'We have to enjoy it otherwise there’d be no point': Bananarama talk ahead of intimate Birmingham Glee Club show

“I’ve got a friend who lives around there,” she says. “It’s very beautiful.”

The digression doesn’t last long, of course. Keren’s on a schedule and today’s interview has already been rescheduled three times. Such is the life of an in-demand, international pop star who’s on the promo trail to plug a new album, intimate set of live shows and more.

So we dive straight in and start talking about the tour.

Bananarama are back on the road – again – with a headline gig at Birmingham’s Glee Club, of all places, on April 28. It’s an intimate album launch, rather than a plugged-in, amped-up greatest hits fest, and fans are in for a treat. For as well as the usual suspects – Bananarama can’t leave the building without doing versions of It Ain’t What You Do, Really Saying Something, Shy Boy, Cruel Summer, Robert De Niro’s Waiting, Venus or Love In The First Degree – there’ll be a smorgasbord of other stuff.

They’ll be giving fans the chance to ask everything they ever wanted to know about Bananarama but were too afraid to ask during an impromptu question and answer session. There’ll also be tracks that were once-loved but have long-since been forgotten, as the band root around in their ample back catalogue to bring unexpected gems to light. And then there’ll be tracks from their forthcoming new album, In Stereo, their first new work since 2009’s Viva.

It promises to be quite a night.

“It’ll be much, much more than normal,” says Keren. “And I think it will be as much fun for us as it is for the audience.

“We wanted to do something different, something we haven’t done before, so we came up with this idea.”

Fans can look forward to the sort of intimate experience that they wouldn’t normally get when the girls are playing to 10,000 or more fans in an arena or at a summer festival. Keren and Sara will also get the chance to dust down some of their favourites and give them a long-overdue airing.

“We’ve done so much during a long career and we purposefully wanted to do some smaller shows. We did one in San Diego last week and we did a big one elsewhere in California. The small one was great because there was banter with the crowd, which we don’t normally get. So the forthcoming shows will be an extension of that. Everyone will get the chance to ask a question. Actually, not everyone. If everyone asked a question we’d be there for days. But they can ask us the sort of things that they really want to know.

“There’ll be lots of chat between the songs, a proper q&a and there’ll be loads of stuff from the new album. There’ll be some stuff we’ve never performed before and maybe tweaks on a few of the old classics.

“They’re fan shows, at heart. We have the best fans and they’ve been with us forever.”

But before then, there’s the small matter of an international tour. Bananarama will be flying out to Australia to tour Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane and the Gold Coast. A whistle-stop trip will be bookended by work in Singapore. At the ripe young age of 57-years-young, Keren has never been in more demand.

“The past couple of years have been very hectic. And that’s great. We’re looking forward to Australia. There’ll be a lot of travelling and that’s always tiring. But it’s fun.

“And it’s nice that we’re doing different stuff. We do the big shows and the festivals and then we’ve got the stuff overseas. The spring shows will be something different. It’s nice to change the set. That helps us to keep it fresh. You have to remember that Sara and I have been doing this for a long time.

“We did the Original Line-Up tour not so long ago. That concentrated on the Siobhan years – it only lasted for six years – and now we’ve got these new projects, which are a real mixed bag.

“We’ll see how we go with the spring dates. If we enjoy them enough, we might do more of them.”

In essence, the spring dates were booked to showcase In Stereo, the band’s first new album in ten years. It’s their eleventh studio album and will be released on 19 April. The first single, Dance Music, was released in January, while the opening track, Love in Stereo, is a song that was originally written and recorded by British girl-group Mutya Keisha Siobhan, the original members of the Sugababes, but was later given to Bananarama by the band.

Keren’s under no illusions that the world is holding its breath for a new Bananarama album. But while it may not sell as many copies as their debut, Deep Sea Diving, the truth is Bananarama have never really been an album band. They’ve always been about the perfect, three-minute slice of pop. And so while they’ve only ever had one top ten album – or, two, if you include The Greatest Hits Collection – they’ve been in the top ten of the singles chart on no fewer than ten occasions.

In Stereo gave them the chance to flex their creative muscles and find an outlet for their natural creativity. For as much as they enjoy lining up at 80s shows or headlining tours that are built around the old classics, they have no desire to atrophy into a parody of their former selves. It’s important to them that they remain relevant and keep pace with the modern idiom.

“We love writing and recording. Most of the album was done with a very good friend who we’ve worked with for a very long time. It’s a very comfortable situation and it’s really good fun and we just love working with the studio and coming out with a song. We’ve been doing it over a period of time between shows. Suddenly, we realised we had an album’s worth of material. You know what you’re going to get with us: a load of pop songs. We do pop. We write songs about our lives. But we’ve also done the classic Bananarama trick of sticking in a ballad.

“The record is out on April 19 and I have really enjoyed making it. Obviously, when we play live, people want to hear the hits form the 80s and we’re not stupid. If I see an artist perform I want to have fun and sing along with the hits as well. So we’re not going to stop doing the hits, the big ones, but we feel as though we ought to be able to put other stuff in as well.”

It seems like forever ago that the band came into being. Friends and teenagers Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward met Siobhan Fahey in London in 1981. Dallin and Fahey were studying journalism at the London College of Fashion (University of Arts) and Woodward was working at the BBC in Portland Place. Dallin and Woodward were living at the YWCA and were about to be made homeless until Paul Cook, who they had become fast friends with after meeting at a club, offered them a place to live above the former Sex Pistols rehearsal room in Denmark Street, Charing Cross. It was a propitious start to their pop career.

“We were all musical and all really creative. But if I’m being honest, it started by chance. Sara and I used to join in with bands. We’d pick up guitars that we couldn’t play and sing but we’d get the mic and have a go. Then we did other stuff with Siobhan’s friends who’d formed a group. We were just playing around. We’d had a few experiences prior to becoming who we are now. The band just came from that. Then there was the chance meeting with Terry Hall – he liked our attitude – and we were suddenly in the charts. I don’t know where we’d have been without him.”

The girls weren’t driven by a desire to have the sort of long-term career that they’ve gone onto enjoy. Far from it. They were simply young creatives who didn’t want to become trapped in the rat race. A 9-to-5 existence wasn’t for them. And it never will be.

“The whole reason we did it as a job is that we enjoyed the creative side of things and performing side of things. We did the studio stuff in the 80s but we didn’t really do any live performances. But during the last 15 years we’ve been doing a lot of live work. We’ve done the 80s shows although we’re not doing any this year.”

Keren enjoys the celebration of a decade of culture and the colourful nature of such events. They’re no match for the band’s own headline shows, however.

“It’s a real challenge getting out in a field where there’s 10,000 people. You get spoiled when you do your own shows because they come for us. But when you’re going out and doing one of those big shows, you’re playing to people who aren’t really there to see you. Having said that, when you win them over it’s the most satisfying thing.”

There’s time for a few last questions and we reflect on the band’s remarkable longevity. They’re still in the game, 38 years after they started out. They’ve not done badly for a disposable pop band. Given that they weren’t a live band when they started and they’ve never really been an albums band, how the hell have they managed it?

“Everyone has a heyday and everyone has ups and downs. There was a period in the 90s when it wasn’t so good. We were at that ‘just-when-you-think-you’re-really-good-at-what-you-do-but-you-can’t-get-arrested’ point. But it had been so frantic up to that point that it was nice to sit back and analyse and have a life outside then go back into it.

“These days, we’re in such a lucky position. The last few years have been constant. We don’t have to do anything we don’t want to do. There’s no pressure to have hit records. We make sure that we do it to the best of our ability.”

And how have Keren and Sara managed to stay mates, with the flak that comes with being in a band?

“We have to enjoy it otherwise there’d be no point. I have watched people and they’ve looked like they’re not having fun. I’ve been having fun in the audience and seen bands who clearly don’t like each other. It’s not like that for us. I could never do something like that. Sara and I have an enduring friendship. Being in Bananarama means we’re travelling the world with our best mates and getting paid. What’s not to like?

“When you‘re on tour you get into a routine and your little entourage become your family and friends. You have to get on with everyone. We wouldn’t travel with people we wouldn’t want to spend time with. We spend most of our time laughing – or moaning – it’s one or the other.

“You know, at the moment we’re enjoying very happy days. But when we’re off the road it’s totally different. It’s like leading a double life. I’m either working or I’m not. And if I’m not, then I’m down in Cornwall on the beach, leading a normal life.

“I really didn’t think this would happen. I remember when we started out thinking I couldn’t possibly do it in my 30s. At that stage, we were teenagers and 30 sounded ancient. So I didn’t imagine it. I kind of feel great that we’re still here. I’ve grown with confidence as I’ve got older. Age might become a factor at some point but it isn’t now. If ever you’re feeling down, all you need is a live crowd and you feel great. It’s the most energising thing in the world. The adrenalin kicks in and you’re off. I can’t remember the last time I went on stage and didn’t enjoy it.”

Bananarama’s fans would say precisely the same.