Gracie: Ok, so let's start at the beginning. How did it really happen?
Debbi: How did what happen... my eye getting injured?  It never did.

G: Never?
D: Nope. I wore contacts back then, so I might have gotten a speck of dust in my eye once or twice, but that's about it.  Nobody ever shot a smoldering match into my eye. Supposedly this happened when I was 22?  (laughing) I know they say that if you can remember the 80's you weren't there - but I think I'd remember a lighted match in my eye!

G: This is from a UK-based paper, right?
D: Yeah. I just LOVE the imagination of the English press - these guys should be writing novels, really. It's so strange how they invent these crazy, detailed stories and then just randomly pick someone real to star in them.

G: Why did they pick you for this one, do you think?
D: Who knows? It might have been totally random, like "Let's think of something interesting to help sell a paper... Hey, the Bangles are on the charts! Let's make up a tidbit about them!"

G: It says here you were screaming and had to be helped into a waiting ambulance.
D: I've never been in an ambulance in my life. And it's also funny that the article says it was waiting for me.  Do ambulances often just wait in front of theaters for people to get their eye scorched?

G: Your "London-based publicist" is quoted as saying you didn't want anyone lighting up near you again...
D:  Did we even have a publicist then? Hmm.. I guess by 1987 we would have.  Back when we were starting out you didn't get one of those at first, you had to 'graduate' to a publicist(laughing). 

G: So, what was your reaction to this article when you saw it?
D: Well, this was long before the age of the internet, so it's not like I knew about it right away. But I started getting these sweet letters from fans saying, "Oh my god, are you okay?!" which was pretty confusing - but then when I finally saw the article I put two and two together.

G: From the fan perspective I think that of course it would be great to find out that you had not been hurt, but also weird to feel like I'd been lied to about you.
D: Well, another good thing about the internet is that these days people have opportunities to double-check anything they read or hear about us. If my eye really did get scorched now there'd be something on our website about it.

G: Do you still worry about being misquoted?
D: Oh, the Bangles get misquoted all the time, but I try not to worry about it.  Nine times out of ten it's just a simple mistake, and for the few times that people have really deliberately put words in our mouths we just have to grin and bear it. I've always believed our fans are too smart not to notice when something really absurd is said about us.

G: Like when that article quoted Michael Steele saying that you would destroy the band?
D: WHAT?!!

G: Ummmm... why don't we just cover that one next time. Don't you have to pack for Australia now?...

Tune in next time for more Tales From The Tabloids - and until then, check out Debbi as she braves the treacherous journalistic waters with the Sydney Star Observer and E News Melbourne newspapers, as well as Aussie radio interviews with Local Radio 3, Perth 96FM, Australian Radio Network, Radio Rebel 90.5FM, and Radio Breeze 100.6FM!