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What made you write Pleasure and Pain?
Too many people were coming at me to do it. I thought if I don’t do it someone else is going to do it and I’d prefer to tell my own story – in my own way. I also wanted it to be a history book of the times. My life covered a few different decades and periods so you know all roads were leading to me doing this. In hindsight it’s been a good exercise to do. I just think it was inevitable.

Is that why you include different voices throughout the book – friends, family, people you had problems with such as band mates, managers and such?
Yes, for research, and it needed a lot of different voices to remember the different times.

Did you really tell everything? Was there anything you left out?
Did I leave anything out? There was a lot more in it. The book was edited back. I think the book ended up to be 140,000 words; before it was edited it was twice that amount. But I think that would have been pretty indulgent. As it is now it reads well. I’ve been told that people say that once they pick it up they can’t put it down. I think it flows and there’s a lot of band stuff but there is a lot I left out.

How did you decide what to put in and what to leave out?
Well, sometimes when people were interviewed they were incredibly bitter about the band, or about me, or about [lead guitarist] Mark McEntee. I tried to leave that in. I didn’t just leave in people saying nice things about me. I left in the criticism. In this book I think I tried to be more realistic about my relationship with Mark than I ever have been. That was growth for me because I’ve always been very protective of him probably to my own detriment. I’ve always found Mark to be a delicate person and possibly I blame myself for a lot of things where he’s concerned. But I think in this book I was braver where Mark was concerned and my relationship with him. I think where [manager] Vince Lovegrove was concerned … I went through a lot of Vince’s stuff and I tried to make it constructive. His input is important for the history of the band even though at times he’s quite bitter. Did anything come up while writing your book that caught you by surprise? People’s bitterness. I think sometimes when people criticize it’s often more true about themselves than it is about you. But I tried to take things on the chin. By allowing the criticism I think you get more of a picture of those times and who I was possibly or how I was perceived. Just because I allow people to criticize me in the book doesn’t necessarily mean I agree with them.

I think that came across in certain points in the book.
You read the book?
Of course – I loved it.
You must be scared of me now! Luckily you know me. (Laughs)

It did plant a small seed of fear – you’re very feisty. I’ve never seen that side of you…
If I was to write how nice I was too, do you think you all would have been interested?
No… No…probably not.

I think you can see from some of the photos – I was very involved in my performance and it scared people. But at the same time you know maybe the lines got blurred after a while. It was exhausting. It is a performance. I was rebelling against niceness and all the nice girl singers. There’s a certain level of vulnerability involved when you write an autobiography and you’ve included a lot of really personal and raw material. How did you deal with that? Well, you are putting yourself out there to the world. Since then I’ve dealt with a lot of criticism from people who I think don’t understand that period. You know as Bob Dylan says, “Don’t criticize what you don’t understand.” But people do: people moralize and people judge and I was prepared for that. I knew that was going to happen but how do I deal with it? I know the kind of person I am inside and I know I’ve grown. And I can look at myself in the mirror and that’s all that matters. I can lie down and put my head on the pillow at night. You know my dog loves me. She looks at me and thinks I’m the best thing and she can’t read. There’s that saying: “Outside of a dog a book is a man’s best friend inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.” I’m a bit dog mad you know….

I do know. So about the book reviews…
Yes, it’s been interesting – some of the reviews have been polarizing. I’ve been called public enemy number one and a monster. It makes me laugh…

You did public speaking on the book tour and liked it – was that a surprise to you?
I was coming out to do the press tour and I know the publisher was a little a little afraid. … At the book launch I had to say a few words. I just got up on the podium and I just spoke from my heart. I did that all around the country and told stories from the book. I think that surprised me.

You’re an icon and role model for today’s Australian female rock musicians – any thoughts about that?
You know people say my life is a tragedy. I don’t feel that at all. I’ve had a lot of fun and I find it’s a small price to pay to follow your dreams, what I’ve gone through. But I find it amusing sometimes that I’m an icon. I’m just me and I have to live with me every day.

No one in Australian rock ‘n’ roll has been able to fill your shoes. Why might that be? For the creation of me, as I write in the book, the times were right. There were all the right components around me. Mark was a very good musician and together we created something that was unique and we had each other. I really don’t know. It’s very male dominated in Australia and I probably think the industry can be quite conservative. Hmmm. I’ve seen a few girls down front with their tongues hanging out. I hadn’t put much thought into it. I saw a few girls leaning over the stage looking up my dress, too.

Do you have a lesbian crush?
No, I don’t think so but I like girls. Even though I’ve been around a lot of boys and bands and things like that – every so often I come across a girl who is highly evolved and has depth that I admire. That I can look up to and who inspires me. I’ve always learned the most from other girls.
 

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