The music legend Peter Murphy survived the breakup of goth group Bauhaus to carve out his own niche as a solo artist. Murphy finished a promo tour across the United States for his new album dropping in June called Ninth. With a career that has lasted decades, this "Bela Lugosi's Dead" singer plans on living on forever.
Windy City Times: Hello, Peter. You are just arriving in Chicago at the end of your tour.
Peter Murphy: Yes, it is the third leg. This is the pre warm up to the album release tour. We are going to Europe in June. Then we will be back here in the States, which is kind of my home I feel.
Windy City Times: You live in Turkey, right?
Peter Murphy: I do but I have been coming over the East Coast for many years now. After the tour I am going to California, north of San Francisco to stay with a friend. I will be meeting with some directors and casting agents in LA. I have a remix that I am going to do for "Beautiful Boy." I have one more cut to finish for the album then I am going to make a video for "I Spit Roses."
Windy City Times: I just listened to that track. Is this your ninth album and the reason it's called Ninth?
Peter Murphy: It is, and not trying to be obvious with a conceptual name. A little bit like So. Remember that album?
Windy City Times: From Peter Gabriel?
Peter Murphy: Yes, when he named it So I thought that was so easy and good, very small for the message. Ninth is my ninth album. It is what it is and really something. I didn't want to dress it up.
Windy City Times: Similar to the singer Adele, who names her albums for the age she makes them.
Peter Murphy: I don't know who that is.
Windy City Times: She is a British singer who won the Grammy for Best New Artist.
Peter Murphy: I have lost track of all of that. I don't give much credence to the Grammys, anyway. There are always the likely suspects. It gets a little bit boring.
Windy City Times: Has Bauhaus not been in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?
Peter Murphy: No, thank God.
Windy City Times: You wouldn't want to be in it?
Peter Murphy: Well, it would be great I suppose. But who decides? Some bloke that owns the Hall of Fame or music aficionados who get to decide that? If it did happen then I guess it means that I have made a mark.
Windy City Times: Well, you have. They refer to you as the "Godfather of Goth."How do you live up to that?
Peter Murphy: It is a great compliment. I think there has always been more to it than that. I have been more eclectic than a goth artist. Bauhaus was never really goth at all. It is a label that has evolved over the years. I think goth culture has developed by a part of what Bauhaus did and others too, such as Joy Division, Siouxsie and all of those people. But that is long gone.
The gothic culture does have a wide reach now. It is very diverse. It is not only the American audience but worldwide. I remember I took my son to see Rammstein in Istanbul. They are kind of like metal opera to me. The singer said to me when we went backstage, "You are a legend. We are looking for a goth club to go here." I wouldn't have thought he was a goth at all. I have no idea so don't ask me.
Windy City Times: I recently interviewed David J recently.
Peter Murphy: Poor thing. How is he doing?
Windy City Times: We were hanging out at a gallery.
Peter Murphy: Is he still milking the Bauhaus thing?
Windy City Times: Well, a little…
Peter Murphy: On our tour, he showed up in New York and was holding an exhibition. It was all photographs of us. He was milking the Bauhaus thing. What the fuck was he doing that for? We didn't want him to do that. That is our image. I am hoping he is trying to rely on his own work now.
Windy City Times: He was all about promoting his own work.
Peter Murphy: He is very much the self-marketing type.
Windy City Times: I asked him if he would ever get back together and he said, "Too much water under the bridge."
Peter Murphy: He wouldn't be allowed in. If you want Bauhaus I am holding the flag. Daniel and I will work together again but with David never.
Windy City Times: Your solo work stands on its own.
Peter Murphy: I have ostensibly always been Peter Murphy. I am always a solo artist in a sense. I haven't been part of a band since 1983. When I reformed Bauhaus it was under the impulse of me. If the Bauhaus audience wants Bauhaus then they come to me now.
Windy City Times: You played a role in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.
Peter Murphy: Yes, it was a short cameo.
Windy City Times: What do you think of that franchise?
Peter Murphy: I didn't read the books but saw the first film. I thought it was a beautiful romance, actually. It was almost Gone With the Wind! I love Kristen. She is a beautiful actress. I thought the whole idea to that low key not over ridiculous horrified notion of a vampire was beautiful. What I liked a lot was the fact that then when they come out to the light they become iridescent. Vegetarian vampires controlling their addiction, not being able to be human but just as vulnerable I liked a lot.
Windy City Times: I talked vampires with Anne Rice recently.
Peter Murphy: I hear she is a very devout Catholic now. She is still in New Orleans?
Windy City Times: No, she is in California to be closer to her son.
Peter Murphy: She's very supportive of her son, who is gay. He's a nice guy. I watched a documentary on her and he was a part of it.
Windy City Times: I am sorry to hear about the passing of your friend Mick Karn, but you were able to make a few songs with him not too long ago.
Peter Murphy: I felt a great impulse to reconnect with him after about 20 years. I didn't know what I was going to find in terms of health condition. On a pure level I was able to be there and support him.
A lot of people shy away from death; they find it too intense. I didn't have that attachment because we hadn't seen each other for so long. It was serious but in remission and he was living his life with a wife and daughter. He was able to physically make an album and it really paid off. It is his last work and a great compliment to me that he felt so great about working together. As it turned out, I raised a bit of money from a kind philanthropist that funded the whole recording. We did it in 10 days. We reached a point when Mick became sick so we gathered as much as we could. We did end up with three new pieces and one that he added to, it has been arranged a bit. I have one more fragment to do that I am going to do next week then it will be ready.
Windy City Times: Oh, good.
Peter Murphy: I have the cover ready and everything else. I am basically handing everything over to the estate of Mick. So it will be up to them for the release date.
Windy City Times: Do you want to do more acting? You are very theatrical in your live performances.
Peter Murphy: I think I can really go for it. Obviously I am not going to be a lead actor but I think I can do a Gary Oldman type of character parts. That is another reason I am going on up to California to meet creative people there in the film industry. The Twilight experience, even though shorter, I was working for three days and felt very comfortable. Who knows? We will see…
Let's hope June 7 is a lucky number when Ninth debuts. Click on www.petermurphy.info to follow the godfather.
