Re-Flex puts theory to the politics of dance
By Cort Fernald
Of the Emerald
The rock'n’roll industry is filled with
tales of bands who played the dingy
clubs and seedy bars for years and then
became an "overnight sensation."
Publicists like these Cinderella stories.
Seldom are the Cinderella stories quite
gospel truth. One exception is the
London-based band Re-Flex, whose
"Politics of Dancing” is receiving con
siderable attention on the American
charts and the AOR radio stations.
Once upon a time, actually two years
ago, Re-Flex submitted a demo tape of
the song "Praying to the Beat" to
Melody Maker magazine's "Playback"
column. Melody Maker liked the demo
tape and included it on its "Playback"
LP. And Re-Flex has been playing happi
ly ever after.
Re-Flex's first release "Praying to the
Beat" became a hit in the U.K. and they
followed it up with "Hitline." The song
"Politics of Dancing" is actually Re
Flex's third single — but their first
American release.
Re-Flex's present line-up consists of
Roland Kerridge on drums, computers
and vocals; Nigel Ross-Scott on bass
guitar and vocals; Paul Fishman on
keyboards, computers and vocals; and
Baxter on guitar and lead vocals.
Re-Flex has been touring America
since February in support of the Police.
The Emerald interviewed Baxter while
he was in Los Angeles. Baxter spoke of
the difference between American and
English audiences and his "theory for
today."
Emerald: You're on tour now?
Baxter: Yeah, we've been over to the
States since the third of February. And
then we did the Police stuff which took
us about three weeks. And then we've
been sort of continuing on our own. I
Emerald: Where are you at now?
Baxter: Over in L.A. at the moment.
Emerald: Are you going to play San
Francisco?
Baxter: Yeah, we got dates in San
Francisco and one in San Diego as well.
Emerald: Too bad you're not coming
up to the Northwest. I think people
would like you here.
Baxter: Well, that would be nice, but
we’re so stuck for time. We're coming
back to the States in April so I think
we re going to get a chance to come up
to the Northwest then.
Emerald: I was going to ask you about
"Politics of Dancing" but I imagine
you're tired of explaining it. Have you
got any new statements about the
song?
Baxter: New statements. . .hmmmmm.
Emerald: Any new theories?
Baxter: I'll tell you the theory for to
day is 'Keep going for God's sake.' "
Emerald: Has touring been that tiring?
Baxter: Ah yeah, we're under a lot of
pressure to do a lot of things, talk to a
lot of people and, you know.. .spread
around the theory. The theory is very
simple. I mean, it's just a case of feeling
good. It's all there in that song
(' Politics of Dancing").
Emerald: I like your approach — that
dancing is political — and liberating.
Baxter: It's a very simple little thing.
We don't write a book on it. It's just a
case of. . it people want to enjoy
themselves they should just do it. Just
get up and enjoy yourselves. You're not
going to make a fool of yourself just
bopping around — just do it.
Emerald: Re-Flex worked hard for a lot
of years, playing pubs, how does it feel
now playing before thousands of
people?
'You really got to prove it
to your home audience
. . . over here, people say:
"OK. This band's here to
entertain'
— Baxter
Baxter: Between us — we're all still
the same people. We still enjoy playing
with each other on stage. I don't see
any reason why we shouldn't. It's just
the audiences have got bigger. The
sound systems have got bigger and the
monitoring has got better (laughs).
Emerald: Have you noticed any dif
ference in audiences in the U.K. and
the U.S.?
Baxter: The attitude towards us, as a
band, having been over here for five
weeks, has been almost total accep
tance. People in America are prepared
to just get up and have a good time. In
England — English people, by nature,
are very critical — unless you've had
five or six number one singles over
there you aren't much. You really got
to prove it to your home audience.
Whereas, over here, people say: 'OK.
This band's here to entertain us, let's
go there and have fun.' That's the
difference.
Emerald: Does that give you a charge?
Baxter: We sort of give ourselves a bit
of a charge. We all get off on each
other musically. We actually enjoy do
ing it. I think a lot of bands don't enjoy
playing live very much, whereas we get
a natural buzz off getting up on stage,
plugging in and doing it. Coming over
here and touring with the Police was
perfect. As far as we're concerned the
Police are the biggest band in the
world.
Emerald: What was it like playing
stadiums?
Baxter: Yeah, stadiums. But to see
those three guys get up there and'just
exude that natural energy — we
couldn't have had better teachers. They
just got up there and had a good time.
Ar 1 the audience, they reacted to that.
When I used to go to concerts — well, I
still do go to concerts — if I see a band
on stage enjoying themselves, it's a lot
easier for me to relax and get into what
they're doing.
Emerald: What's your future now?
Back to the U.K and Germany?
Baxter: Yeah, we're going to go to
Germany. Should be fun. We've been
over there once already. We had to do
a very quick promo trip before we
started the tour.
Emerald: You use computers in your
music. Do you think the guitar is
declining?
Baxter: Even though we use com
puters and things I still bash away on
my guitar.
Emerald: You're a friend of Thomas
Dolby, who is also on the U.S. charts
these days (with "Hyperactive”), do you
stay in contact with him?
Baxter: Very rarely do we bump into
Tom these days, because he's as busy
as us, even though we're with the same
record company. He was part of a cli
que of musicians that I myself was a
part of quite a tew years back.
Emerald: Must be interesting — years
ago being part of a c lique and not on
the charts and now. . .
Baxter: Now everybody's working.
There was a bass player named Mark
Chapley and a drummer called justin
Hildreth who originally played with
Lene Lovitch. Then Tom joined Lene.
And then Justin and Mark went off and
did Tom's first album with him. At the
time I was doing sessions and then the
Ke-Flex thing started up. It sort or all
grew out of that.
Emerald: You'll have a reunion in the
years to come.
Baxter: Oh yeah. Justin, who did the
drum tracks on the album (Dolby's) and
the first album, he was like my first
friend when I moved to London from
the North of England. We were great
buddies. He sort of showed me around
London and introduced me to all his
triends and I became part of that.
fmera/t/:Thanks very much for the
interview.
Baxter: My pleasure — bye.
Re-Flex members are Roland Kerridge,
Nigel Ross-Scott, Raul Fishman and
Baxter.
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