Wendy James On Transvision Vamp’s Return To Australia

British pop rock band Transvision Vamp are bringing their 80’s smash hits down under for the first time in almost three decades. Headlining cities across Australia in February 2026, the group will be playing the nostalgia-filled favourites you know and love. Rising to fame in the late 80’s, Transvision Vamp enjoyed unbelievable success in Australia. With their top single Baby I Don’t Care reaching number three in the UK and Australian Charts, the band drew global media attention fort heir rebellious and anarchic image. They will be bringing iconic tracks like Baby I Don’t Care, I Want Your Love and The Only One to venues in Brisbane, Sunshine Coast, Newcastle, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

Formed in 1986, their 1988 debut album Pop Art peaked at #4 on the UK album charts and was certified platinum in Australia. Transvision Vamp followed up with their notorious 1989 album Velveteen, delivering their #1 hit Baby I Don’t Care. Proving to be their most successful year, 1989 saw the band spent twenty weeks in the Australian top 50 single charts and 25 in the top 100 album charts.

Front-woman Wendy James went on to pursue a successful solo career spanning an additional seven studio albums, including a notable collaboration with Elvis Costello. She served as a feminist symbol in the 80’s for unapologetic self-expression and fearless leadership. Wendy James talks to Hi Fi Way about the tour.

When I saw the tour announcement, I was definitely surprised, shocked, but excited that Transvision Vamp is coming back to Australia!
Yeah, it’s insane and you’ve seen the reception. It’s just been… well, you can imagine how happy I feel at the moment, just hearing the waves of commentary on social media from Australian fans, some who saw me the first time around, and many whose parents told them they were too young to come. So this time, everyone can come, and I just think we’re all going to feel like we’re seventeen again. It’s going be the best time. I’m really, really happy.

That generational shift, seeing different groups of fans coming through, must be humbling as part of going on tour again?
Yeah, I don’t know… the whole passage of time. If the band has legs, as they say, then it does pass on down through the decades, doesn’t it? There’ll be the OGs, the originals, including me, that were there the first time and then there’ll be kids whose parents were fans, and now they’ve drummed Transvision Vamp into them. I’m looking forward to everyone being there who can get in.

How tricky was it to get the planets to align and make this tour happen?
It was the quickest, easiest thing. I hadn’t thought about it, I’ve been happily making my own albums in the interim years. But after my tenth album did really well last year and I played some successful shows, I thought, “What the hell, I’ve got to get back to Australia. It’s where it all started.” It started in Britain, sure, but Australia took us up and raised us up. So I wrote to Adelaide, to The Gov, and a few others including Northcote Theatre in Melbourne. One guy said, “You should talk to this promoter at Destroy All Lines.” I did, and a couple of weeks later he came back with proposed dates and said, “We’ve got to get Transvision Vamp out here. Can you do it?” I just said, “Yes. F. Yes.” The whole thing went into high gear. I messaged all the players, “Are you up for this?” Meanwhile, Destroy All Lines was putting together the schedule, the artwork, ticket links… and now four venues have already sold out. Two nearly sold out in pre-sale. It’s been amazing.

It just goes to show good music stands the test of time. That’s a testament to your creativity.
Wendy:
The songs. Baby I Don’t Care, I Want Your Love, and others from Transvision Vamp, they haven’t dated. You know how some bands sound like a specific era? Like, “Oh, that’s 90s goth.” But some of those Transvision Vamp songs still take your head off in 2025. They stand up. Incredible.

You’ve got an enormous career to draw from. We’d happily watch you play for three or four hours, but are you focusing on particular albums, or just trying to represent your career in ninety minutes?
I’ve got fifteen Transvision Vamp songs, that’s a set list in its own right and my poor musicians… I’ve tasked them with learning two and a half hours of material. I think they’ve had forty seven songs to learn.
So when we step out on stage, Transvision Vamp will be a fixed date. Then there’ll be a rotation of my favourites, some Australians will know them, some will be new. I’ve only picked the real ones, the rockers that fit with Transvision Vamp, and a few softer ones like Bad Valentine. I haven’t worked out the whole thing yet, it’s in February, and we’re still in August. But… shit! I’m honing in on what it’s going to be, but I have an enormous selection of Transvision vamp to play as well.

So, who’s going to be in the band on tour this time around?
Well, Dave, that was another little step forward. At the end of last year, I didn’t have a bass player. The one I’d been working with went off to do other stuff. I was thinking, okay, I can ask the guys who they know on bass, which is usually how it works. Then I thought, Dave keeps popping up at my shows when I play a certain venue near where he lives in Britain. It’s always so lovely to see him, he comes backstage, and it’s like we’re still in the band. So I messaged him and said, “Do you want to come back?” And he just said yes.

So Dave’s in. On drums, I’ve got James Sclavunos from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. He’s been with me for a decade now, played on my last three albums, we’ve toured a ton together. You’ll know him from Nick Cave and Grinderman. He’s a phenomenal musician, a great friend, and a solid wingman. On guitar, I’ve got two players, Alex Ward, who’s Thurston Moore’s guitarist and has been with me for years, and Pip, who’s on lead guitar. He’s amazing and has toured with me too. we’re actually the six-piece band that Transvision Vamp ended up being. We started as a four-piece, but quickly expanded to include two guitars and a keyboard. It’s an incredible lineup.

It must be exciting to have such incredible players. I imagine rehearsals are when the energy really starts to build?
Yeah, when you plug in your amps and start running through the songs, it’s the same feeling as recording an album. You hear it start to come together. They’ve been tasked with learning quite a few songs. Well, not Dave, he’s probably just re-remembering. I’ve always been playing Transvision Vamp stuff, like Baby I Don’t Care. On my last tour, I played Down on You, which sounds great live. I love ending a set with Bad Valentine, it’s a lovely way to take it down a notch and say goodnight to the audience. We’re doing replicas of Transvision Vamp, not reinterpretations. You’re going to get what you heard all those years ago.

From touring back in the day here in Australia, what memories still stick out for you?
So many. Gig-wise, I loved playing the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney, we did two shows there, and it was really exciting. I particularly remember Melbourne, though I don’t recall the venue name. A lot of the video footage we released to promote this tour, where the girls are screaming inside the record store, that’s from Melbourne. We had police on horseback. We made the ten o’clock news because the streets had to be closed off. Before the show, we were doing a record signing, and it turned into a riot on the streets. There’s a girl in that footage screaming at the camera, and what she’s saying is, “They’re bigger than the Beatles!” And for her, we were. I hope she’s heard I’ve been mentioning her in my anecdotes. Maybe she’ll come to a show.

That’s wild.
It was nuts. I remember being on Countdown, I remember Molly Meldrum. So many stories, what it was like flying to Sydney, traveling across the city. Times were less regulated then. It was wild.

Looking at how the industry works now with all the pitfalls of touring and releasing music, do you miss the good old days? It seemed less complicated back then.
No, I don’t miss it. It would be a shame to be in the present and not enjoy it. But I treasure those days, and they still excite me. The internet changed everything. It wasn’t around when I started, but now we’re a global community. That’s a good thing for music. Back then, you’d have to read a fanzine or a letter in a pop magazine to hear from fans. Now, I can hear directly from Australian fans. If you’re in Adelaide wondering, “Whatever happened to Wendy James?” you can find out in two minutes. I’ve got fans all over the world. Someone from the rainforests of Peru might message me saying they love Sister Moon. It’s so much bigger than we think. Music is a common language, it’s what lets me fly to Australia, walk out on stage, and have people there who love the music. It’s phenomenal, isn’t it?

Even when you look back, is there anything you’d do differently if you had your time over? Maybe savour some of those memories more, or enjoy the moment a little more?
That’s a tricky philosophical question. When things are going at a hundred miles an hour, it’s a kind of syndrome. It’s only about six months after you’ve come off tour that your actual memories start filtering to the surface. When you’re in it, laughing, singing, performing, it’s all flashing past. You’re loving it in the moment, but you don’t have time to truly savour it. It’s only when you settle back down that you think, “Oh my god, that night in Paris was insane.” That’s when the memories get stored in the vault and not forgotten. So yes, you love it while it’s happening, but there’s no time to pause and reflect until later.

What’s next for you beyond February? Any new music or other projects on the horizon?
If nothing happens after February, I’ll start writing more songs. But Spain has already stuck their hat in the ring, they want a Spanish tour. So I’ve got the feeling I’ll be on the road quite a bit and I’m here for that. That’s what we’ll do. I’m really excited to play The Gov. I look at artists I consider contemporaries, or people I keep an eye on in the music business, and when they come to Australia, they play The Gov.
When I first started this, writing letters to venues, The Gov was one of the first I reached out to. I’m very excited to play there and I’ve got great memories of Adelaide from back in the day. So… let’s just do it.

Interview By Rob Lyon

Catch Transvision Vamp on the following dates, tickets from Destroy All Lines…