All About Eve
Vox 53 - February 1995
ALL ABOUT EVE'S JULIANNE REGAN
Goth was on the
wane, indie fever was basking in post C-86 glory and Whitney Houston was at the
top of the charts. The date was 1987, a year that also spawned All About Eve, a
curiously timeless band who seemed oblivious to the fickle fashions of pop.
Dressed in flowing Liberty-print dresses, crystal-voiced Julianne Regan sang
tales of white-witchcraft and mysticism, while the band infused their unhip
hippieness with an indie sense. Their first singles, 'Our Summer' and 'Flowers
In Our Hair', worked their way up the indie charts and a year later the band had
a Number Ten hit with 'Martha's Harbour' and two Top Ten albums. Subsequent
singles, however, failed to dent the Top 20 and by 1991 the band, now minus
founding member Tim Bricheno, left Mercury and moved to MCA. A year later, All
About Eve were all over, dropped by their label after only one album.
"All our troubles came because we were too cowardly," explains Regan.
"We didn't fight hard enough. We had a high profile in this country, but we
didn't play a single gig in the US or Japan. Ultimately, there came a point
where we wanted to develop and we weren't given the room. It was as if I'd been
ordained as some sort of folk heroine, which proved very difficult. Looking
back, while we were having success, we weren't really taking it in and I wish I
could have enjoyed it more. We all seemed terribly dour."
When the band split, Regan released a single on Rough Trade under the moniker
The Harmony Ambulance and then disappeared from view to work on new material.
"I had the depressing task of looking for a record deal. It was a problem
having a past. I was told time and again that the most natural progression was
to 'do an Annie Lennox' -nice girl, nice voice, decent dress."
Julianne Regan: Eve to Bernard Butler's Adam
Regan had,
meanwhile, become friendly with Suede's Bernard Butler and the pair started
writing songs together, when Butler suddenly announced his departure from the
band. "I found myself being blamed," she laughs. "I had to
convince people I wasn't the Yoko element. We started to record our songs but it
soon became clear that it wasn't working. I hadn't planned it to be a proper
album but it became much more important for Bernard once he had left Suede. All
About Eve fans would have loved it because it was very acoustic, but I'm kind of
glad it didn't happen because I could feel the Laura Ashley frock creeping back
on."
Last month, Regan signed a new deal with Permanent, home of The Fall, and is now
looking forward to a small tour in the Spring and a solo album to follow.
"I've got plenty of songs, but the only thing I haven't got is a name. I
don't want to go out as Julianne Regan. That way you have none of your name left
for you or your mates."
©Vox 1995