North Marine Drivers

October 1982, from the Mark Sinclair archive, Tracy speaking about the "Distant Shore" mood:

"A Distant Shore' wasn't intended as an LP at all, I sent some songs down from Hull to Cherry red and they decided to put them out. It felt right at that length because all the songs were written in a compact space of time just after I'd gone up to Hull. "I felt it ended there. It sounds corny, but I'd said all I had to say I couldn't have written more songs just to pad it out. I left the songs in chronological order as well so to me it flows really well because I know exactly what each song was about and what was happening. Part of a continuing experience. And then it just ends. It seems really right." "I'm riding on the crest of a wave from the things I've done before. So I suppose the good publicity and chart ratings it has got is due to people thinking 'let's see what Tracey's solo album is like'. "All sorts of strange people like the Marine Girls. We get lots of peculiar letters, We started all those 'sea' connotations and there was nothing meant by it but people asked if we're obsessed by the sea and do we eat fish for breakfast? It's quite annoying actually. We get sent shells. Little kids send up letters about their trips to the seaside." "A distant shore is quite thoughtful I suppose. People say they relax to it but I can't relax to it at all. I play it and it puts me all on edge! The music is relaxing but the lyrics certainly aren't. I'd hate it to be thought of as background music.""Actually my granddad's got this new cassette recorder, he doesn't know how to work it but I send tapes of everything that I do and he jigs about. They're very proud. To them someone they know making a record, let alone someone they're related to, is incredible. They can't believe it. To them, only famous people make records." Those were the days!!!