Donna Destri recently asked me if I might be interested in interviewing Margi Clarke, who had been crowned "The Queen Of Liverpool" during the 70's.. I was immediately intrigued and while doing my research I found out that Margi has been involved with about every element of the entertainment field... actress, singer, writer, model, producer.. Her persona seemed like magic... I enlisted the help of my my pal musician/producer Steven Jones to help me with getting this interview... Please enjoy!!

Thanks so much for the interview Margi!! Tell us about your upbringing?

Hello there Ginger Coyote! My upbringing started in Liverpool right by the docks in a place called Sandhills. In the Regency Days in Liverpool, that's where people went sunbathing. I was born right by the river. My father worked at the docks and we were in a tenement block a bit like the old projects in New York. I was born on the top landing of a tenement block called The Billogs. On that landing my mother had six other children. We were in tiny flat at the top of 92 steps. A real ordeal for my mum and dad. No-one had any money and there was no such thing as jealousy because nobody had anything to be jealous of! My mum's big dream was to move us out up to Kirkby, a new town miles from the city centre and the teaming life of the docks! I hated Kirkby to begin with. It was devoid of any features. It was just one grey pebble-dashed house after another. But we had fantastic skies. I became a sky watcher. We could always see the North Star. I knew a little about astronomy and we could see Orion's belt. My mother loves us to point out Orion's Belt in the night sky! I was always interested in 'lighting-up times'. I had peculiar interested as a child. And every night, Id look at our Local Newspaper, The Liverpool Echo, to find out the lighting-up times, when they turned the street lights on! So I've always been fascinated by light and dark. Duality. Polarisation. I was one of ten children so obviously my mother wasn't knitting condoms! We were catholic household. My mother was quite religious but she didn't kiss the altar rails. There's a great line in 'A Letter To Brezhnev' where the mother of Alexandra Pigg's character, Thereza, walks in on a fight between her two daughters and says: 'I don't know what the neighbors are gonna think of all the effing and blinding going on in here so fucking pack it in!' Well, that was my mother. She was a really strong character and their generation came from austerity and they got their rocks by tracking down bargains. So my mother's nick-name was 'Reduced'. My dad was different character to my mother. He was 'Iron Mick', a muscular strong man who loved Hollywood films. We were raised on Hollywood movies. All out spare time was spent at the movies. We were raised on Hollywood musicals. My dad's favourite musical was called Hell's a Poppin'. Its a really interested anti-war story about being limitless. It left quite a impression. My dad was also into Jimmy Rogers music. There's a Jimmy Rogers song called 'T For Texas. We were serenaded with that as children. Years later, I sang 'T For Texas' to Vanilla Ice when I was in the Reality TV Show The Farm. I thought he was from Texas. Because he alluded to being Southern Fried Chicken!

Tell the readers a bit about your Scouse accent?

The Liverpool accent is really unique. We sound like we've got a terrible cold. We're really nasal. Because we're nine leagues under the sea. We've got the Atlantic to the left of us. The biggest Ocean in the world. The River Mersey is a tributary of the Atlantic and we're really effected by that Ocean and everything it pumps into Liverpool. It's effected the accent. So the poorest people produced the richest accent because that's where your money is, not in your pocket, in your mouth. In Liverpool you were rich if you could tell the best stories, make everyone laugh, be great at the optimism. Liverpool's ruled by Scorpio. Scorpio is best friends with Pluto and Pluto is the god of Humour. And he turns everything upside down. So when Scousers get scared, they laugh. When Scousers wanna say something is really good, we'll say 'It's Dead'! Dead Good! Another scouse word that's travelled all over the world is Knobhead! I was laughing my head off to see Americans on social networking sites saying KnobHead. Gobsmacked in another. Its a strange kind of shorthand! There are loads of excellent words: Lippy for lipstick, Ciggy for cigarette. Everyone say 'Kop Off' for when you meet up with a stranger and off you go to make whoopi. That's Kopping off. Suzzies for suspender belts. And mine have just twanged..

Was "What's On" your first big break into show business?

'Whats On' was a local magazine program made by Granada Television and hosted by the legendary Tony Wilson. He was a working class guy with a massive brain who'd won a scholarship to Cambridge. But he never forgot his roots. He was Malcolm McClaren's equivalent in the North. I auditioned to take over his show. He did a show called 'So It Goes'. They had all the top punk bands in. The Ramones, Lene Lovich, Chrissie Hynde. I struck up a friendship with Chrissie and she got me involved with Peta, y'know, the campaign against wear fur. She just loved London and British people. Chrissie, Debbie Harry and Nancy Spungen hit London at around the same time and the Brits really lapped them up because we've got great ears! Sensitive with sound. So getting involved with Tony got me into What's On and tuned my ears to Punk.

When you first emerged on the scene is it true you used the name Margox ?

When Punk happened I was desperate to be cool because in those days if you didn't have credibility you weren't cool. And I was from the uncool part of town, Kirkby (but our lord was born in a stable..!) Plus, I was married. I had a child in a stroller. Not cool. I didn't look like a had much going on for me. Id managed to get a band together with Andrew Schofield and his brother Glen who was drummer. So I started working with the drummer composing songs because when Id hear the drums Id hear the melody. I could hear orchestration from the beat. So to front this new band, I needed a cool name. My name's Margret Mary Bernadette. Obviously, my thought she was having a nun! But everyone knows me as Margi. Anyway, I was flicking through a copy of Vogue and there was a gorgeous woman in it. And I said to my brother Frank 'Isn't she stunning, that Margox Hemmingway'. And he said 'Yeah, but you're a cracked cow!' I said 'Why?' He said 'You don't pronounce the X. It's Margeaux' . But I thought that MARGOX was inspired genius. So I became Margox. And it was good for Punk because anything with a X was cool. Some people would deliberately get my name wrong and call me Maggots! Morrisey loved Margox and he wrote me a letter to tell me! haha

Tell us how you first met Malcolm Mclaren?

The first I saw Malcolm Mclaren and Jamie Reed was in a photo in the NME. They looked so handsome. Threatening, Intelligent. And exactly where it was at. So I cut the picture out of the magazine and put it on my wall. And each day I meditated on it until finally, six months later, one of those men stepped right into my world. Jamie Reed. He knocked on the door. That night I was appearing at Eric's, performing to Neon Lights. So at three o'clock on that Saturday afternoon I was getting ready to my performance that night. Id washed my hair and put in 36 rollers and had NO make-up on. No war paint. But on this occasion that the man of my dreams was about to walk into my life I looked like Greasy Grace From Outer Space. So Jamie Reed knocked on the door and I opened overhead window and there he was. He was so handsome. Jet black hair. Really dark eyes. He word a Vivienne Westwood Edwardian Coat trimmed in Rubber. Really full of a new vision and energy. He looked up at me and it was love at first sight. His chat up line to me was that we'd been together on the battlefields of Collodan. I was delighted to be tuned in by Jamie .He became my university. I did get a degree in men and he was a major degree. I met Malcolm through Jamie. He took to World's End, a fantastic shop at the end of the Kings Road. They didn't have too much stuff in the window. I remember that Vivienne Westwood shirt with Karl Marx on it. They took those Political `icons and turn them into fashion. Malcolm was there with Vivienne and the back of the shop. His hair was what stuck me first, He looked like a lion. He has golden hair, lots of curls and quite a prominent forehead. Really intelligent. You know that he didn't suffers fools gladly. So I was trying to cross the Ts and dot the I's and not say anything uncool. And Vivienne was more intimidating than Malcolm in the sense that she's naturally strict quite brusque, really with it and super observant. And I felt a little self-conscious because I was wearing a scruffy pair of winkle-pickers on and they were checking them out. I also met Malcolm on a number of occasions in Paris because after the Sex Pistols broke up, Jamie and Malcolm both went through a big emotional upheaval. Johnny Rotten had signed with Virgin and started PIL. Jamie Hated all that. And Malcom always wanted to be Johnny Rotten! So we were hanging out in Paris and they were licking their wounds! The pistols gave us a unique opportunity to be ourselves and remember our own power. While we were in Paris, Jamie took me to a record company. We were making a record for them. Malcolm was there too. He was getting into swamp music. that Louisiana slap-bass vibe. We were chatting about that. He got onto people fast. He could take your measurements really fast and know how to suit you up. A friend of mine in Liverpool, The Lady Sean, a fabulous Drag Queen, well, she was out in Liverpool with a load of Queens (all my friends) and they all turned up at a club and they were delighted to find the Malcolm Mclaren was there. Lady Sean was getting introduced to Malcom and he said 'Whats Your Name?'. And Sean said 'I'm the Queen Of Liverpool' to which Malcolm replied 'No. Margi Clarke's the Queen Of Liverpool'.

Your brother Frank also helped you in the early days.. Tell us about that?

I'm from a family of ten. I had two brothers, Frank and Michael who was killed in a motor-cycle accident. His death had a massive effect on all of us. It was like an atomic bomb going off in our lives and its the reason I burst into showbiz and became Margox. To distract my family from that pain. It was only three months after Michael's death that I got on TV. Frank's a year younger that me and we hung around together as kids. I used to protect him because I was the tough one. Frank wrote 'A Letter To Brezhnev for me'. Id written a song called 'A Letter To Brezhnev' and this inspired him to write his script. Were in the middle of the Cold War when all the negative propaganda was focused on the Russians. It got us thinking. Liverpool's got such a rich Maritime history so having a Russian ship coming in wasn't as unusual theme at all! Because they often did visit. (As a kid, I was taken down to the docks on New Years Eve to listen to the American ships sound there horns. They had the biggest horns!). So from that song idea, Frank was able to unfold the script. He sent is to everyone is the film industry and no-one wanted know and then destiny came knocking on the door in the shape of a homeless millionairess. Homeless for the night. We were squatting in a tower block in Liverpool. Holly Johnson often came to stay! We were broke, No food. Lots of tea. Someone asked Frank if we could offer this woman a bed for the night. Fiona Casselton. He family had invented central heating in the UK. Brilliant attitude and lovely spirituality. We should have known she was a millionairess because she had a bar of chocolate as big as the table and a piece of pot as bit as my fist. She was quite posh but friendly and we sat up all night telling stories. And at 6am we took her down to the landing stage to get the boat to the Isle Of Man. Which is where all the tax dodgers live. She wrote a letter to Frank a week later to invite us to stay with her. There was one big problem. None of us had any money to go to the Isle of Man! So we pooled our dole money to send Frank to the Isle Of Man with the script. His powers of persuasion had to be at their best to bring these people who had all the dough on board so we could make 'A Letter To Brezhnev'. So they asked Frank how much money we needed to make this film. So Frank plucked a figure out the air: £50,00 and they gave him them money. I was sitting in a hairdressers when Frank burst in and said 'Margi, Margi, Im gonna make you a star!'. And he did. How corny's that?

Tell us about your video with The Pet Shop Boys?

I met the Pet Shop Boys through a fabulous journalist called John Savage. Neil Tennant used to be a journalist. Which is why he's so great with lyrics. The Pet Shop Boys had made is really big with a sort of NY/UK exchange. They'd done their homework in the NY club scene and then bringing it back to us and putting a very English turn on it. They asked me if I'd do their video for Rent and I was really honoured because Derek Jarman was directing it. He had massive brain and an even bigger heart. Lots of empathy. At that time, I'd been for an audition and I didn't get the part because they said I was too old. I told Derek Jarman about this and he said 'Don't worry, Darling. I'll make you look 21 in this video.' And he did. He threw the stardust at me. And he was one of the only directors who ever let me play against time. I was playing a working class girl. I was playing a duchess! I always thought the Pet Shop Boys were shagging each other…but no!

Tell us about some of the awards you have won from acting?

I did win some awards for acting. One from the "Russians for A Letter To Brezhnev." And I won Best Newcomer from "The Evening Standard."

Tell us about The Good Sex Guide?

The Good Sex Guide had 18 million viewers and it was the first time anyone had seen sex performed on TV. It was soft porn with lots of grease. They put a lot of money into it. This was members of the public talking about their innermost secrets. Amazing that this sex education program came out of Britain. with that British Stiff Upper Lip. Especially at a time when lots of people with HIV were being demonised by the establishment. We were campaigning against all of that. I marched with Leigh Bowery to campaign against all the the ant-sex/anti-gay propaganda. The Good Sex guide was all about arming with people with information to help protect themselves. It won 36 wards all over the world. It caused a bit outcry in the Canadian Parliament. I went on a program called 'Ed The Talking Sock' to discuss the show! The Canadians embraced good sex!

Your boyfriend Jamie Reed took some nude photos of you that made the headlines.. Tell the readers about that Margi?

I posed nude copying the Demi Moore pregnancy bump and Jamie took the pictures. They were quite beautiful. They ended up in all the Sunday newspapers. We hid the Newspaper from my mum by throwing at the back of the fridge!

Jamie also had roots with Malcolm Mclaren and the Sex Pistols. Tell us about that connection?

Jamie and Malcolm met at art college in Croydon in around 67/68. Jamie was working on Suburban Press and he was producing agit-prop artwork. He was the political force behind the Pistols, giving Johnny Rotten the language to write the lyrics. Malcom was the Jewish salesman. He had all that front. He could sell ice to Eskimos. It was Jamie who was the master punk, He's from a druid background, he's a shaman. He's really got the Gnosis. That was the real power of the Sex Pistols. Jamie also fed to Vivienne his Scottish background. And he brought the Bondage trousers to Vivienne because they were worn by an ancient Scottish tribe. So he influenced not just the Sex Pistols but Vivienne's Piracy designs. He made some fabulous statements: 'Keep Warm this winter, Make trouble'. 'Save Petrol, Burn Cars'. Fantastic sense of humor. And that's the best way to fight back. Take the piss!!

Tell us about your work with the talented Steven Jones?

I've always been interested in the stars and astrology. And I find that what you're interested in tends to be what you write songs about. I'd found a site online called Zeta Talk. The Zetas are from Zeta Zetarilli, which is a constellation up in the heavens. I was reading about how to make a call to the ETs. How to make contact. I began to immerse myself in UFO information and disclosure. And I wanted to write a song about it. But I wanted it to be a song people could dance to. I wanted it to be about a discotheque in the sky and I wanted to be the Greeter. Like my fabulous mates on the doors of all the bars in the Gay Quarter of Liverpool. I wanted to be a fabulous greeter at the Holographic Disco. It was incredible when we got the track together. We make the track in Steven's front room. Steven's brilliant at producing incredible electronic sounds. I love electrical music! He's provided a great backing track. I researched a chunk of the dialogue for the start of the track. You know 'Star Child makes the call, to STO visitors…' I lifted that from Zeta Talk. I already had the melody for Holographic Disco in my head and it worked great with what Steven had done. Then it was time to make a video. It was time for Dennis Murphy to work his magic. He's brilliant with imagery. They're both wizards. Dennis got out his camera in the next room and we shot the video in front of a green screen. And suddenly I was on the main stage at Glastonbury. Then we had a brainwave. We thought Okay, how are we gonna get this to the press. Our punk sensibilities came to the fore once again. We decided to submit this track to the Eurovision Song Contest! Which is a very straight middle of the road affair. Steven sent it off to the Eurovision commissioning body, started an Internet rumor and contacted the mainstream press. The Sun Newspaper lapped it up and did a big feature about Holographic Disco. I've always been interested in making music. Right at the beginning of my career when I was Margox I was recording tracks like Jimmy's Grin and the French stuff with Jamie. There's a part of me that's always played under the radar. Making music opened my up in my life as an actress. I worked with Alan Gill from Teardrop Explodes who I did the music for Letter To Brezhnev with. But I kind of put it to sleep until I met up with Steven.

Tell us how and when you met Steven?

I've known Steven for a long time. We're both from the same part of Liverpool. He's really handsome so I always used to wave at him on the street. And one day we got talking in the Vegetable Shop on the main high street. Steven asked me what I was up to. He'd picked up that Id done music years ago and he said would you like to come down and play with some tracks. We started on a track called Like A Memory. That track's based on the Mayan Prophesies and the Hopi prophesies about the second sun. Dennis put some incredible imagery together in the video including some shots of Lady Olivia Robertson, a 95 year old pagan! Its got a lot of emotion. During one of the recording sessions, Steven went out to make a cup of tea and left the mic on. And as a joke, I started singing a song about fucking an alien. Steven's turned it into an amazing track called 'Fucking An Alien'! Totally spontaneous. Then we recorded Calling Cosmic Company. A romantic space ballad! Steven is universal and not confined to Liverpool. He's got a following all around the world and recently in the clubs in America. He introduced me to Donna Destri through Facebook. And I was reading about her history. She reminded me a lot of myself. I love her sexual power, that energy and that beautiful voice that communicates so many experiences. We're working together on a new version of Calling Cosmic Company with a Liverpool-based Producer Frank Perry AKA Ashi. Id love to meet Donna and get over to NY to do some gigs. Id rejoice in that. One of my personal ambitions is to meet up with James Gilliland at his UFO ranch. I wanna go via New York! So Once Donna Destri puts her fabulous vocals all over Calling Cosmic Company, I'm gonna come knocking. I wanna make a splash at Splash with some tracks!!

You are an absolute delight to interview... Do you have any parting words for Punk Globe readers?

Yeah! The globe is perpetual…and so is Punk!!

Punk Globe would like to thank Margi Clark for the great interview... Also a big shout out to Steven Jones for helping make the interview possible....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0Xmo276lYQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTLgoSr1fpE