Pictures of Lily 1995 Portishead Interview With Beth Gibbons
Published in Campus Circle February 7, 1995 Issue
Hello!
Beth Gibbons of Portishead has her debut solo album, Lives Outgrown, coming out on May 17th. I had an assignment to interview her about the album for SPIN, but was told, “She doesn’t do interviews,” and “The last one she gave was in 1995.” Well, guess what, I have that 1995 interview with Beth, which I conducted when Portishead was touring North America in support of their 1994 debut album, Dummy.
I can’t say that Beth was the most comfortable doing a phone interview with me, but I believe she became more comfortable as our interview marched on. Reading the article, I see that we talked a lot about the creation of the music. Coincidentally, that interview happened this very month, just over two weeks to the day some 29 years ago.
Since that interview, I have hung out with Beth a few times, including driving her and a bunch of super-fun women from their hotel to somewhere, I can’t remember where, in the middle of the day. I’ve also spent some long nights into mornings after Portishead shows in hotel rooms with Beth. The impression I get from fans of the band is that Beth’s personality must be like their music sounds. On the contrary, I found her to be gregarious, friendly, warm, supportive and eager to make connections. She made me feel fantastic with all the nice things she said to me when I was driving her that one time.
Here’s our first encounter, which, as I said, was a phone interview, for a feature in Campus Circle, at the time a Southern California magazine which circulated on college campuses and anywhere else they would let a pile of them get dropped off.
Please click on the interview page below to see an enlarged version that’s easy to read. And please enjoy those mid-’90s ads that are taking up half the page, and most likely paying for the page to get printed.