Chanteuse Becc Sanderson is bringing her show ‘Bx’ to Fringe World, a riotous celebration of her 25 years of treading the chords!
In the show Sanderson revisits songs by Leslie Gore, Simple Minds, Kate Bush and more than one by David Bowie.
Perth audiences lovingly remember Becc Sanderson from her days, back in the ‘90s, in front of the Sweet Blue Midnights and from her solo albums she released after the popular band’s run. Back then Sanderson was using her much more formal name ‘Elizabeth’ when performing.
Today the artist and her family are living in Edinburgh and she’s reverted to her teenage nickname Becc. Our conversation about her show took place just a few hours after the news broke that David Bowie had died. Given several of the singer’s songs are in Sanderson’s show, we began by talking about the iconic singer.
“I’m just in bits,” Sanderson confided, “Absolute fucking bits. I do an early morning yoga class and always turn on the radio afterwards, just to catch up on the news, and there were all these tributes coming in… then I suddenly thought ‘They’re talking about him in the past tense?’ I had to pull the car over. It’s devastating.”
“There’s no one else on the planet like him, David Bowie is David Bowie!” Sanderson said. “When you look at his work, you never got the impression he was focused on what would sell, he was just following what he was interested in.” Sanderson reflected on the singer’s work and declared that we’re lucky to be alive at the same time of artists like him.
In her show ‘Bx’ Sanderson talks about how particular artists have played a big part of different parts of her life. Sanderson said as a teenager was she comforted by songs from Kate Bush.
“Teenage years were particularly difficult for me, so Kate Bush was all about going home, shutting the door, pulling the curtains, putting on her music – and me completely escaping. Her music, like Bowie, it’s a different world, it completely draws you in. Her music is so orchestral, it really draws you in.” Sanderson said.
The singer shared that she faced a lot of bullying in High School and said she wonders if when we should give more attention to the perpetrators.
“If someone’s being bullied, it’s not just about the victim, it’s also about the bully. Why is the bully behaving that way? We need to look at why people think this behavior is appropriate. Often over here, and I’m not sure if it’s the same in Australia, but I often see a knee-jerk reaction where it’s about punishing the bully. I’m not excusing their behavior, but I often think we’d be better off finding out why that behavior is happening.” Sanderson said,
Sanderson said she always looks forward to returning to Perth and said she’s always grateful for the loyal fans of The Sweet Blue Midnights.
“I’m always really surprised by it, I feel so honoured, it just seems to be have been an important part of people’s lives those four or five years we were playing. I’m so grateful for people’s support and always make sure there’s a few of The Sweet Blue Midnights songs in the show.” Sanderson said.
‘Bx’ is playing at Fringe World from February 4th for three nights only, head to www.fringeworld.com.au to secure tickets.
Graeme Watson
