08-1988 / New Musical Express / Suckers or sweeties ?, James Brown

Stephen : (about Juniper Beri Beri) " Nobody else was writing about the
music we liked. Later on there wasn’t any point because there were loads
of fanzines but you have to remember that when we started there was
nothing to gauge ourselves against.
Likewise with the band. We were a reaction against the gloss of Heaven 17 and The Human League. That we even managend to make records during those times says something for itself.
There is now even a fanzine from Glasgow called The Pastels Are dead which is an awful dull affair. The concept being far better than the reality. "
" I don’t know that the word ‘quality’ is one taht can applied to the
Pastels. Mind you we were certainly out there on our own. We do things
with feeling. We’re not the most unique band in the world but we do what
we do with a depth of feeling that is otherwise acking in our area. We’re
genuine. Too many people are concernend about the medium, and being
involved in the latest fashion. If the music is true the style doesn’t
matter, it’s less important. Guitars have always suited what we do best so that’s why we’ve stucked to them. Take Acid House, there are a lot of hippies involved in that who have being going for years, like Genesis P. Orridge. It reminds me of the first Pastels singer, Paul. He used to
compile these soul tapes and every third song he’d make a punk one because he thought it would freak everybody out, but nobody was really interested apart from himself. "
" We set our own course and follow it, we don’t let outside things worry
us. When we do that, things start to go wrong. "
(about Warhol) " That art was all about superficial gesture, and we’re
more than a superficial gesture. A fairer reflection of Pop Art is
Transvision Vamp. "