Thanks so much to Lucy and Chris for the interview!
++ When did the band start? How did you all come together as A Craze?
Lucy: It started in 1982. Chris & Lucy had both been working with other bands but were looking for song writing partners and a mutual friend introduced us.
Chris: David Stephenson ( the mutual friend ) brought Lucy round to a flat I was living in Queens Park London – I knew of Lucy in Cambridge before moving to London – She had a unique style…
++ What’s the meaning under the name A Craze?
Lucy: A fad!
++ How did you end up on Paul Weller’s Respond label?
Lucy: Chris sent him a demo.
++ Were you big fans of his music? How do you feel about his socialist views in running the label? If I remember correctly he even wrote on a sampler album, something like “Business is a polite word for dipping your hands in shit”
Lucy: Both of us were big fans and both loved the idea of the label, it seemed a really exciting opportunity, something fresh and innovative.
Chris: Didn’t really think about it… Or see it in the running of the label…
++ Paul also produced the first song of the 12″ “Wearing Your Jumper”. What anecdotes do you remember while recording this track?
Lucy: It was all done in one day! Vocals & guitar were put down first. Great, friendly atmosphere.
Chris: I recall we played Paul the song – we’d recorded on a cassette tape machine and he said it reminded him of Dionne Warwick and so we booked a studio in Victoria London and went in and did it
++ How was the experience of working with Mick Talbot (Dexy’s, Style Council)? What did he bring to the sound of A Craze on these recordings?
Lucy: Mick was a lovely guy to work with. Very easy going. He added an extra jazzy feel to the song.
Chris: Mick was always very friendly and had a great feel to his playing on the Wurlitzer keyboard – Steve White was on percussion.
++ Maybe my favourite song of the 12″ is the catchy “She is So”! What a fantastic track! Is this a real story? I really identify myself with lines like: “I’d give her books to read / I wanted her to grow / Not that I wasn’t learning to”… fantastic really!
Lucy: Yes, it is partly made up from a friend that I had when I was at school and partly taken from an experience that had happened to me!
++ What was the creative process for A Craze? How did songs shape up for you?
Lucy: I wrote the words and Chris wrote the music, then we would put the two together and create the melody.
++ What bands influenced your breezy and POP! sound?
Lucy: Motown, Michael Jackson, Chic, ….. etc
Chris: Pop from the 60ts Pop from everywhere !!!
++ Your only other song released aside from the ones on the Wearing Your Jumper 12″ was “Keeping The Boys Amused” on the “Love The Reason” compilation LP. Did you record any more songs? And if so, why didn’t they see the light?
Lucy: Because we never managed to get another recording deal.
Chris: We defiantly had more songs…
++ How did the re-release of the 12″ on CD in Japanese label Trattoria happened? There are some liner notes there that I can’t understand! More or less… what did it say, you know? 
Lucy: I don’t know the answer to this.
Chris: I only found out it had been released when I started getting emails from Japanese to my myspace saying how much they loved the A Craze CD
++ Where the band members involved with any bands involved prior or after A Craze? Tell me a bit about them?
Lucy: I was in The Hearththrobs, a student band that played in the colleges in Cambridge.
Chris: I was in The Users – who had one of the very 1st UK punk 7″ entitled “Sick Of You” although we were just trying to be a proper Rock ‘N’ Roll band. This year a compilation CD was issued entitled The Users Secondary Modern 1976 – 1979 on Bin Liner / Detour Records.
++ Why did the band call it a day? What are you all doing nowadays?
Lucy: I left because I wanted to earn some money !!! I am now an HR Advisor and also I make mosaic sculptures of bottoms & bosoms.
Chris: If Lucy left – I guess I must have left too !!! I now run – buy the clothes – take the photos for www.cxlondon.com – Independent Pop Fashion, Gifts & Accessories. I’ve also started writing and playing again after being inspired after singing and strumming at the inspirational Granchester Meadows Memorial for Syd Barrett in 2006.
++ Anything else you’d like to tell all the pop fans out there?
Chris: Looks like there will be an A Craze Compilation CD full of buried treasures… release this year… a must for all true Pop believers…. Check google in about 3 months time
Twitter… Join Me… – http://twitter.com/chris_free
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Listen
A Craze – She is So
