W L INTERVIEW
AGAINST ALL ODDS – BLONDIE LAUNCHES NEW TOUR WITH LIVERPOOL DATE
Undeniably one of the most trailblazing and influential bands of our time , Blondie is heading to Liverpool this November as part of their first UK tour in 4 years .
For the last four decades , Blondie has become and remains a true global icon . Their influence both shaped and continues to inform the worlds of music , fashion and art . With more than 40 million albums sold worldwide to date , they were welcomed into the Rock ‘ n ’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2006 and now Debbie Harry , Chris Stein and drummer Clem Burke , along with now long-standing band mates bassist Leigh Foxx , guitarist Tommy Kessler and keyboardist Matt Katz-Bohen , will pay the M & S Bank Arena Liverpool on November 6th 2021 .
What does coming back to the UK mean to you ? The UK tour is more meaningful to me perhaps than the very first time Blondie played there in the mid ' 70s . The UK has always been a special place to us and being able to come back to perform there after sitting out most of 2020 is very exciting ! We ’ re hoping for a happy and healthy November 2021 Blondie UK Tour !
This is a completely female-fronted band tour this time , isn ’ t it ? Yes ! We ’ re joined by Garbage . Blondie toured with Garbage during 2017 and we look forward to doing it again . We had a wild ride ! All tours are rarely the same , however , I really hope the new Blondie / Garbage concert events are even better .
I have always been a fan of Garbage ( and of Shirley Manson dating back to her days in Goodbye Mr Makenzie ). Along with Butch , Steve , Duke and Eric this band set the stage on fire . I can ’ t wait to play these shows with them !
What can we expect ? We want the Blondie live show to be an experience in itself , we still do all our classic hits like ' Heart Of Glass ', ‘ Atomic ', ‘ Tide Is High ’, ‘ Maria ’, ‘ Sunday Girl ’, ‘ Rapture ’ and ' Call Me ' but we ’ ve blended it with material from our last studio album Pollinator as well with some of our new singles like ‘ Too Much ’, ‘ Long Time ’ and ‘ Fun .'
Pollinator soared to Number 4 on the UK charts when it was released in 2017 , making it your first Top 5 entry in over 18 years .
The name is close to your heart , isn ’ t it ? I ’ m a fledgling beekeeper and the plight of the bees is something I ’ m very passionate about . It was one of the reasons why the album was called Pollinator . You ’ re either being stung by a bee or you ’ re going to eat its honey , bees and water are two issues we cannot
escape from . We should be concerned with finding better ways of living , using our resources in the best way possible .
Was the pandemic and lockdown hard for you not being able to perform at all ? Yeah , that ' s been very difficult , but I guess maybe I ' m not so needy ! I think listening to music is equally as fulfilling as performing . So I ' m glad that we ' re getting a chance to come out and play . I know it ' s going to give me a sense of safety after all that everyone ' s been through and the threat to humanity … But it ' s hard for me to say because I haven ' t really started performing yet .
It seems like music is almost second nature to you . Can you imagine a life without it ? That ' s hard to say because I mean , I will always love , love , love , love music . God , that ' s a terrible , terrible thought not to have music . I don ' t know if I have an answer for that !
You ’ ve even had one of your songs immortalised in the movies with ‘ Call Me ’ being featured as the title song in American Gigolo . It ' s odd how those things work out , isn ' t it ? When Chris Stein and I first started working together , we talked about all these composers , Nino Rota , Henry Mancini , and movie soundtracks and things that we liked . So for somebody to put a Blondie song into a movie , it was a big highlight for us , it was a big moment . And working with Giorgio Moroder on ‘ Call Me ’ was sort of like a dream come true .
You ' ve played hundreds of shows over your career . Do you still get nervous before a performance ? I think it ' s a combination of excitement , fear , determination – a lot of different elements go into it . But for me personally , to avoid extreme stage fright , I have always looked at what I have to do for shows as my job . I had to focus on doing my job correctly , as I ' m a part of the machine , so to speak . When all of the gears in the machine are functioning properly , then we do a good show . So I try to think of it in a workmanlike way , and that sort of gets me out there .
Blondie ’ s Against All Odds tour comes to the stage of the M & S Bank Arena on Saturday November 6th , 2021 , on the first date of a 10 date tour also including The O2 in London , Birmingham , Manchester , Hull , Nottingham , Brighton , Cardiff , Glasgow and Leeds . Tickets are available at : blondie . net | aegpresents . co . uk / blondie | axs . com | ticketmaster . co . uk wirrallife . com 23