Who’s ready for a primer on Australian music in the 1980s? David Sterry of Real Life shares his tales behind hits such as “Send Me An Angel” and “Catch Me I’m Falling” as he and Steve Spears chat about the upcoming voyage of The 80s Cruise.
Here are some highlights:
On his song “Catch Me I’m Falling”: “It’s a very clever song. It’s well-written and everything is in the right place, but I just, for some reason, don’t love it.”
On his legacy and current projects: “I still write and record music, and I’m just trying to find that balance where I still get to play my latest material, if it’s good enough. My ’80s songs have gotten me to play places like the Greek Theatre a couple of years ago, because I was on one of those big ’80s tours with Wang Chung and A Flock Of Seagulls. So I’m very grateful for that as well. It’s just trying to find that balance where you go, hey, I’m still alive, I can still write songs, there are still things I want to write about. I’m still falling in love. I’m still getting a broken heart, all that stuff.”
What music turned him on in the ’80s: “I was a big Yes fan. I’m still a Yes fan. I was listening to New Order and Giorgio Moroder, The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, all of those bands, mostly English bands at the time. Oh, Talking Heads from America, of course, and Devo. It was a really exciting time. There was a transition in technology, and people could make music without having a record label sometimes and just doing a do-it-yourself approach to a lot of things. That made it a lot easier for bums like me who weren’t particularly talented.”
About “Send Me An Angel” appearing in the movie “Teen Wolf Too”: “I have a good story about that. I was living in a little flat in Hollywood for a while because I needed to be close to our record company and management. One day they rang me up and said, “Look, there’s a new movie premiering tonight and you’re in the soundtrack.” And so, I rang up a girl that I knew and said, “Guess what? We’re gonna walk the red carpet tonight.” And, we got down there, walked the red carpet, no one knew who I was, thank God. And, we’re sitting in the movie and it’s a crap movie, and all of a sudden there’s this awful fight scene and it goes, da da da da… And I hadn’t told the girl we were in there. And all of a sudden “Send Me An Angel” comes on, and she just looked at me, and I was just went, “Oh, no.”
About Stuck in the ’80s
The Stuck in the ’80s podcast is sponsored by The 80s Cruise. Join all your ’80s friends on the Royal Caribbean Mariner of the Seas on Feb. 29 to March 7 for a weeklong trip back to the ’80s. The lineup includes: 38 Special, Air Supply, The English Beat, Soft Cell, Debbie Gibson, Sebastian Bach, Steve Pearcy of Ratt, Ray Parker Jr., Sheena Easton, Wang Chung, Midnight Star, Animotion, Real Life, Escape Club, When in Rome UK, Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg and more. Original MTV veejays Alan Hunter and Mark Goodman will be there to host along with Downtown Julie Brown.
Listen to the show to get our promo code for $200 of cabin credit for first-time guests. The 2024 cruise is sold out but you can still join the wait list and make it!
Our podcast is listener-supported via Patreon. Members get special swag and invitations to patron-only Zoom happy hours with the hosts of the podcast. Find out more at our official Patreon page.
The Stuck in the ’80s podcast is hosted by creator Steve Spears and Brad Williams. Find out more about the show, celebrating its 18th year in 2023, at sit80s.com.