Carole Pope doesn't seem to spend too much time stressing over her upcoming performances.
"Beats me," she says, when asked what fans can expect from her Thursday night show at Zaphod Beeblebrox.
But the laid-back 1980s Canadian rock icon was quick to respond when told the night is being advertised as "The Anti-Diva In Song and Spoken Word."
"Okay, then I'm doing that ... just playing some songs, reading some stuff, playing some more songs."
Pope says she doesn't mind stopping her show so the mixture of "old fans ... fags, soccer moms, everything" who turn up to see her these days can put in their two cents.
"There's lots of interaction with the audience," she said. "I let them ask whatever they want and for whatever songs they want. That's always amusing."
For someone who counts listening to the bleeped-out parts of Rough Trade's 1981 hit High School Confidential a major pre-teen memory, getting Pope on the phone at her East Harlem apartment is a bit of a shock.
MELLOW, FRIENDLY
Her speaking voice is higher and softer than the low, deep tones she lent Rough Trade, which she formed in mid-1970s Toronto with her pal Kevan Staples. She's mellow and friendly and sounds like any regular person who's had some success and is looking for what she should be doing next.
And in a surprising turn, what comes next could just be a newspaper column.
Pope's already written a well-received tell-all biography, Anti-Diva, which she'll read from during her Ottawa show. She's penned pieces on the World Music Conference for the National Post and on the California Aids Ride for the Globe and Mail, and interviewed the Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant for The Advocate, a national gay and lesbian newsmagazine.
Pope chronicled Rough Trade's rise and disclosed lots of hot gossip -- including the lowdown on her affair with Britain's Dusty Springfield -- in Anti-Diva.
'CATHARTIC'
"It was very cathartic," she said. "I definitely want to write another one."
Pope thinks she might like to tackle a series of essays for her next book, with topics including lesbians, Russia and the new Eurotrash. Or maybe, as she hopes, a Canadian newspaper will hire her to write a regular column.
Since moving to New York from Los Angeles last year -- in part to be closer to Toronto and London, England, where she hopes to move on to some day -- Pope's played at venues including the noted Joe's Pub. She's also trying to get an entire album she's already recorded (and describes as filled with lots of acoustic, textured, layered sound) released.
Lest you think Pope is rich from her previous Juno- and Genie-winning career, think again.
"I was really stupid in the '80s," she said. "I should have bought a house but I went shopping."
Though it's been two decades since Rough Trade's peak, the band continues to get noticed. Their tune All Touch has been remixed in the new, 80s-embracing electroclash style.
Pope's the subject of a National Film Board documentary and in 1999 saw Rough Trade showcased in a Toronto musical stage production dubbed Shaking the Foundations, after their 1982 album. This fall that show's creator, Bryden Macdonald, moved on to tackle the music of Canadian songwriter Joni Mitchell in When All the Slaves Are Free at the Great Canadian Theatre Company.
"It made us feel like we were songwriters," she said. "It was very flattering and validating."
