Australia To Go Wild For Kim Wilde…

Since the 1980’s UK pop icon KIM WILDE has thrilled fans across the globe with her infectious hits and engaging live performances. WILDE makes her long awaited return to Australian shores with her first tour in eight years and will deliver a nostalgic and memorable Greatest Hits package.

Mention KIM WILDE and people’s eyes light up. The blonde singer with the siren voice and girl-next-door appeal is one of pop music’s most dazzling stars. The French consider her the “Brigitte Bardot of Rock”; German fans still revere her as the sexiest glamour girl to come out of the 80s and in Australia she has always been very close to our hearts having charted three number one mega-hits – Kids In America, You Keep Me Hangin’ On and If I Can’t Have You as well as another six Top 40 hits including Cambodia, You Came, View From A Bridge, and Chequered Love.

To put her amazing career in perspective she has sold over thirty million records globally and is the most successful British female artist of the 80’s! WILDE has exhibited a great deal of versatility as the only person in history to obtain a #1 U.S. charting single and a Gold Medal at the Chelsea Flower Show.

The Australian tour marks yet another significant milestone in WILDE’s long and distinguished career and highlights her enduring popularity and influence in the pop music world. Australia fell deeply in love with WILDE in the 80’s and it’s a love affair that has never ended! Kim talks to Hi Fi Way about the tour.

It must feel like an eternity ago since your last Australian tour. You must be really excited coming back?
Oh, I really am, I think the last time we were was in 2016 with Howard Jones. That was a great tour. I’ve just been itching to get back ever since. It’s quite a long time ago and then, of course, we had COVID in between times as well when we thought we’d never go anywhere ever again. It’s been a long time Australia. I can’t wait to get back.

Are you blown away by the interest in the shows so far with a number already selling out?
It’s amazing, absolutely amazing. We are so excited. There are so many great things going on for us just in the UK at the moment. The single “Trail Of Destruction” is becoming really popular and we’re just finishing the mixes on the new album. That comes out at the end of next January. There’s so much going on. It’s so it’s really exciting.

How would you describe your new single compared to some of your other material?
The new album is called Closer and we used the blueprint of my 1988 album Close. My single Trail Of Destruction. it’s got a lot of attitude to it in the same way that I think a song Never Trust A Stranger had. It gives me a chance to strut across the stage. So, I get to do a lot of strutting. I like strutting!

Is that a bit of a glimpse to the rest of the album?
It’s a pretty varied album and it’s very accessible pop, it’s challenging, it’s rocky, it’s mysterious in places. It’s got a lot going on for us. It’s a real mixed bag in the same way that my album Close was back in 1988. As I say, we use the Close album as a blueprint for the mix of songs that we wanted to have on this album. I think we’ve surpassed ourselves. I think people are going to be really enchanted by this album because I know we are.

Is that something that’s still really important for you to keep being creative and putting out new music as well?
Yeah, you can enjoy the past more when you’ve got a foot in the future, getting stuck in a place isn’t much fun, I don’t think. In the in the past twenty years, even though I’ve been doing a lot of rewind stuff and 80 stuff, I’ve been recording new albums and we put in new material into the set all the time. We keep it fresh for ourselves and for the audience and that’s really important, it helps you embrace the past more easily.

Did anything in particular drive or influence your creativity on this new album?
It’s been influenced by our live work of which we do an awful lot. I’ve got a fantastic band and we’re always on the road, so it has certainly been influenced by that. We have a feel for the kind of songs that will work great live and fit in with the mix of songs we’re already doing. The new album is very fresh. It nods to the past, but it’s very contemporary. But anyway, I’ll let the public be the judge of that. I’m just grinning like a Cheshire cat because I know you’re going to love it.

How was the studio experience and do you enjoy the grind of working in the studio to see what you come up with?
Oh yeah. It’s very creative space. We recorded the album in Rick’s studio Doghouse Studios. It’s an intimate, small space, but we get a lot of great work done there. The songwriting process has been really interesting. It’s spanned over the last two years. A lot of the writing has been augmented by some brilliant songwriting by my niece Scarlett Wilde. She’s in my band, she’s coming to Australia with us of course, she’s been in my band for about sixteen years. Scarlett has turned into this fab pop songwriter. We’ve got a lot of energy and a lot of inspiration to draw on for this project and it really shows.

What was your reaction as these songs were starting to take shape and come together as a whole album?
A couple of mixes came over from the studio which blew me away a bit. It’s amazing. All these years later, to still feel so excited about pop music. As I’ve got older, and I’m nearly sixty-four now, when I look at the world and the things that you’re supposed to believe in that are supposed to be good for you, they’ve all really failed miserably. Everything I put my faith in that that wasn’t pop music has pretty much let me down I think and pop music has been one of the ones that never, never does.

With a new album on the way and given this tour is only about to start does that create a little more pressure to come back sooner?
Yes, it’s kind of frustrating that we can’t land some of the new stuff while we’re in Australia this time, but this is the greatest hits tour and I think we will be doing Trail Of Destruction though.

Do you feel like pinching yourself how things continue to stronger and stronger?
Yeah, it’s amazing at the moment. Trail Of Destruction is on the A-list on Radio 2, which is the biggest radio station in the UK. To be at this stage in my career, in my life, and to have a single out that’s done that and it’s getting so much interest and love is really overwhelming I have to say. It’s great being me these days, I tell you, I’ve been to some places in my life, up and down, down and up, but this one is a real high. It’s fantastic.
What are the achievements that you are the most proud of? That’s the thing, I’ve had awards and I’ve had a Brit. For me success is measured by how I feel when I wake up in the morning. I’m really happy with the career that I’ve had. It wasn’t the biggest career in the world and I’m really happy it wasn’t because it didn’t consume me. It was a big career and it is a big career. But there are much bigger, bigger stars than I am and who have sold many, many more records and have have to pay a much higher price for their fame than I’ve had to. I was able to go out shopping today without a bodyguard. There’s lots of people who are making music and who have a very high profile who don’t have that simple luxury.

Would you do anything differently if you had your time over again, or do believe that things happen for a reason?
I do believe things happen for a reason. I absolutely do. I believe in things like reincarnation as well, as I’ve got older that that concept really interests me. I wrote a song about it on the new album. It’s the last song on the album. There’s lots of things that really interest me as I get older, very simple things like looking after wildlife and making sure that making sure that the environment is looked after as best possible.

Is it still a huge buzz playing these hit singles night after night and the powerful legacy it continues to build?
It gets stronger every year, that’s the weird thing. Seeing all these younger fans coming through is amazing. I said what are you doing here? It’s weird to see these really young teenagers some of them, twenty something year olds. It’s amazing! I love it! Very diverse audience I have. They’re a friendly bunch, though, and they love pop music. I love singing. That’s the thing. I just love singing and I love playing with my band. We have such a good time. It’s insane and not fair really with how much fun we have. We really appreciate it and I think we enjoy it more at this stage in our lives than we did back then. It was all about having a hip record and there was so much competition. There was often a lot of disappointment too when songs didn’t do so well. Then the whole growing up thing is such a bore and when you get to my age, you’ve done all the growing up stuff and then you can just coast gently downhill the good part of life.

It’s going to be a great night. Every gig in Australia is going to be a great night. We’re going to make the most of every single one. We can’t wait. I’m so excited and then we’re going to stay on after the tour and have a little holiday in Australia as well.

Interview By Rob Lyon

Catch Kim Wilde on the following dates, tickets from Metropolis Touring/ DRW Entertainment…