Manchester Evening News
4 January 1985
Rose and Jill – heading for the top of the hill
World record company giant WEA think British signing Strawberry Switchblade could be a major act of 1985. There are those who believe in miracles – and they assume WEA are fellow believers.
Reviews for Strawberry Switchblade’s live performances have hardly been flattering, but against field reports and critical analysis there is a fast rising surfeit of media coverage. No-one, WEA, critic and music observer, can say the two Glaswegian girls have failed to gain copy inches – and their faces adorn countless journals. And they have been touring with the teen sensation of the past 12 months, one Howard Jones, no less.
Rose and Jill are rather disarming: they’re likeable, amusing and happily (for them) not overcome by unflattering reviews. But Rose was reared on the rough side of Glasgow. ‘My dad was a coalman, and he had his own horse and cart. People chased me up and down the street with hatchets.’
Jill had a more refined upbringing. ‘I was brought up on the south side, not the east end which is a tough place.’
They say they have no real image and profess unawareness that they are sporting dress and style reminiscent of the late 1960s psychedelic scene.
They talk of having dressed their way ever since the two of them declared they were punks. ‘We dress our way, not like girls in magazines. Black and red hair earrings galore, colour and unusual mixing of things has always been us.’
In the music stakes the girls have enjoyed recent chart success with Since Yesterday, a year having passed since the previous single, Trees and Flowers. Another one is due this month.
They tell me: ‘We’ve done the LP, but choosing tracks for singles isn’t easy. A single becomes what people think you are, whereas iti may only be a very commercial song that displays a part of us and no more.’
And even though their looks have gained considerable media coverage the girls show little pleasure at being slotted into a ‘female group’ category. ‘The magazines have been really good to us, but we want to be seen as an act and not something to be looked at. We’re not against it, but we are singers.’
Tony Jasper
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