http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/oct/30/30-minutes-with-tracey-thorn-everything-but-girl
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Hi Tracey. You’re about to release a double CD collection of solo recordings and collaborations from the last three decades. What story does the album tell?

Well, I wrote some sleevenotes where I said it’s a bit of a demonstration of the term Bedsit Disco Queen (1). It’s got the bedsit songs – the early, sitting-on-your-bed-with-an-acoustic-guitar songs. Then there’s the more dance stuff from the mid-90s onwards. I suppose it tells the story of me having had a foot in both camps for quite a long time.

Was there anything in the archives that made you think, “This should probably go on, but it’s terrible”?

There wasn’t actually that much to go through. What’s missing (2) from the early days is any sort of demos or live stuff, because I didn’t do any. The starting point was A Distant Shore, which was only eight tracks anyway – I thought I’d recorded demos but the label said, “Brilliant, let’s release it as it is.”

You recently watched Mean Girls for the first time. What did you think?

I thought it was funny; my kids thought it was hysterical. They kept going: “Oh my God! Yes! That! So much that!’” And I was like, “Really? That’s really what you’re all like? That’s horrible!” Terrifying. Amy Poehler’s character is the best thing in that film.

Are you a cool mum or a regular mum?

How do I know?! (Guffaws) I’m much more of a regular mum.

How much would you be happy to see your autograph going for on eBay?

To me, an autograph isn’t worth much. I was sitting at the kitchen table signing copies of my new album, thinking: “This is madness – why do people want it more because I’ve written my name on it?” I will now go and look on eBay to see if I have any monetary value. (3)

Taylor Swift says that, for teenage fans, autographs have no currency in the age of the selfie.

Well luckily I don’t have any teenage fans! (laughs) So I’m spared! Actually, even my fans now do selfies, but we’re all hopeless at it because we’re all old. It’s all: “Ooooh! I’ve got the phone round the wrong way! Oh, you take it!” And then someone else takes it and it’s not a selfie at all.

You took several years off at the start of the noughties. If you’d made an album during that time, what would it have sounded like? Bear in mind Busted and Avril Lavigne were big.

I don’t know, in all honesty. You say those people were big then but I just wasn’t paying any attention at all. Actually I’ll tell you what it would have sounded like — The Wheels on the Bus.

The Wheels on the Bus is a banger, let’s be fair.

It is a banger. I could have done some remixes (4). I really switched off though, from music, completely. But I was ready for a break. Having the kids didn’t force me to stop; I used them as an excuse to stop.

Protection is on the new album, and you carry a yellow plastic bag in that song’s video.

The bit when I’m walking in the corridor?

Yes. Does it strike you as strange that if you were recording it now, the video would have cost an extra 5p to film?

(Guffaws) Yes it would cost 5p more. But perhaps, I think, I’d have been carrying a bag-for-life. Because I would have said: “No, I must not be seen carrying a polluting carrier bag”.

It is quite a ‘bag for life’ kind of song.

It is. Maybe we should go back and re-edit the video. Yes.

Massive Attack are off on tour next year. Given how fond you are of performing live these days, will you be joining them on stage?

If they asked me, I would say, “Thank you, but no, I don’t do that any more,” which is my answer to every request like that I get. Whether that’s the answer forever, I don’t know, but it’s the answer at the moment.

How is standing on a stage talking about your books easier than singing a song?

I hear you, completely. I think it’s because it’s not a performance. Nothing much is going to happen, so nothing much can go wrong. With singing, for it to be worthwhile at all, you need to open yourself up and be vulnerable on stage. You’ve got to commit. And if you get stagefright, that’s the point you get scared. It’s to do with being exposed. But exposing yourself in your lyrics is fine?

Yes! As long as I can stay at home. (Laughs) That’s one of the reasons I loved our tracks being remixed. People could be up on their feet on the dancefloor, bonding over the music, and I could be at home knitting.

What’s the last thing you knitted?

Well, I’m a really bad knitter. I do knit scarves quite regularly. I can do gloves, but they need to be fingerless. These are what I knit people for Christmas. I need to start my Christmas knitting soon, actually.

If there was a 2015 version of Red Wedge, would you get involved, and which artists would you expect to see either side of you? (5)

Would I get involved? I probably wouldn’t. To be completely honest, I’m not as active and engaged as I used to be. And I wouldn’t want to stick my head on the line, given the climate on Twitter. That might strike people as cowardly, but that’s the truth. As for who else would be up there — well, Charlotte Church would probably be the leader of Red Wedge, wouldn’t she?

What’s the most you’ve ever spent on a pair of socks?

I’ve honestly never bought exciting socks. Probably £3.50? I buy my socks from Gap. I do buy expensive tights, though. Does that count? Cheap socks, expensive tights. There you go.

Foot notes

(1) Bedsit Disco Queen: How I Grew Up and Tried to Be a Pop Star was Tracey’s first book. It is 384 pages long.

(2) Like the deserts miss the rain.

(3) A signed hardback copy of Tracey’s second book Naked at the Albert Hall is £16.99 on eBay, with a regular edition costing £14.29 on Amazon. Tracey’s autograph is worth £2.70.

(4) In 2012 Justin Fletcher – AKA Mr Tumble – released a version with subtle reggaeton vibes.

(5) Tracey was a member of the 80s Labour-fancying pop collective, alongside Billy Bragg, Paul Weller and Strawberry Switchblade.

[Edited 10/30/15 7:57am]

Thanks for this article! Looking forward to getting the Solo collection and reading her book.