Elaine Daley

NAME:
Elaine Daley

BORN:
May 20th 1950

FROM:
Lincoln

NEBRASKA:
Fuck off

IN THE BAND YOU ARE:
Bass guitarist

PREVIOUS BANDS:
Cat’s Cradle

TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT CAT’S CRADLE:
Dee told you pretty much everything you need to know. We weren’t very good, we were never going to get very far. There was nothing distinctive about us.

WHAT INSTRUMENT DO YOU PLAY:
A Gibson Thunderbird bass.

WHY DO YOU ALL PLAY GIBSONS:
They produce the sound we’re looking for. They do all the hard work for you.

DO YOU PLAY ANY OTHER INSTRUMENTS:
No. I had piano lessons when I was a kid, but they stopped.

ANY OTHER BASS GUITARS OTHER THAN THE THUNDERBIRD:
You should have said that. I have an Ibanez five string I use in the studio.

DO YOU EVER PLAY A FRETLESS BASS:
Fretless? I’m not a violinist, I play in a rock band.

WHAT IS YOUR STRONG POINT:
I don’t know. That’s a stupid question, like asking, do you think you’re clever. Ask other people what my strong point is.

WHAT IS YOUR WEAK POINT:
Interviews. I don’t see the point of them.

TELL US ABOUT THE OTHER MEMBERS OF TOTEN HERZEN:
Musically, we’re all pretty average, but something happens when we start playing at the same time, but I don’t know why that is. Maybe it’s the instruments. Personally, Susan is a driven individual and will probably collapse one of these days, just through sheer psychological mindfuck. Dee will be murdered sooner or later. She has self-destruction written through her like a stick of rock. It’ll probably be Susan who kills her. Rene is switched off most of the time to get some peace, and then when he’s working he can’t hear us because he plays the drums. I’m surprised Rene hasn’t walked before now.

TELL US SOMETHING THAT WILL SURPRISE US:
I was born with hair like this.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF TOTEN HERZEN FANS:
You get the fans you deserve. If they’re all nutters that’s our fault for attracting nutters, but it wasn’t planned. The only downside is when we get the bill for their damage.

WHERE DO YOU SEE TOTEN HERZEN IN TEN YEARS TIME:
It’ll be over in ten years time. Susan will be an ambassador for the UN, Rene will be buying old vintage cars and doing them up, Dee will be a pile of dust blowing around the suburbs of Rotterdam or across the Wash.

AND YOU:
I’ll still be stuck here in this interview.

WHICH OTHER MUSICAL ARTISTS DO YOU ADMIRE:
Chris Squire is really the only name that comes to mind, but not for his bass playing, more his leadership and temperement. He reminds me a little of Dave Gilmour. Single minded, intimidating.

WHICH BANDS DO YOU LISTEN TO:
A lot of rock and seventies punk, some ELP now and again, some Yes. Prog and punk, I should have answered your surprise question with this answer.

RECOMMEND ONE NON-ROCK SONG:
Do you ever say please?

PLEASE RECOMMEND ONE NON-ROCK SONG:
Once. It’s a song in the closing credits of Brotherhood of the Wolf. Always makes me cry.

MAKES YOU CRY:
No. See, I surprised you again.

IF YOUR HOUSE CAUGHT FIRE WHAT WOULD YOU RESCUE:
The insurance policy.

COUNTRY:
Next.

IF YOU WEREN’T A BASS GUITARIST WHAT WOULD YOU BE:
I left school with an aptitude for languages and chemistry so something that combines the two. I like knowing how things work, it comforts me. Maybe engineering or working in a laboratory making things grow in a petri dish.

WITH YOUR INTEREST IN HOW THINGS WORK HAVE YOU EVER STUDIED WHAT YOU ARE:
No. Have you ever studied what you are?

WHAT DO YOU SAY TO PEOPLE WHO ACCUSE YOU OF NOT BEING THE ORIGINAL TOTEN HERZEN:
They’re probably right. I wake up sometimes and think I don’t feel myself today.

WHY DID YOU AGREE TO A COMEBACK:
The others agreed and I didn’t want to be alone in the house.