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Q. How is your European tour going?
A. Oh my god! The never-ending tour! (laughs)
Q. How long have you been on it for?
A. About two and a half years. It just seems to be every weekend, a couple of times a week we jet off to places. It's quite glam really. It's quite a nice way to do it. Because we get to see where we are going. A lot of times you are on a tour bus and it's just endless; really grubby and nasty. But we fly in, stay in a hotel do the show, fly back and have a couple of days off, do the washing, then off we go again. We've been doing that for the past two and a half years. The longest we've had off was two weeks in February and we're busy right up until April now.
Q. Are you looking forward to touring with Erasure?
A. Yes I am actually; I'm really looking forward to the tour. They are extremely nice. Really lovely, warm people. I toured with them when I was in Dubstar and they just made us so welcome.
Q. So you've met them a few times then?
A. Yeah. Infact they were recording their album at the same time as us and I was in the kitchen one day sitting watching Ready Steady Cook because I'd had enough of listening to snare sounds and Andy just came in and said 'Hello Sarah', and I thought oh my god, I was really taken aback that he recognised me and remembered me. It was great because I've changed quite a bit since I was in Dubstar so that was very nice.
Q. How long have you and Kate known each other?
A. We've known each other for about three and a half years now. We now know each other very well because we've been sharing a room for the past two and a half years. Sometimes we've had to share a bed as well, which is quite funny. (laughs)
Q. What bands or artists influence your sound?
A. Definitely David Bowie's low period. Bands like Joy Division and New order; obviously the northern influence for me. I'd love to be as wry and witty as Morrissey lyrically but (laughs) I don't think I am. Morrissey is one of a kind. Kraftwerk obviously, The Model was the first thing that I remember hearing on Top Of The Pops and just thinking wow what on earth is this, it's just amazing. Soft Cell I guess for the sort of sleaziness.
Q. How do you feel about the recent rise of the electro sound in the pop music scene?
A. I think it's superb. It's about time. Dance music is dying so there's got to be something that's replacing it and every time we're mentioned, the NME say 'Oh they are too retro'. But what about all the guitar bands? They are retro as well. What's so forward thinking about playing a guitar? Everything is derivative. You have got to be influenced by something and they judge us because we use old keyboard sounds. Surely a Rickenbacker is a classic old sound, what about The Byrds and all that? It's a bit of a pathetic argument really as to why the NME aren't paying attention to the electro scene at all. It's like they are brushing it under the carpet, pretending it's not happening. They are only interested in young boys playing guitar.
Q. What producer did you work with on new album City?
A. It was a co production really. We worked with Joe Wilson from The Sneaker Pimps and he comes out live with us now because he's absolutely fantastic at doing drums and beats and stuff, he's superb.
The first album was self-produced. Then with the second one we drafted in Joe to help with the beats, and Paul remixed it. Paul has worked with everyone from Stereolab to G4, he's fantastic. And Fletch sat in with the boys while we were mixing.
Q. Congratulations on getting new single Pornography to number 22 in the charts. You must be proud that all the hard work is paying off?
A. Thank you very much. Oh yeah it feels like a real achievement as well. As we've not had much media support really. BBC 6 Music were fantastic; they made us single of the week. And we got a little bit of airplay on XFM but not much. We never got a peep out of Radio 1. Infact the one time that they did play it was when it was a chart rundown. So really it feels like a great achievement and it didn't drop right out of the charts either it went down quite gracefully and we sold all the copies of the record. There has been no hype. Not much advertising, not much airplay so thank you very much to all the fans!
Q. You are still relatively underground though aren't you?
A. Yeah we are but I think that's cool isn't it? I'd much rather people discovered us by word of mouth. Like 'Oh god have you heard this record?' it's much more exciting than being force fed down peoples throats, and massive million pound marketing campaigns. There's always something really false about that.
Q. Carl from The Libertines features on the track. Do you think that played a part in the song's success?
A. Oh yeah definitely.
Q. How do you feel about The Libertines? Do you see them surviving for long without Pete Doherty?
A. I don't know. It would be nice. I think everybody just wants them to get back together, that's the romantic ideal but who knows? You have just got to pray that Pete beats his addiction. You have to keep willing him on to go and beat it. He is such a charismatic, talented person. Mind you Carl is as well. They are both really talented boys and it would be tragic if Pete didn't pick himself up.
Q. What's the most memorable gig you have done so far?
A. There have been so many! We've done mad gigs. I guess as far as an amazing crowd goes, Germany is always fantastic. We get absolutely spoilt rotten in Germany because it's usually really good audiences.
We went to Budapest and we sold three records in Hungary (laughs) and we played a gig to five thousand people and they were all singing. I couldn't hear my self. I couldn't hear my monitors because everyone was singing. I put my hand in the air and they all did. I started clapping my hands over my head doing the old Euro thing and they all did it. They were just copying everything I did. I was thinking wow I'm Bono for the night. It was fantastic.
We have played in some insane places. Last Christmas we did St Petersburg and Moscow and we did the Playboy party. That was absolutely insane. There were scantily clad ladies wondering round, bunny girls on ice skates. There was an ice rink outside. The opulence was quite sick really. There is so much poverty in Moscow. There was a pig roasting on a stick outside. All these drunk bunnygirls kept coming in from outside to get shots of vodka and then they were off on their ice skates again. That was pretty incredible.
Q. Have you ever played in Scotland before?
A. Yeah. We did the Barfly in Glasgow last year and we played Edinburgh as well.
Q. What do you make of Scottish crowds?
A. They are great! I can't wait to play Scotland again.
Q. The tour with Erasure is completely sold out. Is it more nerve-wracking playing in front of a small crowd or a sold out crowd?
A. Both are nerve-wracking. Every time I go on stage I'm nervous. Kate has to sometimes push me on. 'Come on Sarah get on! No nerves!' (laughs) she gives me this big lecture before saying 'No nerves, no nerves this time'. I'm shaking and trembling saying 'Gimme a glass of wine now!'. (laughs) It's so funny she's ordering me not to have any nerves and I say 'I'm sorry I can't do that'. I stand on stage looking all aloof but inside my knees are knocking! It's quite funny actually. But I think if you don't have any nerves then you don't care. I just think that if you are blazé about it then you are taking it for granted and it's a privilege to perform, to be able to earn your living doing this is an absolute privilege.
Q. You both have a distinct sexy image, wearing airhostess and nurse outfits. Do you think image plays an important part in a band's success?
A. (laughs) I think image is very important. The art work is very important, but we've controlled it from the very start. It started when we were on the Depeche Mode tour and we thought how are we going to stop people from throwing things at us? (laughs) So we decided to wear uniforms! It just snowballed from there. The idea with the art work as well; not showing our faces, that started with me moaning about an angle that I didn't like on the photograph but it was a really good photo so Kate cropped it in such a way that she cut our heads off and we really liked the way it looked. It was very Gilbert and George and we just thought right lets use that! It was also a very anti-pop star look as well you know, all these girls that sell their music on the fact that they don't wear very many clothes and they've got lovely breasts and a beautiful tight stomach and they are air brushed to perfection and it's just boring. It's just nice to have something that's a little bit interesting to look at, that's not 'Oh there's another girl with a nice face!'. I always think that less is more; it's what you don't show.
Q. Finally for anyone who has not heard Client, could you describe yourselves in three words?
A. Uniforms, sleazy and repressed!
Q. Does sex sell?
A. Yeah! Sex, money and power make the world go round.
Q. Thanks a lot for your time. Good luck with the rest of the tour.
A. Thank you so much. Take care now. Bye
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