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Ciao Bill,
First of all, I should point out that I got into Lush
properly only in 1994. I had heard some of the earlier stuff, I actually
liked it but it all amounted to three tracks recorded on three different
blank tapes from the radio and that was it. I knew that the Spooky album
had come out, I saw the For Love video once on TV, but the record was
impossible to find here in Italy (there was no Internet and stuff those
days). So I’d say I liked their music, but until 1994 I couldn’t get a
whole idea of the variety of their music and song writing.
When Split came out, it was a totally different story.
That was the greatest record ever made, for me. I was seriously
convinced that Lit Up was about me. But that’s another story altogether.
Then, after a year and a half, news spread in magazines that they were
working on a new album. Fabulous news for me, as I believed that after
the flop of Split they would a) split up or b) take a zillion years to
make another album. I believe every fan figures this kind of apocalyptic
scenario after his favourite band flops.
 Anyway,
Single Girl comes out, lots of press in the UK, the single does well in
the charts. I’m happy for the band, I thought they deserved all the
success and all the attention they were getting. Their interviews were
always great reading. And the promise of the new album coming out on
March 18th. Too good to be true! The only frustrating thing in all this
was that I had never, NEVER, had one chance to hear the new song. I
tried to imagine the words, the music, I invented my own Single Girl in
my head. No trace of it here, in the record shops, or radio, or TV.
Nothing, nothing, nothing. This gives you an idea of how difficult it
was to be a music lover in Italy back then. Unless you were into crap
Italian singers repeating the words “love”, “heart” and “forever” at
least 300 times in the same song. Hard times, really.
Things took a dramatic turn on a Friday afternoon in
early February 1996. In those days there was a radio show
broadcast on Milan's Radio Popolare called "Pop-Eye" (genius title, I
think!). It aired every Friday from 3.00 to 4.00 pm and was basically a
DJ playing the latest Britpop or Indie oriented music and reading news
from English music magazines (basically, Melody Maker and the NME).
About a week before my meeting with Miki and Emma, around the 7th or 8th
of February, he premiered "Ladykillers" on the show. I fell in love with
that song right after the first 5 seconds. For me it was actually the
first Lush release in almost 2 years, because I still hadn't had the
chance to hear Single Girl -- no radio or video airlplay here, as I
said, and the Import copy arrived much later than the January release.
After playing the song, the DJ announced that the
girls would come to Italy for a signing session in a then famous (now
defunct) record shop in Milan, to meet fans and sign autographs. I was
totally against that kind of worship in general--I was always the first
to deride my friends for queuing up for hours just for an autograph from
a member of one band or another--but for Lush I HAD to make an
exception. And also, I secretly hoped they would give me a free copy of
the new single. So I decided I would go, no matter the consequences.
Starting a week before, I skived off school and prepared myself
psychologically for my encounter with the Goddesses. Needless to say, my
excitement was over the top. Being extremely shy, a conversation or even
the smallest compliment was out of question. My English was crap also,
so I thought the best I could hope for would be an autograph and then
goodbye.
I took the train to Milan and headed towards the
bloody record store. As usual with me, I got lost and confounded the
name of the street the record shop was on with another, similarly named
street (Ripa di Porta Ticinese instead of Corso di Porta Ticinese). It
took me ages walking to get to the right place, at some point I even
considered giving up the whole thing and going to the nearest Virgin
Megastore to console myself with the new Pulp record. But perseverance
is a virtue, so I decided I HAD to carry on. How would I know if there
ever would be another chance?
I arrived at the record store at about 4 o’clock -- an
hour late, very typical of me. I still remember this detail fondly,
because I think it might end up as one of my most ridiculous moments
ever. I entered the shop, sticky and sweaty and thirsty and exhausted.
No one was there apart from the shop assistant. I got nervous, I mean,
all the effort and no one around? I asked the boy, almost raging "WHERE
THE F--- ARE LUSH?" He stared at me as if I had just escaped from an
asylum. He looked perplexed, but was very kind. “They must have gone to
the bar next door for an interview,” he said, more or less. I rushed out
of the shop, slamming the door. It would have been too cruel to miss
them after all I had done up to that point!
 After
five nanoseconds I was well into the bar. I looked down the long hallway
and immediately recognized Miki’s head. God only knows how relieved I
felt. I remember thinking to myself "You did it, they’re here, wait a
moment and you’ll get what you wanted!" To think I did all this makes me
smile now… I was only 18, I was about to meet my fave band of the time,
I mean, I would have done anything they had asked me! Emma and Miki were
being interviewed by the DJ from the Friday radio show, the three of
them sitting around the table. I leaned against the wall behind them,
waiting for their heads to turn, to notice me. The interviewer saw me,
as I was in his line of sight, but he went on with the questions,
completely ignoring me, looking like a tramp and stuck to the wall,
totally tired. There was music in the bar so I couldn’t hear anything.
After a full five minutes, Miki finally turned and
noticed me. I waved hello with my hand and said Ciao. She smiled, I’m
sure she understood immediately I was a fan 'cause she made a gesture as
if telling me to come closer. I rushed to the table, barely speaking for
what seemed like eternal seconds. Emma was beside her, looking really
tired and knackered, as if she hadn’t slept for years. Miki was
beautiful, very down-to-earth and friendly. I could hardly speak, partly
because of my shyness, partly because it was impossible for me to say
anything grammatically correct in English, never mind understanding the
possible answer. So my “conversation with Lush” amounted to a grand
total of three sentences: 1) Where are the guys? (answer - in London);
2) I really loved Split, it’s incredible! (answer - thanks, and some
other sentence I didn’t understand) and 3) You’re the best band in the
world! (answer - thanks!). Emma was silent but smiled, probably at my
naivety and shyness. Then Miki picked out a Lovelife promo card from
nowhere, and asked me what my name was. I gave her my blue pen and she
wrote “Hey, Daniele!” on the card (they had already signed their names,
in black). I couldn’t ask for more really. Well, I could… I took out my
camera from my bag and put it in the hands of the DJ, asking him to take
a picture of me with the girls, which he did. I prayed in my mind that
it wouldn’t turn up too dark, too blurred or whatever (it didn’t,
thankfully!). Emma and Miki were happy to do it, and I think it shows
from their faces in the picture. After that, I said thanks, hope to see
you soon live, and Miki said something like thank you for coming and see
you soon.
You can understand how I felt afterwards, really
really happy and pleased to have discovered that the girls were just as
great and friendly as I ever imagined them to be. It was the first and
only time in my life I met people I admire (because I always think it
all ends up as arse-locking, whatever one says), but it was a great time
for me. I started telling friends about the meeting from that very
night, the answer was always the same: Lush who? I’ve told this story a
million times in the last 12 years, and every time there’s always a
small bit, a small detail I thought forgotten that miraculously pops up
(the bar’s tiles, the interviewer’s microphone, the mud crusts under my
shoes, the cigarettes brand I smoked at the time). I was so pleased to
have met them, even though I hated myself for not being shamefaced
enough to ask them all I wanted to (Great Lost Question: I’m sure Lit Up
is about me, have you been spying on me?). And I was very surprised, a
few weeks later, when Lovelife came out, to discover a track--Heavenly
Nobodies--where they were against meeting your heroes, because “they
don’t stand up to life”… Well, I met mine, and they were really great
and friendly people!
Following my Lush Day:
- Lovelife was released and became the soundtrack of
that year for me;
- The interview was never broadcast, anywhere;
- I missed Lush at Sonoria Festival that June;
- I was supposed to see them live in November, but the shows were
cancelled.
So Bill, I have finished! Hope I haven’t bored you too
much, it was great for me to get back to my 18th year for a couple of
hours!
Ciao
Daniele
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