RS: I've seen several people credit the remix of Kiss the Rain as the one that launched the Thunderpuss guys into stardom. What
was your reaction the first time you heard their remix?
Billie Myers: I was gobsmacked. Which in England means literally, your gob being your jaw and someone's smacked it. I was so
reluctant at first. For months people had been saying 'get a dance remix of Kiss the Rain,' and I was like, 'no one is going to be able to
remix Kiss the Rain.' Eventually, the chaps were like, 'let's try it, what's the worse that can happen.' Honestly, I was so negative about the
whole thing. A few weeks later I got this remix and everybody down-played it at Universal. I heard their remix, and I'm like, 'oh my God, oh
my God, that's me, oh my God.' They'd changed it, when that "kiss the rain, kiss the rain" comes on. Energywise, I didn't think you could
possibly surpass the middle eight that was there but they did. I am eternally grateful to them - I don't know how they managed to do it.
The only time I ever heard it live in terms of at a club was when I walked into a club in Mexico after performing at the Hard Rock Café. I was going out with a group of friends and I'm in this club and it's great with thousands of people there. Suddenly, I hear the beginning of their mix and it didn't occur to me that it was me. So I'm sitting there and I'm listening and bopping away, and then suddenly I hear "hello," and that was the first time I've ever seen an audience, which was predominantly young half-naked gay boys, just go mad for the Kiss the Rain. It was probably one of the most memorable moments for me.
RS: What was it like working with Junior Vasquez on "Am I Here Yet?"
Billie Myers: Honestly, when the label said they wanted to do a remix of Am I Here Yet, I just didn't think it would work. But
Junior, he's a genius, he took that song and made it his own. I actually turned round to him when it was done and I said… the same thing. He
premiered it in a New York club and I flew in and it was like four o'clock in the morning. He started mixing it in with some favorites and I had
no idea until the vocal came in that it was me because he wouldn't let me hear it before. I think that guy is a genius, when he puts his mind
to do something, he makes it better. I would say Thunderpuss, Jason Nevins is another one, and Junior, they're all very much in a Grammy
award-winning class of their own where they can take a vocal and sort of rewrite a song and take it above and beyond where it began. Look at
the charts and you will see Jason's mix of Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone" which has been an amazing hit for the whole year.
RS: Is Just Sex a sign of what we should be looking forward to from you? What kind of direction do you see this third album going?
Billie Myers: T he original is, yes. On the fist album there was a song called Tell Me and it sort of had a slightly Asian
influence. It was still acoustic but it was very up-tempo and fun. On the second album, I was starting to veer towards taking myself too
seriously, but I didn't want to slit my writs on every song. I love performing live, for me, it's all about the interaction with the audience.
It's all fair and well doing slit your wrists stuff, but from somebody coming in as an audience member, I question how exciting or entertaining
that is. I want people to want to come back and get caught up in the moment where they feel the unhappiness but they also feel the opposite of
that in a sense of enjoyment. The third album is going to be as rock as I think both of them have been but with a much more contemporary eye on
what is going on in the music business today in terms of trying to marry some of the brethren natures of what's going on today over it with the
singer/songwriter influence. Hopefully it will go down well.
RS: Very cool. One last question, anything you want to say to all your dance music fans out there?
Billie Myers: Oh my God, of course. Thank you, and you know what, it's not only the fans but also the DJs who play the music.
It's really humbling and so lovely to know and hear people speak so nicely, whether its "Kiss the Rain" or "Am I Here Yet." I don't think that
people realize the impact when they say something really complimentary, whether I'm in a supermarket or I see it at a club and see people's
reaction, it just really makes my day.
How many ways can I say thank you really and how grateful I am. It's not easy, even for me who loves to be wordy and poetic and use adjectives left, right and centre or, as my friends say, Myerisms. In the simplicity of gratitude and thank you is simply those three words really.
