|
 Erasure's Vince Clarke (left) and Andy Bell
After 22 years of engaging us with classic, memorable pop tunes, British synth duo Vince Clarke and Andy Bell—better known as Erasure—show no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
“Vince had sent me some musical ideas, because he felt inspired after I had my solo record,” Bell says over the phone from London while discussing A Light At The End Of The World, Erasure’s recently released eleventh studio album of original material. “He thought, I really wanna do some dance music, because I’d had a mid-tempo crisis.”
Indeed, the twosome seemed to have spent a decade experimenting with a slower, more ethereal sound after initially conquering the late ’80s and early ’90s pop scene with their trademark brand of irresistibly slick three-minute tracks. But from the sound of the new record, if anything, they’ve at the very least rediscovered their love of all things ABBA.
“I don’t know where Vince came up with these riffs,” Andy laughs. “He’s
got some really amazing riffs on ‘Sunday Girl’ and on the single, ‘I
Could Fall In Love With You.’ There is one track that’s gonna be an
extra on the limited edition CD, called ‘Take Me On A Highway,’ and
it’s just so ABBA. I said to Vince, ‘Oh, God, we can’t have this! It’s
too commercial. It’s awful! It’s even too commercial for me!’”
Nestled
in amongst Light’s more upbeat fare is “Storm In A Teacup,” a
heartbreaking fable whose lyrics deal with Bell’s mother and her
ongoing struggle with alcoholism.
"I thought, Well, what’s my biggest
concern about my mom?” he explains. “And for everybody, it’s that she
drinks all the time, every day. We’ve all spoken to her until we’re
blue in the face, and she’s not going to stop, because she’s got this
kind of punk ethic, which I get a lot from her. And she’s real
hardcore. She’s even more hardcore than me. But at the same time she’s
got this really resilient, steely glaze. Just when you think she’s lost
it, she’ll come out with this brainwave sentence or something that will
blow you away. And really, [the song] is just a thing to her to say,
‘We really don’t mind. We love you. We don’t like to see you damaging
your health.’”
By the end of June, Erasure will have wrapped up their
engagement on Cyndi Lauper’s ensemble True Colors Tour, benefiting the
Human Rights Campaign. “We just thought it’d be great to do it off the
back of this album, “ Bell says. “We didn’t need any coaxing, I’m
thrilled to be playing with Debbie [Harry] and Cyndi, as well as The
Gossip."
“I’d met [Cyndi] one time before,” he continues. “She was
really sweet and I was a bit gob-smacked, you know, in Los Angeles. I
was just out by the pool in some hotel and Cyndi came up. She was
really heavily pregnant, and she came over: ‘Oh, hi, you guys! I love
you guys!’ I got really flummoxed. I said, ‘Oh, hi. It’s lovely to meet
you. Um, um…” I actually didn’t know what to say at all.”
With the True
Colors Tour, however, Vince and Andy got right down to business with
Lauper, and the three of them even recorded a song together. “It’s kind
of a duet,” Bell points out. “It was a track from the album that we
thought we’d save and probably use it for a Human Rights Campaign
single or something, maybe a free download. It’s called ‘Early Bird.’”
Looking ahead, Erasure are trekking across the U.S. on their own tour
throughout July and August, and then through England and Germany in the
fall. Andy even talks of a plan to release a collection of all the
duo’s B-sides from the past two decades.
“I think doing a B-sides
project would be a really good idea, and to perform some tracks that
people have never heard live before,” Bell says, chuckling. “Because I
start feeling like a monkey on a barrel [after awhile], just me and
Vince, and it’s all the same music over and over again. I think, Oh
God, we gotta do something to keep me interested.”
--
A Light At The End Of The World is available now. Check out erasureinfo.com to find out where Erasure are playing near you.
|
Instinct Online 
written by Tony Banyer on July 18, 2007
22 years.....you are having a Laugh...!!!
Oh God has it been that long.....!!!
I am getting old , as have all the original UK releases