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On Wednesday October 30, 2002, ClaireRichards.Net was invited to interview H and Claire as part of a competition we won via the official site. We went along, camera and notebook in hand, and below is the resulting interview – a ClaireRichards.Net exclusive. |
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People obsessed with communication as they are these days, I was so engrossed in texting a friend, that I didn’t notice H & Claire ringing the buzzer to get into the office in West-London. Two minutes later, I looked up, and there was Claire standing two-feet in front of me, discussing what appeared to be plans for her bathroom with one of the guys from the record company. Subtly stunning, in a brown leather jacket, blue jeans, and tan-coloured boots, she finished her conversation and moved through into the interview room to speak to someone from TOTP online.
I was informed that once the duo had finished their interview with TOTP it would be my turn. Ten minutes later, H emerged to get both he and Claire some water, looked up at me, and, apologising for running late, winked at me, and walked back into the interview. Dressed in baggy, cream trousers, a cream top, and with a cap barely covering his head (he had tufts of hair hanging out the back), he was charming right from the moment go. Twenty minutes later, I got my chance. Before I went into the interview room, their record company peep briefed them, told them my name etc, and then I was led through. Both were incredibly friendly and very chatty, commenting on my “soft” and “delicate” Scottish accent, a comfortable atmosphere, and one I hope to re-create in all the interviews I do subsequently in my career. Looking happier and healthier than I’ve ever seen them, I settled down into my interview… CR.net: Considering this was a competition run specifically for fansites, have you ever had the opportunity to browse through them and what do you think of them?
H: Our own website has lists of some of the sites, so we can check when we’re in the office. Usually when we’re at different venues all the kids turn up who run the sites, which is really sweet. I do have a laptop, but I don’t know how to use it!
Claire: I’ve got an ibook, but it doesn’t have the right flash players and I keep trying to download it but it won’t let me. It takes about an hour to log onto stuff. CR.net: Are you planning a tour to coincide with the new album?
Claire: We have been talking about a tour. The idea is to do a theatre tour so we can hit more venues than we would with arenas.
H: There’s nothing like the intimacy of a small venue. It was the Armadillo in Glasgow that gave us the idea actually. CR.net: Have you thought about a set-list? Any plans to do some old STEPS songs?
Claire: We’ve not thought about a set-list yet, but One For Sorrow was kind of my song really, so we might do it on tour.
H: It’s nice to look back and do old songs like Deeper Shade of Blue and When I Said Goodbye, because we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them. We performed those on a few of the summer roadshows and they went down a storm. We’re doing the Smash Hits tour at the moment which is great because we haven’t done something like that in such a long time. Not many people are singing live on it, but we wanted to and it’s leaving us out of breath a lot! Beauty and the Beast is going down well. CR.net: What do you see yourselves doing once you stop making music?
Claire: As long as you want to keep making music, you’re always going to do it. At the moment, I can’t see myself ever not, but if I decide not to it’ll be for my own reasons. You do what makes you happy at the end of the day.
H: Different things take priority at different times in your life. CR.net: H, what did you think of TSD?
H [laughing]: In the early days of STEPS, I used to sleep over Claire’s house and she used to show me the videos. Claire won the video-vote on SMTV to show Baby I Love You – which has Tony Blackburn in it – but because we didn’t have time, we couldn’t show it.
Claire: I wasn’t disappointed about that though! With my lovely flicky hair and crap make-up!! [sarcastically] We were the Spice Girls before there was the Spice Girls! They copied us.  CR.net: You grew up together, how do you think each other have changed over the years?
Claire: Personally, I think I’ve gained a lot more confidence. H hasn’t really changed that much, but he’s more likely to speak up for himself now.
H: I’ve seen Claire’s confidence soar since we started doing our thing. She would always shy away from the mic, even though she’s really good.
Claire: That was because the minute I did speak, they’d all start taking the piss.
H: It’s ‘cos she speaks to people as if they’re in the living room. “Are you allright? Do you want a cup of tea?!”
Claire: I was really paranoid. They’d all be laughing and I’d be thinking ‘Oh no, I’m doing something wrong’. Then I’d quickly introduce the next song and that’d be it. I do waffle a lot though. CR.net: Neither of you were trained before STEPS, where does your motivation come from?
H: We look upon ourselves as a new act and even if we have part of the success that STEPS had, we’ll be happy. It’s bringing lots of new challenges and it’s exciting again.
Claire: We want to equal STEPS success, but blasting through it would be nice too. We had the most fun when we were starting out and slogging our guts out. It means we appreciate everything we’ve got. CR.net: What’s your favourite cheesy pop act?
H: This morning I was washing my hair singing that Las Ketchup song!
Claire: I do like S Club, not sure if they’re ‘cheesy pop’ but I think they’re good. [starts singing] We are the cheeky girls, we are the cheeky girls… CR.net: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given and what’s the best piece you can pass on for me in my final year of university?
H: Never eat yellow snow!
Claire: That was mine!! It’s always nice to be important but it’s more important to be nice.
H: And you nicked that off me!!
Claire: I wish I had concentrated more when I was at school. But because I was so like “I want to be a popstar!” I didn’t. I got a B and two C’s without really trying. If I had tried, I think I could have got quite good grades.
H [suddenly becoming very Welsh]: You don’t care what I got do you, ‘cos you run her bloomin site! I’m gonna be edited out of this interview! CR.net: Course we do darling! What’d you get?
H: An A and a U!
[Claire sticks her tongue out at him!] CR.net: What’s it like to hear other people singing your songs? What did you think of Allstars on Stars in Your Eyes?
Claire: It was my birthday when that was on. I had a BBQ at my house and everyone came over. It was freaky, but I have to say, I think Thaila did a very good job being me. They really studied it. The weirdest one was the girl who entered to be me though. Just the fact that someone entered to be me, I got really chocked up. The dancer they got to be Lisa was the spitting image of her. It was uncanny. I was really chuffed though! CR.net: Claire, how did it feel being Karen Carpenter?
Claire: It was the most nerve-wracking thing I’ve ever done in my life. It was horrible, I was shaking unbelievably [demonstrates with her hand] – no joke. They tried to get us back on, but I couldn’t have put myself through that again.
H: I was there! CR.net: Who would you want to be H?
H: I’d quite like to be Marilyn Manson. I think that’d surprise everybody. CR.net: You took over Clyde 1 a few weeks back – how was it and would you ever consider becoming a radio comedy act?
H: Before we did it, I would have ruled it out, but I really enjoyed it. We keep asking for more now!
Claire: We thought it was going to be pre-recorded. Where we record the links and it’s all put together later. When we found out it was live, and we were doing it completely by ourselves, I was a bit like ‘Oh My God!’. At the start of it, I was really nervous but once we got into it, it was really good. CR.net: Did you enjoy doing the accents on SMTV?
H: [who has only by this stage worked out that I’m Scottish] Claire’s good at accents. Although, her Scottish one wasn’t very good.
Claire: I always flit into different accents all the time. My boyfriend’s from the midlands, so I’ve picked up a few things from him. People think I’m taking the mickey but I’m not… The only one I never really liked on SMTV was Nurse Rancour. They wanted me to be this tough character and it was a really harsh accent, but then I’d be standing there in full hair and make-up, all glossy. If I’d have been uglied-up [Claire attempts to demonstrate by screwing up her face] then it’d have been easier. And with Claire’s parting ‘ugly face’ that was my interview done. H stood up, thankfully now with his flies done up – he noticed mid-interview that he was “flying low” as he put it – they said thankyou, were nice enough to chat to me for a few moments, take some pictures, and they went away to fulfil the remainder of their hectic schedule. |
