The Bond girls aiming to leave classical music world shaken and
   stirred.
   By Fiachra Gibbons Arts correspondent.

   Just when you thought it was safe to turn on the radio, the music
   industry is attempting to go one better than Baby, Posh and Scary by
   creating the Classical Spice Girls.  They are young, they are beautiful
   and, if the hype is to be believed, they are about to `reinvent the
   classical string quartet', with a generous helping of sex appeal.
   Their name is Bond - because of the strong bond that has apparently
   grown between them since promoter Mel Bush `inspired' them to come
   together - and all are products of the country's leading conservatoires.

   Whether the Royal College of Music taught them to pout and play their
   instruments simultaneously is another matter, however.  `Bond are
   sassy, sexy, and they have lots to say,' boasts Linda Valentine, of
   Universal Classics, which is launching the group next week with the
   kind of razzmatazz that usually accompanies a boy band.

   `In fact, they are much better looking than the Spice Girls.  But we
   don't welcome comparisons.  The Bond girls are proper musicians; they
   have paid their dues.'

   Indeed, first violin Haylie Ecker, the group's brunette `who loves
   surfing', has a first-class degree from the Guildhall School, and
   two of the tracks on the band's debut album were composed by the
   girls themselves.  Less play has been made of the fact that Mike
   Batt, the veteran writer/producer behind the Wombles novelty hit in
   the 70s, also had a hand in the album.  According to their glossy
   promotional catalogue, which features the girls in a variety of
   alluring poses, `as early as 1980, at either ends of the earth, Bond
   had begun'.

   Ms Ecker and Tania Davis learned to play in their native Australia
   while `in Hull, Gay-Yee was eyeing up the piano, although as soon as
   she was big enough to hold it, she switched to her favoured cello'.

   Selling the girls as sirens may grate with traditionalists but it is
   a standard part of the promotional push which has been creeping into
   the classical world for several years now and has worked particularly
   well for German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter.  Bond's svengali, Mel
   Bush, has been down this road before, taking the pop and classical
   charts by storm with Vanessa-Mae, the teenage violinist he made a
   star by perching on top of a New York cab in kinky boots and mini-skirt
   But the thinking behind Bond is far from shallow or calculating,
   their record company claims.

   Unlike the Spice Girls, Ms Valentine insists that Bond are not just
   a manufactured pop group out to make a killing but evangelists on a
   mission to end the `Proms-style snobbery' surrounding classical music.
   `They are also providing glamorous role models that young people who
   might be interested in playing classical instruments can identify
   with,' she said.

   The tight leather trousers, bare midriffs and moody video, shot in
   deeply fashionable Cuba, are `just part of the image the public now
   expects,' Ms Valentine added.

   While the four tracks the Guardian has heard brought back memories
   of nightmare lift journeys, Universal is sure there is a gap in the
   market for poppy crossover classical music.

   Even so, the new-look Radio 3, which has found a place in its schedules
   for Andy Kershaw's wild and funky world music, will not be rushing
   to play Bond's album, Born, when it is released next month.

   `Sadly it doesn't matter what you look like on radio,' a spokeswoman
   said.  `We are all insanely jealous of anyone who can be both beautiful
   and talented enough to get a first at the Guildhall, but we do not
   decide on what we play by the cover of a CD.

   `We will be delighted to play Bond's music if it matches the quality
   of performance we demand,' she added.

   Source: GUARDIAN 03/08/2000 P5

"Tim Arnold" <[log in to unmask]>