An Interview with The West End Girls

A&M Records says: “they are talented, they are young and they are gorgeous—they are Camille [Henderson], Silvana [Petrozzi], and Aimee [Mackenzie]—they are the West End Girls. I would add that they are Canadian and they are genuine. We interviewed The Girls in May, 1991.

Link: You’re used to being recorded, right?

Camille: Sure

Silvana: Kind of…

Link: Tell us how you met. 

Camille: We met in the Johnny Jet [Records] office [Vancouver]. 

Silvana: Yes, at a big table. They [Camille and Aimee] already knew each other and I had just come into the offices to meet the Girls, to see what we all thought about each other. We looked at each other and we clicked right away. From then on…

Camille: Just tons of rehearsals. We got to know each other very well.

Link: So you had all previously sent tapes to Johnny Jet?

Camille: No, all three are a different story, actually. In my case, they got a hold of me through my agent. I was in a talent agency, mostly doing acting. And I got an audition and just kept getting called back. 

Aimee: I was at PowerPlant with my friend just singing for fun. I sang Eternal Thing for fun. They told me that there were these people from LA looking for a group and they gave me a card. I called and went in with my best friend O.J. We did a little dance routine at the beginning and then I sang by myself. They called me two weeks later and asked me to come in again. 

Silvana: I’ve been in a band for about three years… We played a gig and a person connected with Johnny Jet said they would be really interested in me. I was contacted by Johnny Jet and they asked me to come in and meet the Girls… 

Link: How does your band feel about this?

Silvana: Oh, they’re very supportive. They’re musicians. They know how hard it is to get into this business. I still play with them, I still jam with them. But they know that this is my way to break into an industry that’s hard to break into. And it’s really fun. I’m learning a lot. I’m meeting a lot of really interesting people. And I’m working with people that I’ve gotten to love a little bit.

Link: When did you record the album?

Camille: Christmas.

Silvana: You know that big blizzard? We were in it. We were stuck there.

Link: Isn’t this overwhelming? Christmas, you come together, you do the album and it’s going to hit No. 1 across Canada very shortly.

Camille: Well, cross your fingers. 

Link: You’re on Much Music, you’ve done two videos… 

Camille: It’s kind of shocking. 

Silvana: Yeah, it is shocking.

Link: This is kind of the overnight success story.

Camille: Yeah, in a way. Although it’s not really overnight in a lot of ways because we’ve all been oriented towards this for a long time. Like Silvana says: ‘she’s wanted to do it since… Silvana: …I learned how to talk. 

Camille: And I’ve always been surrounded by performers so it’s always been an option for me. I’ve taken lessons since day one. And Aimee’s been dancing up a storm.

Aimee: I didn’t think I’d be singing but then I met these two and we blended and I liked it.

Silvana: I think the success part would hit me if we arrived at an airport and all of a sudden you saw all these camera lights. Then it would be right at my face and I would be overwhelmed. When I walk down the street nobody jumps me…

Link: Yet.

Silvana: It’s only the beginning… Maybe later.

Link: Two of you are still in high school? And Camille? 

Camile: I did a couple of years at Langara College?

Link: In theatre?

Camille: No, actually the first year I was taking social sciences and the second year I’ve been doing Fine Arts.

Link: So what is the response at your high schools?

Aimee: My friends are supportive. But some other people that I don’t really know that well put it down. I’m having problems right now with these girls that have been making fun of me, but I just don’t let it get to me.

Link: That must be really really strange. I can remember when I was a teenager. You spend years in front of the mirror with your comb or your brush singing, pretending you’re somebody famous, and suddenly you do it and these insecure people feel a need to cut you down…

Link: Do you have people who are now your friends?

Camille: I’ve had a couple of old friends call me just because they’ve seen me. Knowing these people personally, I don’t think that was their motivation—to smooze with me.

Silvana: I have no problems whatsoever at my school because I never made a very big deal of it at all. I just told really close friends—they’ve always known that I sang. I wear sweat

pants to school and I don’t really try to advertise that I’m any different than anyone else because I’m really not.

Link: I talked to your producer, John Dexter (Johnny Jet Records]. He said that the three of you are really well- grounded.

All: That was nice.

Aimee: Thanks Uncle John. 

Link: Are you?

Silvana: I would hope so. 

Camille: I try… It’s a lot easier when you’ve got tons of people around you—in the society, basically—doing the same things as you, and going through the same steps in life. But it’s different when you’re sort of isolated, with a lot of people not understanding at all what it’s all about. It takes a lot more concentration to keep a grip.

Link: How’s this going to affect your plans in school? Is this what you’ve always aimed towards?

Silvana: I’ve always wanted this. And I want this for as long as I can see–so far. I mean, things are so unpredictable we could not be hear next week. I don’t want to think too far and then let myself down.

Aimee: I want to graduate first. If this thing doesn’t go as far as we want it to go then I’d always want something to fall back on, because if I don’t where am I going to be?

Link: Are you families supportive?

All: Yeah.

Link: I guess that’s really important in this business.

Silvana: They’d be hear talking if we weren’t… I tell my mom, don’t tell anybody. We walk by: “That’s my daughter!” Oh God… They’re very proud.

Link: I can imagine. I read in the bio that Camille, you had a single when you were quite young.

Camille: Yeah. I guess I was about ten. I was in a group with five other girls rather than two and the age ranged from 8 to 15. We all knew each other before. It just happened. It created itself rather than being something arranged. We had a single out and just didn’t pursue it. I don’t know… it just wasn’t meant to be.

Link: Does it bother you that the Girls has been arranged? A lot of times you hear on the radio: “Yeah, we’ve been together since Grade 10 and we grew up together and he can’t play that well but he’s our best friend.”

Silvana: It seems to give people credibility to say that they’ve been together forever. But you

can meet someone and be best friends with them two months later. It depends on the circumstances. I was really skeptical about this. I just thought:  “What am I getting myself into? I want to have integrity. I want to be musician. I want to be an artist.” And I met Camille and Aimee and they felt the same way. We haven’t lost our own credibility.

Camille: We understand each other and we’ve gotten along really wall. We want to have some artistic influence ltoo. We share the same common interests.

Aimee: We became a group.

Link: Tell me about your musical backgrounds. You say you are and want to be perceived as a musician?

Silvana: As I was saying earlier, I would like to be an entertainer and an artist—together. A lot of people are either one or the other. I’d like to be able to become both. I listen to all kinds of music from classical to thrash. I listen to ‘LG and I listen to Coast 800 and I go to gigs. After Camille and I met the first time, we sow each other at the Sons of Freedom…

Camille: A week later we ran into eoch other in the crowd and it’s like: “Wowl You like this

music?”

Silvana: [My tastes are]… very broad. Music is music to me. I have lo learn to appreciate it in

all different ways.

Link: Do you all play instruments?

Silvana: I play the violin.

Aimee: I play piano and I used to play the drums a little.

Camille: All three of us need to polish up on our instruments.

Silvana: Our vocal instruments too.

Link: A lot of your vocals were assisted by Bill Henderson? That must have been an

amazing experience?

Camille: He’s my Dad…

Link: Really? You come from really strong musical roots then.

Camille: Yeah. So it was always around me.

Link: Well he’s it. The one thing I was impressed with is that you did your own vocal arrangement far “Not Like Kissing You.”

Camille: We had a producer for that though. But we did the arrangement, the harmonies,

and the idea for the acappella at the beginning.

Link: That’s an important thing because I suspect that a lot of people would dismiss you as another ‘image group.” How would you respond to that?

Camile: Image is a part of it but so is creativity.

Link: How much does image factor into this?

Silvana: Well, far the video no one told us what to do—“Smile” or “Move.”

Camille: Everybody has their suggestions, everybody wants to be a part of it. And everybody

has their ideas of what the whole concept is. But if you felt uncomfortable with what you were wearing they’d say ‘fine.’ You’re not going to get any good footage of someone going …

Silvana: “l don’t like this.”

Link: You looked like you were just handing out in the video.

Silvana: We were just ourselves,

Link: So the video reflects who you are as individuals.

Aimee: We didn’t fake it.

Silvana: The people were very positive around us and that definitely helped—the energy. They were very into it, so supportive. I mean we were nothing then. We were just three

girls who didn’t have anything and they made us feel like: ”Yeah, you have potential. You can do it.”… Do you like the album?

Link: I love the album, but then I loved the Jackson Five. How does il feel having the No. 3 song across Canada?

Silvana: We just found that out last night. I slept on it, woke up, thought about it and went, “Yah!”

Link: And you’re just the same person?

Silvana: Of course, I’m the same person.

Camille: Lots has happened in a year, you know. Lots of experiences, but I’m the same person, just enhanced.

Link: How is it working together, the three of you…

Silvana: Well, we get into fist fights…

All: Yeah.

Link: Nobody will ever answer this question honestly, I’m sure, but you come with your own egos and your own musical directions…

Silvana: Sure, there’s three of us and we have to share.

Link: You do that quite well on the album.

All: Oh yeah.

Silvana: You know, sometimes we’ll look at each like— “Ohhhh…”—you’re bugging me right now but then we’ll all goget food…and we’ll all go in a row…

Aimee: Then we’ll be fine.

Camille: And we’re not even hungry.

Silvana: Anybody who sees us can tell we’re a group. We don’t mean to but we always walk the

same way…

Aimee: Together…

Silvana: We walk to the bathroom at the same time, go get water at the same time. At

Little Mountain [Recording Studio] they’d look at us like this…

Camille: They’d laugh to themselves.

Link: So there’s a real sense of teamwork and togetherness?

All: Yeah.

Link: And you like each other?

AlI: Yeah.

Silvana: There’s a lot to learn about each other still.