Band's Website, go here to get the Heartland CD: http://www.reallifemusic.net/

During the height of the early eighties new wave scene, the most influential
movers and shakers hailed from Europe, with the highest concentration
emerging from England.  New Romantic favorites like Spandau Ballet, The
Human League, Soft Cell and Depeche Mode launched a second British Invasion
upon the music industry.  Yet half a world away, the great southern land of
Australia held a wealth of equally exciting musicians  Suddenly Aussie
groups like Split Enz, Icehouse, Men At Work and Pseudo Echo also began
enjoying success outside of the southern hemisphere.  This was when Real
Life released their debut album, Heartland, one of the most coveted albums
of the 80ís, and stormed the charts with Send Me An Angel.  Nearly twenty
years later the band has begun work on their final album with plans to
re-issue older material and perhaps a video or two.  Lead singer David
Sterry called me from Melbourne early one Saturday morning to bring me up to
speed on the bandís future.

PF: In 1997 you teamed up with Momentum Records and released Happy in the
United States. How well was it received and what has happened to the label?

DS: I really liked those guys, but unfortunately they just didnít have the
money to do all they had wanted to do with the album. It costs a lot of
money to push a record in America and all we keep seeing are kiddie bands
and pop youth stuff and thatís the way it is. They did better things in some
ways for us than any major labels ever did.  Happy was our best reviewed
album so far and that was enough for me, but it had the least amount of
airplay and support. In fact so many program directors would tell me they
would never add it to the playlist, but that it was the officeís favorite
record. It was also totally independent and I never want to work with a
major record company again. So, I really donít give a ratís ass about
getting a good record deal anymore, Iíd rather work with another
independent. Iím not really trying for the huge success again, though Iím
now writing some of the best songs Iíve ever written. If we can sell enough
records to make some money and tour, thatís great.

um, pretty much ripped this off the real life website, sorry guys :-)

PF: I understand you finally won the rights back to Send Me An Angel and all
of your master tapes. How does it feel to finally have them back and will
you see any money from the new Best of collection released by Curb Records?

DS: As my lawyer says, "youíve owned the house for fifteen years and the
tenants havenít paid rent," so theyíre not going to like it when they need
to pay up.  It cost nearly everything I had, but at least I own the master
tapes now. Ideally they have to pay with interest all the money that they
have owed us for years and they will eventually lose the licensing
agreements allowing me to negotiate a new one and retire for life.

PF: Your first album, Heartland, is one of the most sought after albums
around and in CD form has sold for more than $800 on Ebay and other music
sites. Now that you have re-issued it yourself, has it been selling well?

DS: Not too badly, I mean right now it only comes up for sale on one site at
Melbourneís Gaslight Records (www.gaslight.com.au). But it has been their
number one seller and weíve recouped the cost of putting it back out. Not
bad for an 18 year old record. Everyone who wants one can finally get a copy
without costing an arm and a leg.

PF: Depending on how well the re-issue sells, will you release any other out
of print titles or unreleased material?

DS: Eventually, I mean we have a lot of material lying around that we can
use including live stuff, some video stuff, a lot of things really. Although
I donít feel like I should be playing Mr. Businessman right now when I
should really be writing new songs.

PF: Tell me about the next Real Life album and will there be more in the
future?

DS: This is going to be the last album, Iím not going to make another. Iím
just tired and thereís other things I want to do with my life. Real Life
wonít break up or anything, weíll just be on hold and if anyone wants to pay
us to travel and do something we would, but as far as making new records, no
Iím not interested. Itís too hard for me. The only thing I like doing about
music is playing it, I never enjoyed writing songs as its always been so
bloody hard for me. Iíve never really been into the recording studio either.
But playing live and traveling is all I like doing, I mean Iím a real rock
and roll animal and I like living in hotels.

PF: What should the fans expect from the new album?

DS: Well, itís not going to be as angry as Happy was, but certainly
somewhere between that and Happier (the remix album). Hopefully it will just
be a good contemporary record, its not like weíre gonna go back to the 80ís
or anything. We love contemporary music and thatís what weíre trying to do.
Itís all computer based these days which is great. Weíve been using Cubase
and Logic and all those things. In fact we e-mail eachother bits and pieces
and weíve got so much control with what weíre doing its fantastic. Iím
loving that I can do my vocals and guitar from home. I can just lay down a
vocal track and give it to George or Danny and they can edit their own
versions of it and I can chop and change their music. Weíre having a lot of
fun

PF: Will you tour to support it?

DS: Oh yeah, the more shows the better. We were supposed to go to Texas for
one show, but it was gonna cost and arm and a leg and the agency waited
until the last moment and let a few other shows pass us by. Plus weíd have
been jet-lagged to hell just flying in for one show and back. Besides, we
love to drive on the wrong side of the car and the wrong side of the road,
and a good mixture of seedy motels and extravagant hotels. Its great.

PF: Tell me about your new website (www.reallifemusic.net).

DS: Well, the old one was shut down and Momentumís site just froze and
finally went down as well and it just took us ages to get around to it. I
just got a friend whoís a web designer to do it. You know, it just
functions, its not the flashiest site in the whole world. It serves its
purpose, its directing people where they can buy the records, but I really
need to put something new up there soon. I just canít always be bothered,
Iím a bit of a recluse I guess in some ways. Iím kind of embarrassed about
people being fans.

PF: When did you put the God Tonight 2001 mix on the site?

DS: Actually, we put it together not too long before the website went up. It
was just a little exercise playing with our computers. We sped it up to 140
bpm and I had to re-sing it because the time stretch things didnít quite go
as planned. There was also a really groovy station that plays nothing but
dance music that comes on about three or four times a year trying to get a
license here in Melbourne and they always play something for us so we really
did the mix for them. On Happier we had all sorts of engineers, but now its
all us with computers. Weíre gonna put a few more of the Happier mixes up to
since a lot of people still havenít heard it. Pretty soon weíll put bits and
pieces of the new album up too.

PF: Were you ever asked to participate in the Olympic ceremonies with all
the other bands?

DS: No, we get overlooked because I guess we were far more successful
overseas then we ever were here and we still have sort of an 80ís backlash.
You know, real Aussie blokes donít play poofter music with synthesizers. But
we just had a great series on the history of Australian rock and roll and we
certainly got into that one. Most Australians donít know about Happy or God
Tonight or most of the recent things weíve done. So no, not the Olympics.

PF: What kind of music are you listening to these days?

DS: I guess a lot of loungey sort of stuff. You know things like Moracheeba,
The Ministry of Sound, Fatboy Slim and Moby. Iím very much into that music.
I just saw the Dandy Warhols and PJ Harvey within the last few months
actually and Iím going to see The Stereo MCís. One of the best shows I saw
recently was Sparks for the first time and they were so good and
entertaining. It was such a thrill since they were one of my earliest
influences. You know, new wave before there even was sort of a new wave, I
mean so way out there. I mean if Duran Duran came by though, I probably
wouldnít go see them. But its funny about the cover band that Iíve now got
for fun doing some Deep Purple, Cream, Beetles, Joy Division and Killing
Joke. Its a real funny mixture.

PF: After almost 20 years, did you ever expect Send Me An Angel to remain as
popular as it has?

DS: No, no idea. It amazes me and thank God it does well because I basically
live off of the publishing royalties to it. There are at least one or two
cover versions of it each year or its on some soundtrack or something. I
vividly remember having just recorded it and the band was trying to learn it
live for the first time and our agents said you know its not a bad song, it
might scrape into the top 20 here in Australia, and yet its still going
around and around.