Stereoboard Speak To Pop Pioneers Erasure About Their Definitive, Long-Lasting Career (Interview)
Thursday, 20 October 2011
Written by Heather McDaid
Erasure are a band that have mastered the skill of longevity. Their first record ‘Wonderland’ turned 25 this year and the release itself has a good half a decade on me age-wise. Fast forward a quarter century from this first release to 2011 and you’ll find the synth-pop duo on their 14th full studio release, celebrating the silver anniversary of their wonderful debut and hitting the road once more on yet another extensive tour. Following sound-check prior to their Glasgow show, both Andy Bell and Vince Clarke took a little time out to chat about being in such a definitive and long lasting musical force.
The tour they find themselves on has been going a while already, but their UK leg had only started the previous night in Leicester. “It was alright. We were a bit jetlagged once we’d got back from America, so a bit tired but the show was still really good, I think,” says Vince. Andy adds, “Yeah. Playing the new material – it’s great, I love it.”
After promising the questions will go beyond those that offer a simple yes/no approach, we turn to the Erasure live experience, for those yet to be part of it. “I’d say it’s quite dramatic and quite powerful,” Andy begins, following Vince’s comment of ‘quite theatrical’ with, “Definitely quite theatrical and really good songs!”
Prior to this year, their last studio effort was 2007’s ‘Light At the End Of The World’. This tour is allowing the pair the opportunity to bring more new music to a live capacity following the release of their 14th album ‘Tomorrow’s World’. Vince explains how they approached this particular record, “Well, we worked with this guy called FrankMusik who’s an excellent producer and he came to my studio in America for a week or so to work. We’d written the songs already and the initial recording were done in my studio, which is like an old glam rock studio, and we worked with Andy in LA and then back in London to do the vocals. Then, Frank and I exchanged files over the internet; he would do a digital recording and I would send an analogue replacement.”
Turning more to FrankMusik, I mention I discovered he was on tour with them by a young fan outside hoping to meet him. With such a fanbase behind him on his own, how was it to work directly with him? “He’s mad,” laughs Vince. “He’s mad as a hatter. He’s so fast... the way he works, but he’s really good. I really enjoyed working with him. We didn’t get to know each other really well or spent enough time together, but he worked so fast that I could barely keep up.”
“It’s just the sound,” he continues, touching on the influence evident on the album. The pair agree that ‘When I Start To (Break It All Down)’ is a key track in terms of FrankMusik’s input. “He’s got this sound. I think the sound of the record is different from anything we’ve done before anyway, but it’s good, you know? It’s a really full on sound that he’s helped create. The drums are very heavy...” Andy succinctly adds, “It’s very crunchy.”
“Well, I think it’s the best of both worlds, really,” explains Andy, referring to how this record stands against their previous work. “We’ve done some really laid back, surreal, orchestral type records and we’ve had releases that are really gentle; so this one is quite ‘in your face’ really, for us anyway. So, I suppose it’s one of our most energetic records we’ve ever made... I just wanted it to be quite clubby and it really is. So that’s good.”
With this being their fourteenth release, do the pair consciously worry about the risk of repetition? “Well, I think it’s a bit strange because we’re songwriters and we always write songs together first off with guitar and piano and we’ve always got these really strong melodies... It just depends on what the chosen instrumentation is really,” says Andy, thoughtfully. Vince picks up his trail of thought; “I think everybody repeats themselves to some point. I do think that if and when Andy repeats himself noticeably, I’ll point that out and say we’ve done that old trick before. That’s why you bring a producer in to steer you away from a bad repetition.”
After covering all angles of the album’s approach and finished product, what tracks do they consider their favourites? Andy immediately suggests ‘What Will I Say When You’re Gone?’ as Vince picks ‘I Lose Myself’ after being reminded of the track’s actual name.
Returning to their debut – ‘Wonderland’ – back in 1986, how does it feel to be able to look back on such a long-spanning and successful career? “It’s very strange. Even when working with Frank; he was born when the first record came out, so it’s kind of strange because you feel a bit pervy, I suppose,” laughs Andy. “I’m old enough to be a granddad, Vince is a dad; I haven’t got any kids and I think being gay keeps you young as well, at heart. You really don’t have any concept of time, do you?”
“No I don’t, no. It’s more about the present now,” Vince replies.
“It’s strange to look back at it, sometimes we just look ahead,” continues Andy. “It’s gone so fast, it seems so long when you say it. It’s been a quarter of a century. Wow, that’s gone fast!”
One idea we’ve come across often through talking to musicians is that with the gift of retrospect, they see certain things they’d change musically or otherwise. That’s even applicable to people who have been around a couple of years; does it apply when looking back such a lengthy time? “I think with some [tracks] you do, but at the same time with some of my least favourite albums like maybe ‘Loveboat’ or ‘Cowboy’ I can play them again now and I’ll somehow really like them,” explains Andy. “They’re unusual and at the time I don’t think I quite understood them properly, you know? It makes you hear the music in a different way, so I don’t think you can really go back on them really. If we were ever to do something like a remix album like Kate Bush did with ‘Moments of Pleasure’, I would like to do it with ‘Chorus’; I think that would be really amazing.”
In terms of strolling down memory lane and having a bit of a nostalgia kick, we turn to favourites. While Andy settles on both ‘Nightbird’ and ‘Chorus’ as his favourite records from his career, Vince adds, “‘Chorus’ is my favourite album, apart from this record of course...”
As for the experiences and opportunities their career has presented them with... “Oh, that’s tough. I don’t know really. I think being a Grand Marshall on the San Francisco Gay Pride was quite good. That was last year; being head of the parade was really good. I had a bodyguard and stuff like that,” smiles Andy. Vince questions him about winning a Brit Award, laughing as his bandmate continues with the Brits anecdote. “Oh, yeah, we won a Brit Award... That was in 1989, a long time ago. I remember I kissed Boy George on the stage and everyone was like ‘Oh! How dare they! How could they do that?!’”
For many musicians, winning an award of such stature can be the pinnacle of their careers. Did they ever feel, at that point, they’d still be going strong more than 20 years past this fantastic accolade? “I don’t think we ever thought about it. I don’t think we really do think about it even now, do we? I don’t know how long we’re going to be going, I just want to carry on,” answers Andy. “We really like writing songs and we really like writing together, a whole host of things.”
“I think it’s good because we really like what we do,” adds Vince. While many are in music for questionable reasons at times, others say that if they ever lost the love for what they do, they’d happily walk away. Is this applicable to Erasure, who still hold a strong love for their work? “Definitely, yeah,” responds Vince. “I mean, we’ve had other jobs aside from this over the years and that’s exactly what’s happened. Having said that, we’ve been very fortunate to do this and we just love it.”
“I really love Ladytron, they’re really amazing. I don’t know if they’re Scottish, do you know?” begins Andy. As they are generally considered the ‘definitive synth-pop superstars’, it’s interesting to know who else they rank highly at present. “Well, Ladytron... They’re really brilliant. I think they’ve got about four or five albums. I just love her melodies and her voice and the subjects that she sings about. It’s really amazing.”
As for what to watch out for in the future from Erasure... “Well, this tour goes until the middle of November and then we talked about the idea of instead of making a record next year, just writing songs all year in the studio just to see what happens and decided what to do with them afterwards,” explains Vince. As for anything else to add, he adds, “We love coming to Scotland.”
While the closing conversation turns to my natural bias to the quality of Scottish crowds, it’s safe to say that Erasure are still as great as they ever were, if not better. They’re friendly, down to earth and the quality of their music does not dwindle, even fourteen records in. With their latest effort ‘Tomorrow’s World’ recently unveiled to the world at the dawn of October, there’s no real need to sell Andy Bell and Vince Clarke as a musical force as it’s clear for all to see.
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One idea we’ve come across often through talking to musicians is that with the gift of retrospect, they see certain things they’d change musically or otherwise. That’s even applicable to people who have been around a couple of years; does it apply when looking back such a lengthy time? “I think with some [tracks] you do, but at the same time with some of my least favourite albums like maybe ‘Loveboat’ or ‘Cowboy’ I can play them again now and I’ll somehow really like them,” explains Andy. “They’re unusual and at the time I don’t think I quite understood them properly, you know? It makes you hear the music in a different way, so I don’t think you can really go back on them really. If we were ever to do something like a remix album like Kate Bush did with ‘Moments of Pleasure’, I would like to do it with ‘Chorus’; I think that would be really amazing.” 
