On
behalf of Estonia's Postimees newspaper,
Valner Valme interviewed the Pet Shop
Boys in 1999. The interview was translated
into English by Postimees.
Q: What is the best part of nightlife?
Neil Tennant: Chatting with friends,
drinking…
Chris Lowe: Sure…(laughing). You
know this stuff!
NT: Also clubbing. Recently we went
for the first time to Home which is
a new London nightclub, opened last
Christmas. You have a fantastic view
of West London from the club. An especially
cool part of nightlife is also to meet
those old friends you haven’t
met for a while.
CL: Doing the clubs could be an experience
which changes your life, like for instance
you see completely different lifestyles.
Like I did at a club called Paradise
Garage in New York. It was the first
club without alcohol I have ever been
to. Just dancing… For me this
was a completely new world as I’m
used to partying in a different way,
I was also impressed a few years ago
by a massive field-rave.
Q: By the picture media has been
painting, you should be polite, quiet
and intelligent guys who are as well
a bit arrogant. I would say that, except
for intelligence, this picture is disappearing
…
CL: Hahaha…! Neil can actually
be a real handful, he topples chairs,
sometimes even beats up people.
NT: Well, I sometimes do act like a
football hooligan. But Chris goes mad
at times, too.
Q: Could you give us some funny
stories happened to you?
NT: OK, in the mid-80’s I was
at this party in Hollywood and got really
mad with one guy there. He was rude.
Well, I was wearing steel-soled boots
and booted him in the arse. (Chris is
laughing without a break hearing the
story.)
Also, I remember in 1988 we had been
invited to a TV-show in Germany, we
were No.1 there for the second or third
week. Our lodgings were without any
luxury at all, whilst the organisers
stayed in suites. Well,…we arranged
a small mess in our room (giggling).
Q: What you used to do when being
bored about pop music?
CL: (getting really serious for the
first time) Talking of the modern and
typical stuff, I’m not into that
at all. There more stress on production
than music itself. Every single step
is dictated by a manager, producers
make the music and artists just hop
on the stage like puppets. Such a manufactured
product is bullshit.
NT: I like the early 80’s as far
as pop music goes. People then had something
to say, they had excitement, enthusiasm,
energy…
Q: What could we expect from experienced
Pet Shop Boys on 21st Century?
NT: Our death. This is the most certain
thing to happen to us this century.
CL: I don’t think we’ll
become like the Beatles… that
someone like Yoko Ono once finds an
unreleased single from the bottom of
some drawer – yes, yes, yes!!!
Q: You will soon come to Estonia.
Are you interested at all to see any
new countries?
NT: I have been in Finland before.
If Estonia is anything like Finland,
I will like it very much. I’ve
been thinking about a holiday somewhere
there. By the way, this tour will bring
us to many places we are going to for
the first time. Like Greece, Israel…
we expect a lot as well from Ukraine…
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