot of people do (P: yeah) they plan everything. Eating at 122 o clock. sleeping at eig... ten oclock getting up at seven. P: ...No I do not plan it. I just go by a lot of impulses. MB: Two weeks ago I spoke someone who also does that. Stevie Wonder was here two weeks ago, He doesnt make plans too. P: Oh. MB: The first album was influenced by Stevie Wonder. Is that wrong if I say that? P: I dont ehrm.. first of all I dont listen to popular music. I had to play too much of it when I was a teenager... {PHONE RINGS} P: Hello?... Yeah... yeah... no.... (hangs up.) Ehrm... I had to play his music and anybody elses who had a hit and it turned me off to listening to it because I, I had to analyse their music. cause I .. I ehrm... had to teach the keyboard player her part. And get all the vocal structures out of it... and.. I had to pick everything apart and it made me know exactly what the artist was gonna do next And so whenever we had to learn it, he got another hit and we had to learn that one of his songs. And we knew just exactly what to do, where it was gonna go and with that it became very boring after a while. And whenever I did listen to music I, it was only cause I was making it. you know. So I learned down the records. Cause I had to. I had to play em anyway. I had to learn its sickening to play an original song and have people go out and grab popcorn. And then come back whenever you get to this number one it all}... MB: You play a lot of instruments P: Sometimes... MB: what kind ... well on the album P: in the first one I did. The second. one.. I played... not as many. On the third one theres {virtual} not half of it. MB: What instruments. do you like best? P: Ehrm... thats hard to say... Cause it... instruments are really I dont know. Depends on my mood, I wont touch the drums if ehrm... Im happy, Cause ehrm I can only play the drums when Im... angry or feel aggressive or strong. Some days you feel stronger than you do other days... like if Im tired I wont touch the drums and stuff... and if Im ehrm... exited I wont peh.. aly the piano. I like playing the piano when Im lonely etcetera... and ehrm... The guitar... Nahhh I think its the guitar. I think I like the guitar the best cause I can be angry and sensitive on that. thats probably my favourite on stage. ehrm... MB: I think I have enough. P: Hmm okay. MB: I wont tire you anymore with questions. P: Well Im not tired. (MB: what?) Are you sure you have everything. MB: Sure... P: Okay. MB: Theres maybe one thing I wanna know. But thats probably a long story P: No... tell me. MB: Where you have been brought up. Something of your passed. P: Okay, ehrm... ehrm... I started playing when I was 7. And that was piano and that was after my father left. And ehrm.. I dont know, did you read any of the biography, or whatever? (MB: No they didnt give it to me) Okay, his name is.. His stage name was Prince Rogers. And thats why I got the name Prince. So it is my real name. Its not a publicity gimmick. Ehrm, I hated it when I was coming up. But mom used to {...........when I would do it } its better than Leroy. I ran away when I was 12. After my mom remarried And thats when I learned to play guitar. I couldnt carry my piano around and ehrm... I learned to play drums shortly thereafter....and I once you learn those three everything else is relatively easy. And I went to New York when I was 17, after I got out of high school, I was sick of playing other peoples music. I went to New York to get a record deal. and I lived with my sister Sharon. Who was real dear to me during that time. She was gonna be my manager. And ehrm.. a couple of people wanted to produce an album for me but they wanted me to just be a singer and I didnt want to do that. So I came back to Minnesota and hooked up with some other people who let me make another demo tape on my own. And we took it around to A&M, Columbia, Warners and... they {bidded} on it and we went for Warner Bros. And then that came {through...} MB: So is that the sister you mention on the song on the album? P: Uh-huh. MB: Maybe one question. What kind of show are your bringing tonight? P: Ehrm MB: What kind of material are you playing ? P: Ehrm. Lets s see. I think, I think there is one.. I know there is one new song, ehrm... and the rest of it is stuff ehrm... you know, last two albums. And its really aggressive and its real bold. Im using words {like that} to describe it. If I was to describe it I would say its real us And ehrm... We totally get into what we doing and sometimes we become oblivious to our surroundings. Were looking for an exciting time. I hear theyre more... ehrm... ... Theyre more acceptable to things that are not so acceptable. MB: Okay, I have enough. (P: youre sure?!) Sure. P: Thank you MB: Thank YOU. P: Nff...
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 16:49:54 +0000
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