Wendy James races back into view
By Tom Bishop
BBC News Online entertainment staff



James moved to New York to record an album under the name Racine
Wendy James, the seductive former singer with punk-pop band
Transvision Vamp, is back with her first album in 11 years.
She burst onto the music scene in 1988 with the boisterous I Want
Your Love, which along with Baby I Don't Care helped Transvision
Vamp notch up seven top 30 hits in the UK.

The forthright James earned the band acres of media coverage yet,
despite American, Australian and European success, Transvision Vamp
split in 1991.

"We were the definition of a pop band," says James. "We shot into
the sky, burned brightly then exploded. Pop."

Musical shift

The decision to quit was mutual, she says, after three albums and a
gruelling world tour which left the four-piece exhausted.

"If our record company had given us some time off, Transvision Vamp
may have been able to continue for a few more years," she reflects.

"But by then music had moved on. People were into Public Enemy, De
La Soul and the Madchester scene. Suddenly being in a white pop band
wasn't such an exciting proposition."

TRANSVISION VAMP'S UK HITS

I Want Your Love
No 5, June 1988
Revolution Baby
No 30, Sep 1988
Baby I Don't Care
No 3, April 1989
The Only One
No 15, June 1989
Landslide of Love
No 14, Aug 1989
Born to be Sold
No 22, Nov 1989
(I Just Wanna) B With U
No 30, April 1991
After her solo career made a stuttering start with Now Ain't the
Time For Your Tears, a poorly-received album of songs written for
her by Elvis Costello, James vanished from public life.

While she had contributed to Transvision Vamp material, James was
now determined to write her own songs from scratch, so she taught
herself to play the guitar, drums, keyboards and anything else she
could lay her hands on.

"When touring and promoting records constantly you come to resent
the recording studio," she explains. "I had to give myself space to
experiment and allow those sparks of inspiration to come."

Two years ago James moved from London to New York and recorded under
the pseudonym Racine, the name of a drag strip in Chicago which also
means "roots" in French.

"I never pictured myself as a lone female singer-songwriter," she
says.

"I'm not a Joni Mitchell type. I like being part of a gang, so I
took on a band name even though I played everything myself."

Lyrical lust

The result was the album Racine Number One, a self-assured mix of
hypnotic electronic beats, warm guitars, lyrical lust and boy
racers.

"It's exactly the sound I wanted to make," James says.

"There is a quiet calm there but also a great deal of strength and
confidence. It accurately reflects my personality."


I have always been inspired by people who have the conviction to do
something different

Wendy James
James is delighted that the album sounds like nothing else in the
chart, even as she prepares to release her single Grease Monkey.

"I have always been inspired by artists who have the conviction to
do something different, and the balls to stand up in front of an
audience and say 'this is me - take it or leave it'.

"You can trace that right back to Chuck Berry and Little Richard
through to Public Enemy's Chuck D, Dr Dre and Eminem. Rap is the
most exciting form of music for me at the moment."

Nevertheless James admits she would love to have a number one
single. "Of course I would!" she smiles. "I just don't want all the
attention that comes with it."

Artistic freedom

Smoking an American Spirit cigarette, she says she enjoys the
artistic freedom and opportunities of living in New York and does
not plan to move back to London any time soon.

"I can wake up every day and see the Empire State Building from my
window," James says. "It's like being right in the middle of a Woody
Allen movie."

Neither does she intend to re-join Transvision Vamp, even if a
lucrative deal was offered.

"They know better than to ask me," she says. "Why would I want to go
backwards?"