Sharleen Spiteri of Texas

In the run-up to the release of their new album Hi, Sharleen Spiteri of Texas talked with QRO....
Sharleen Spiteri of Texas : Q&A
Sharleen Spiteri of Texas : Q&A

In the run-up to the release of their new album Hi, Sharleen Spiteri of Texas talked with QRO. In the conversation, the singer/songwriter discussed Hi, starting from some old demos for a deluxe edition re-release and just making a whole new album instead, losing her mother just before the first lockdown, teaming up again with The Wu-Tang Clan for “Hi” (QRO review), the great new videos for that song and “Mr. Haze”, the British government not helping the nation’s musicians, playing the small towns (and islands), you can take the girl out of Glasgow but… – and much more…


QRO: How have you been holding up during all of this?

Sharleen Spiteri: It’s been fine. I think I’ve probably been bit of a different headspace than some, because my Mom died before the first lockdown. So, coming to terms with that, just getting my head ‘round – cause it was very sudden – I was in a different place, going into the pandemic, than some other people were. It’s been strange, very strange.

QRO: It happened before everything shut down?

SS: It literally was the week before we went into quarantine.

So, it was strange, very weird, surreal moment of suddenly losing one of your parents, and then not being able to be with your family. It was really, really difficult.

But, you know, there’s been millions of people in the exact same boat.

QRO: And how are all of your bandmates doing?

SS: Everybody’s good. Everybody’s absolutely fine. We’ve all seen each other.

We filmed CBS Breakfast. It was great. We had the COVID officers there, with their measuring tape, measuring the distance between us all, having the studio set up so that we can all be distanced, and everyone’s masked up, and then we were allowed to get in place, take our masks off and play. So, yeah, it’s been kind of different & fine.

But everybody’s good. Everybody’s just so happy to see each other. Everyone was just so happy to be able to play some music for a change. Just that energy that we’re used to. So, it was good.


Jesus Christ, of everything, when this hit, we thanked god for the National Health Service.




QRO: Has there been any specific government help for musicians or music venues in the U.K.?

SS: [slowly shakes her head] I don’t know even want to go into it…

Basically, the arts don’t exist. Especially the music industry doesn’t exist.

The best quote that was given was from our government said, they suggested that all musicians go out and retrain for another job.

QRO: I think I heard that…

SS: You know what? At least we can do the job that we’re supposed to! You fucking assholes, you want to go and train for a job that you’re trying to do, than you can’t do!

Not a great moment…

QRO: At least you don’t have to worry about losing your health care…

SS: That is very true.

Jesus Christ, of everything, when this hit, we thanked god for the National Health Service. We are the luckiest people on the planet, to have such great, amazing people working to look after us all.


I wouldn’t like to make all records like that, but it was actually really good fun. It was just a really good escape from being in lockdown.





QRO: How was making Hi (the album)?

SS: It was actually a really good record to make. Most of it was made before the pandemic, and then we were actually finishing off when the pandemic hit. And then my mum got sick, and I kind of went into that mode, when we went into the first lockdown.

After a bit, after a month or two, it was weird, because, I guess, maybe as a songwriter, I had stuff to say, emotions to share. We wrote another three songs in the first lockdown that we added to the album.

It was good, because I was in my house in Wales, Johnny [McElhone], who’s our bass player & my songwriting partner, was in Glasgow, Jack McElhone, who writes with us, was in Los Angeles, and Angelica Bjornsson, who writes with us, was in Sweden. We all wrote via Zoom.

I wouldn’t like to make all records like that, but it was actually really good fun. It was just a really good escape from being in lockdown. Being in different time zones, it was good just seeing different faces than your own family. It was nice.

QRO: It was inspired by some lost demos from 1997?

SS: They weren’t lost demos. It was basically stuff that was in the vault.

So, what happened was, we had the thirty-year anniversary of Southside and the twenty-fifth anniversary of White on Blonde. And as record companies do, they’re like, ‘Oh, let’s put something together, something to package.’ So, we said, ‘Let’s get them something a little bit different. Let’s try to find something.’

And basically, we went into the vault, to see what was in there, and came across a couple of songs that hadn’t been finished. There were kind of bits of stuff, one of which was “Mr. Haze”.

Basically, we were like, ‘Oh, yeah, that song was great, but it wasn’t finished. It has potential to be something really great.’

It was weird, because we suddenly went, ‘Well, we know what this song needs. We know how to finish this song now.’ So, what we did, we took the bit that was there, and then we finished it. We re-recorded all of it, was finished it, we added a Donna Summer sample into it, and there were little bits & pieces of that within the vault of what we found, what we did.

But what happened was, as we started working on that, suddenly new songs were just coming & coming & coming. And we ended up writing a whole new when we weren’t even supposed to be making a brand new album.

We just went, ‘Nahhhh… Let’s make a new record!’

QRO: Oh, so you were supposed to be doing some extras for a ‘deluxe edition re-release’…

SS: Exactly it. We just went, ‘Nahhhh… Let’s make a new record!’

QRO: You had the big Texas 25 collection…

SS: We did that big collection.

You know what it’s like. Marketing people and record companies just want you to remarket, remarket, remarket…

It actually turned out really good, that we did this. Basically, our old selves inspired our current selves, which is kind of cool.

QRO: Did you get nostalgic at all, hearing those demos – or embarrassed?

SS: It’s funny, cause everybody’s asked that question. They go, ‘Was it weird, looking back at your old selves?’

It’s weird, because I don’t look back and go, ‘That’s my old self.’ I just look back and go, ‘Oh yeah, that’s me.’ I don’t see it in that way, at all.

As soon as we got stuff out, we’d be like, ‘Oh my god, remember that?!?’ You remember all the words, you remember exactly how it goes, you remember all the bits. You remember the moment when you were writing that song, where it was, what season that was.

Writing songs really embed themselves. Because, some of them come really fast, and some of them don’t come so fast, but you remember those moments of writing those songs.

It’s literally like riding a bike. You may not have done it for a while, but you go, ‘Oh, I know this one.’ Suddenly it all comes flooding back to you.


We thought, ‘Well, why don’t we tell a story about a specific moment in our career? Something that really changed people’s perception of what we do?’





QRO: How did making “Hi” (the song) with Wu-Tang Clan come about?

SS: Basically, we were doing a documentary. Because part of the anniversary thing was like, ‘Okay, we’ll make a documentary.’ And everybody’s like, ‘Oh, you just make a story all about the band’s career, from the beginning to the end…’

And we thought, ‘Oh god, does it really have to be, “We started off in humble beginnings, these wonderful musicians, songwriters, blegh… Sold millions of albums, blegh, blegh, blegh…”?’

We thought, ‘Well, why don’t we tell a story about a specific moment in our career? Something that really changed people’s perception of what we do?’ And we thought, ‘Let’s tell the story about the Wu-Tang.’

Because it’s always been one of those ones where people go, ‘What?’ People still go, [confused face].

Some people just go, ‘Ah!,’ totally get it, go, ‘Yes!’

And then there’s other people, they really like the record, but they cannot, in their brains, connect it.

And it’s like, ‘What the fuck do you need to connect? Who cares if you don’t connect to it? Do you like it, or do you not like it?’ So, we thought we’ll tell that story.

The Wu-Tang were in Scotland, and we thought, ‘Well, we’ll film it.’ We managed to get RZA and I to sit down together. And it’s just us talking, talking about making the record, talking about where we were in our lives at the point, what we were doing.

And during the chat, it was a case of, ‘Shit, we should make another record together!’

Johnny & I had actually already written “Hi”. The two of us looked at each other and went, “‘Hi’”. It’s so right for ‘em.

With the whole sort of [Ennio] Morricone sound to it, that outlaw feel. I always kinda see the Wu-Tang as this outlaw crew that are just like, ‘We don’t give a shit. We have our own law, and that’s what we live by…’

It just seemed like the right song. And RZA loved it. And that’s why we ended up making “Hi”.


I think it’s important to show what a song can be, depending on what’s on it.





QRO: Cool. Though I would say, twenty-something years is a long time to wait before working together again…

SS: Yeah, it is, but it also shows how strong the bond is as well, and the respect we have for each other.

It was really nice to do something with each other that, I guess maybe doing something different as well would kind of seal the relationship? People wouldn’t be like, ‘Wow, this wasn’t some one-off put-together.’

Because it really wasn’t. It had nothing to do with anyone apart from a meeting in a t-shirt guy’s office, by absolute accident. It was a conversation over a t-shirt, and that’s what led to doing “Say What You Want”.

It was funny because RZA really pointed out how, in a way, he said, no one had done it to that point. No one had done that kind of collaboration.

You know, number one, from completely different countries. But from very different walks of music.

It’s a great record, and I guess, kind of pointing that out was, maybe people that don’t know about it, might enlighten people about why it was done, and how it was done.

QRO: Why did you include two version of “Hi” on the record, both with and without Wu-Tang Clan?

SS: With “Say What You Want”, we had the original version of “Say What You Want”, and we had the Wu-Tang version of “Say What You Want”.

So, we’d already recorded “Hi” as it is, the normal version, and we gave the Wu-Tang that version without the verses in it, and said, “Do what you want with it.”

I think it’s important to show what a song can be, depending on what’s on it. As an artistic journey and creation, I guess showing the workings of something is really important to us.


The fact that we’re not part of Europe is just the most shocking, appalling thing that has ever happened.





QRO: You’ve got a big European tour starting in February of 2022…

SS: We basically start in January in Australia. We do Australia/New Zealand, come back and do U.K./Europe, and they’re talking about America, put some dates in for America & stuff, so I don’t know when that’s gonna be, when that’s gonna be, if that’s gonna fit in between Europe and the U.K., or what they’re gonna do.

QRO: Will it be more difficult to tour the EU after Brexit?

SS: Yes, it’s gonna be really hard. Because Europe’s making it as hard as possible.

Saying that, do you know what? It’s not Europe that’s making it hard, it’s actually the U.K. that are making it hard as well. Because our government at the moment, they just changed it.

For instance, when American bands come, you get a visa that gets you X amount of weeks or whatever. Basically, the U.K. refused it from Europe. Are you fucking crazy? What is wrong with these people?…

Now, the British government accepted something that we can do.

Right here, at the moment in the U.K., it’s been really hard. I mean, you can’t even get building supplies just now. Because, number one, everyone was furloughed, so all the factories have been shut down. So, the people who make bricks, the people that cut wood, blah-blah-blah-blah, everything basically shut down, so there was a shortage.

But then what happened, all the importers from Europe, the prices have gone “Vroop” [hand sign rising prices], up, up, up. They’ve gone crazy numbers. The truth is, it’s a fucking mess.

The fact that we’re not part of Europe is just the most shocking, appalling thing that has ever happened.

When an audience is like this close, can hear the conversation between the band, that’s when you really need be on your A game.

QRO: I noticed that the tour doesn’t just hit the big cities. For instance, have you ever played the Isle of Man before?

SS: Yeah, we have.

We really, as a band, we’ll play lots of little places in Scotland and everything, up in the north. I think it’s very important to hone your craft. Because when you’re just playing big arenas and stadiums, when you get big, massive light shows, giant screens and everything, you can kind of sit back a little bit, sometimes. You just fitter because you’re running up to giant stages.

But, when an audience is like this close, can hear the conversation between the band, that’s when you really need be on your A game.

Those moments are the moments that allow you the freedom to play big, big shows. Because you understand the art of entertainment.

Because if it’s just you, running up & down, “Whoo!” There’s got to be moments of light & shade within everything. So, even if you’re on a massive stage, playing a really big venue with thousands of people in it, you’ve got to be able to bring the audience in. You’ve got to be able to have that closeness; you’ve got to be able to have that intimacy. It’s really, really important to survive as a band, and as a performer, you need to be able to entertain.

If you get a little bit up your own ass, just, ‘I only play stadiums and arenas’ – you look at all the great bands, U2, The Rolling Stones, they always come back to play small venues. They’ll always do the gigs, because you need to do it to be good.

You get the one-liners that are hysterical. They’re like, ‘Yeah, but people need things to cheer them up…’ A fuckin’ Texas record is not gonna change the world!…

QRO: Had you thought of delaying the release until closer to when you can tour?

SS: We delayed it right back.

It was funny, cause when the pandemic first hit, everyone’s just like, ‘Oh, it’ll never last…’ Are these people fucking stoned?

Record companies are just desperate to just get product out there. They’re just thinking, ‘Fuck! How we gonna pay our wages? Shit! Just get it out! If that fucks up, we’ll just put another band out…’ It’s like, ‘You put my band out? My friends, you’re not doing it…’

You get the one-liners that are hysterical. They’re like, ‘Yeah, but people need things to cheer them up…’ A fuckin’ Texas record is not gonna change the world!…

As I said, my mum died, and there were people dying all over the world, and I just thought, ‘No, I don’t need to do an online concert. I don’t need to do, “Hey, let me sing you a song & change your day & make you happy.”’

I just thought it was disrespectful, and I didn’t think it was cool, and it wasn’t for me. There were others that did it, and that’s fine, that was their choice. For me, I was like, ‘Uh-uh. I’m not doing it.’

QRO: Do you have any plans for release day, May 28th?

SS: Hide?…

The thing is, social media has changed everything. It’s not even about shows; it’s just about being there on social media, making sure that everybody knows that it’s out.

The days of doing a record store gig or something like that is gone. Even before the pandemic, because, you know, we’ve lost all our record stores. That’s why Record Store Day is so important.


Texas’ video for “Hi” (with Wu-Tang Clan and Kadeem Ramsay):

QRO: Where did the idea for the video for “Hi” come from?

SS: It came from Fenn O’Mealy’s head.

She was the wonderful video director that did the video for us. Her script was just amazing.

When she heard the song, she loved it. She was like, “Do you want to be in the video?” And I was like, “No particularly.” She said, “Would you be in the video if I wanted you to be in the video?” And I said, “Sure, well, if you want me to be in it, I’ll be in it. But if I don’t need to be in it, I won’t be in it. Whatever your idea is. Just know that whatever you want to do, whether I’m in it or not in it, is good.”

And then she came back with this script. And she explained the whole thing.

It was great, because it showed the history of Texas & The Wu-Tang together. And then it opens up to this new thing, and this idea of about kid wanting us to make another record. It was cool.

And when she said to me, “Listen. We want to get you in the trunk of a car. How do you feel about it?” I was literally like, “Hell, yeah! This is amazing, this is so funny, real tongue-in-cheek. Let’s do it!”

You can take the girl out of Glasgow… Good luck with that.

QRO: I was wondering about that, about having the whole tied up & kidnapped. But then you undercut it with the following scene…

SS: That was what was so important.

The great thing was is that Fenn is a young, black, woman director. She’s like 22 years old. She’s just such an amazing talent.

There were the questions of like, ‘Whoa – Is this gonna be taken the wrong way?’ In current times & everything.

What it was, you are trying to show, ‘Look what we’re doing.’ It was through her eyes; it was Fenn’s idea. And at first, we did question it, and everybody was like, ‘Because of where it goes, and it turns, it’s fine. It’s perfect.’

QRO: No worries that this is encouraging your fans to kidnap you?…

SS: Don’t say that… They’ll have to fight me first…

All I’ll say on that front is, you can take the girl out of Glasgow… Good luck with that.

QRO: Where did you get all that Texas & Wu-Tang merch?

SS: A lot of it is ours. A lot of it is stuff that we collected through the years.

And we had an amazing set person, we put a thing out to all the Texas fans, all the Wu-Tang fans, just said, ‘Anyone who’s got anything, can we copy it, can we borrow it, blah-blah-blah-blah…’

So, we begged, borrowed and stole to make this video.


Texas’ video for “Mr. Haze” (with Tommy Flanagan):

QRO: And how was making the video for “Mr. Haze”?

SS: It was fun, because I got to call on my old friend, Tommy Flanagan, who you maybe know from Sons of Anarchy, and also, he was in Gladiator. He’s my friend since we were fourteen-years-old.

Now he’s a big Hollywood star, so we were like, ‘Hey! We need you!’ So yeah, that was fun.

It’s kind of interesting because “Mr. Haze” is talking about having a memory, having a relationship with someone when you were young. Because I say at the end of the song, “Mr. Haze, it was way too long / In my mind, and my heart / We will remain forever young.” I say that in the song.

So, it was really poignant to be able to get Tommy to be in the video, because of our friendship. We’ve been friends since we were fourteen, and we’ve both gone on to be successful in our fields.

QRO: Had you not worked together before that?

SS: No, we’ve never worked together. We’ve had many a drink together, many a night out together, we’ve never done that.


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