The KLF - Zebra Magazine article -------------------------------- By: Mario Moeller (moeller@mundil.cs.mu.oz.au) W a n d a D e e and K L F from: Zebra Magazine date: 27 October, 1993 issue: 7 publisher: Red Rocks Publications Pty Ltd author: Jason Midro The KLF have produced to date, no fewer than 6 top ten, multi platinum international smash singles: 3am Eternal, Last Train to Trancentral, What Time is Love?, No More Tears, Justified and Ancient and Doctorin' the TARDIS (under the name The Timelords). All but the last have come from the 6 million selling album 'The White Room'. Wanda Dee is the featured artist and co-writer of the KLF's biggest hits which were Last Train and What Time is Love. She sings in 7 different languages and her body and face have been 'underrated' as the eight wonder of the world. Eric Floyd on the other hand isn't part of the original KLF line up. He is one of the featured rappers/dancers in the touring production. Eric Floyd used to play Jerome in the TV show Fame. I asked Wanda Dee and Eric Floyd about the show at The Metro, what the punters can expect and why Bill Drummond and Jim Cauty aren't on the tour or in the line up. "First of all we are not going to perform as the KLF. As you know, this is the 90's and there is this thing going on with the techno syndrome. There is a group which consists of the producers and there is the performing group which consists of the artists and Penny 4 and Turbo B are the rappers and singers of the group." "They are the ones that go out and perform. Then you have Blackbox which consists of the producers, and then Molitta Hooloway and Wanda Wash go out and perform the songs. Then they have some drag queen miming on the video. It's the same with all dance groups like Technotronic and Kim Kade, C&C Music Factory and 2 Unlimited." "Bill Drummond and Jim Cauty are the producers of the KLF not the performers. They have been around for about 10 years now and have recorded under the names of The JAMS, The Timelords & Dr.Who but never really had major pop crossover success until they collaborated with Wanda Dee and the rappers. The rappers give it street appeal and Wanda's gorgeous looks and vocals give it sex appeal. In this business sex appeal and street appeal mean success and therefore the touring, performing group have contributed considerably to the success of The White Room LP." Wanda elaborates, "If the people want to see Bill and Jim play their keyboards and program their equipment then they will probably be disappointed with the show. If they want to see the performers, the people who gave it life and 3D substance then this is the show for them. We are an 8 member group and the show is part rock concert, part Broadway show, part kung fu movie and part Las Vegas review. There are 5 costume changes in a 90 minute show. Its got glamour, glitz, martial arts, acrobatics, live singing and live rapping. Only the music is on DAT. We apologize for that but the KLF music, like most techno groups is absolutely impossible to play live unless you have a cast of thousands." Eric continues, "We assure you that this is not the Betty Boo show. People are actually rapping live and Wanda Dee actually sings live. We do not do the entire White Room LP as we did not perform it all and Wanda did not sing all the songs. She only does the hits that she made famous which also happen to be the biggest hits on the album." Wanda speaks, "In the show I do other songs like a salsa-Spanish number, an Italian-English tune and a French ballad. We also do our own version of Michael Jackson's Black and White which features a surprise guest star. The show unhinges people's minds. It's exotic, erotic and hypnotic. It's a lot of things. We believe what Sammy Davis Jnr told us before he died, and that was 'The secret to success is to make an impression,' and that's what we do." I decided to get out of the show and ask about Bill and Jim and what they are doing now? "Bill Drummond and Jim Cauty, the KLF producers have declared bankruptcy and disbanded, and rightfully so. They have used so many samples without authorisation, breached copyright laws and are being sued by everybody including the biggest lawsuit from Andrew Lloyd Webber because they took a whole lot of Jesus Christ Superstar and put it in What Time is Love. KLF stands for Kopyright Liberation Federation which basically means they don't believe in copyright laws. This affects the producers in the end, not the performers, so we have been touring internationally for the last 3 years." In reply, Bill Drummond has released the following statement: "Jimmy and I are very solvent, have no legal disputes over copyright, have not been dropped by Arista and are in fact in a very healthy recouped situation with them. Jimmy and I are hard at work on our next project." In closing Eric said, "You can't escape from the groups of the 90's. Many times the producers and performers are two different entities. It's time to accept this because it is the way of the future." The KLF are currently on a 90 city, 22 month world tour that will span six continents and over two dozen countries. Wanda Dee and the KLF are proud to finally take their message, music and madness to the global masses, and have shown no signs of slowing down. THE KLF perform at Melbourne Metro this Monday, November 1. ======================================================================== Transcribed October 28, 1993. 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