Tag: Andy McCluskey (Page 4 of 5)

On Tour with VILE ELECTRODES

“Mein Kaninchen Ist Tot…”

When up-and-coming synth duo VILE ELECTRODES were named as OMD’s support for the German leg of the ‘English Electric’ tour, understably, their front woman Anais Neon was in total shock at the news. Prior to confirmation, she said on Facebook “we have received an email of epic proportions but cannot divulge any more information until further notice”.

Meanwhile for her partner Martin Swan, it was the fulfillment of a boyhood dream as OMD had been his first concert experience back in 1986! VILE ELECTRODES had been spotted by OMD’s Andy McCluskey while he was perusing ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK and obviously recognised a kinship via their exquisite songs such as ‘Deep Red’, ‘My Sanctuary’ and ‘The Last Time’. There was a definite magic with this duo who bring a unique twist to the sound of classic synthpop.

Much preparation took place as Team Vile, augmented by technican and roadie Simon Forsyth, tour manager/merchandiser Rob Buxton and for the first part of the trip, merchandiser Graham Caley, readied themselves for life on the road. It was all terribly exciting and there was so much to organise including buying a vehicle worthy of transporting all the equipment and getting them across Europe too! The new van was also swiftly modified so that Anais and Martin could sleep on top of their highly valuable analogue synthesizers.

Meanwhile, Simon would be following with all his wires and boxes in his faithful truck Nellie. Instruments were carefully chosen and these included Martin’s trusty Korg MS20 and Anais’ Roland RS09 String Machine. This late stage was probably not the time to be introducing a new bit of kit, but Martin being Martin (like a kid in a candy store) couldn’t resist getting his hands dirty on the appropriately named Leipzig that had arrived the day before.

The first night of any tour is daunting but in Hamburg, there was one potentially trouser soiling surprise! “So whose stupid idea was this? Oh, Karl Bartos is here!” announced Anais on Facebook.

The ex-KRAFTWERK percussionist who co-wrote ‘The Model’ and ‘Kissing The Machine’ (one of the highlights on OMD’s new album) had come to catch up with his buddies from The Wirral.

He was already at the venue when VILE ELECTRODES arrived. “He just sat in a corner” a shocked Anais recalled, “I didn’t instantly recognise him but when I did, a wave of cold terror washed over me. Not only would we be performing in front of OMD, but in front of one of the classic line-up of KRAFTWERK?! The stuff of dreams and nightmares! It just felt absurd if I’m honest”

The late sound check finished just twenty minutes before the doors opened and there was just enough time for a light snack sitting alongside Andy and Karl in the catering quarters before dashing off to the dressing room to prepare for opening night. Anais did sound a little nervous, but to the untrained ear, the nerves were undetectable. Local music fan Sony was thrilled to see VILE ELECTRODES live for the first time: “I had listened to some of their songs with much enthusiasm. The crowd greeted VILE ELECTRODES with lots of applause when they entered the large, well-lit stage. The synths were tuned up and then, there was one adventure after another. The crystal clear voice of Anais and the wonderful pure synthesizer sounds gave me goosebumps!!!”

Backstage after the show, “Karl Bartos, Paul Humphreys and Andy McCluskey were LOVELY” remembered Anais. “They were really happy to chat, which was lucky, as I’d had a drink and was high on adrenaline, so there was no shutting me us! We talked about my outfits and, of course, whether Andy and Paul should consider something similar for their shows! When we said our goodbyes, we expressed delight and honour at having gotten to meet the great KB. His reply? ‘No, no! We are colleagues’… COLLEAGUES OF HERR BARTOS! Amazing!”.

Meanwhile, Martin talked gear: “Paul and I had a few chats whilst I was tidying up the spaghetti of our wires after coming off stage. I said to him ‘I bet you miss this, don’t you?’… of course with OMD, he doesn’t, but he said when he’s working with Claudia Brücken, he has to do all that still! Andy mentioned that they have a Mellotron, but that it would be silly to take stuff like that out live when they can use some really great samples”

First night nerves over with, Bielefeld turned out to be another big success and a sure sign that the rest of the tour was going to go be a blinder.

With the tour moving to Berlin, Anais and Martin were taking everything in their stride and feeling quite calm about performing in front of their next big audience, having already tucked two dates successfully under their belts. After the soundcheck, it was time to everyone to chill down.

Team Vile tucked into the scrumptious delights that had been provided by a local catering company and relaxed alongside OMD’s crew members including Chicky, the chief sound engineer to watch ‘Star Wars – How It Should Have Ended…’ which brought about shrieks of laughter. In the vastness of Berlin’s Tempodrom, VILE ELECTRODES entered the stage, all colour co-ordinated in red and black, to a ripple of applause. Anais’ few words of German were very much appreciated and by the time they had played ‘Drowned Cities’, ‘Empire of Wolves’ and ‘Proximity’, they genuinely had the crowd on their side.

Sony remembered Anais’ apology between the songs: “She said ‘Sorry für mein kleines bisschen Deutsch sprachen’… it was very sweet and likeable. All the people around me were very impressed and cheered”. For a support band, they got a terrific reception from the already packed hall. German OMD enthusiast 7und70 remembered there was lots of positive responses: “people were saying things like ‘love her voice’, ‘love the outfits’ and ‘great music’ while one person remarked VILE ELECTRODES were the only OMD support band he’d really enjoyed since they started again in 2007”

After their set, a handful of the audience came to the merchandise stand to see what was on offer although very few made a purchase. However, after the OMD set, it was a very different story.

The fans returned and the EPs were soon flying off the shelf. Anais and Martin were more than happy to pose for photographs, sign postcards and more importantly, talk to their new fan base.

“There was a big rush at the merch stand where Anais and Martin greeted each new fan with a big welcome” said Sony, “They were just great and marvellous. Now I have gained some new lovely friends who point to my musical tastes perfectly. I’m looking forward to hearing their new album and seeing them soon again”

But not all the crowd had been charmed by VILE ELECTRODES, least of an OMD fan who bizarrely had a dislike of electronic bands as a puzzled 7und70 recollected: “There was this stupid woman who said: ‘I don’t like them, they’re not using real instruments’. So I said to her: ‘erm, you are here watching OMD, a synthpop band which means they make music with synths. VILE ELECTRODES are using those instruments so that’s not a good reason for saying that you don’t like them, what is the difference?’ But she replied: ‘they’re using sequencers… do you know what a sequencer is? Everything is pre-recorded, everything on stage!’”.

It was amusing to see how people could draw strange arbitrary lines to suit their purist stances; maybe she should have listened more closely to OMD songs like ‘Metroland’, ‘Sailing On The Seven Seas’, ‘Locomotion’ and ‘Messages’ in her quest for a sequencer free nirvana?

The following day was Leipzig so it was imperative that images of Martin’s Analogue Solutions Leipzig were captured in front of significant landmarks and prominent signage. Armed with the Leipzig and umbrellas, cameras were set up for the photo opportunity at the Battle of Nations Memorial despite the pouring rain.

“The Leipzig is a crazy-ass mutha of a synth” said Martin, “it’s obviously a modern synth but it’s been designed with all discreet components – no integrated circuits – so it’s more like one of the synths from the 70s than the 80s. As such, it’s not a digitally controlled analogue synth, it’s got real VCOs. Most of the time it behaves but like the synths of old, it can be very sensitive to temperature, to humidity, voltage fluctuation! It’s kind of similar to the SCI Pro-One but it’s definitely the angrier, spikier cousin! It has bass like a mountain and is LOUD! Several people commented that they’ve never heard bass like that at a gig!”

The Haus Auensee in Leipzig is a fabulous venue and has played host to many great names but specifically synth musicians ERASURE, PET SHOP BOYS and of course, the mighty KRAFTWERK. It is located in the heart of a forest, with a lake to the rear and a campsite opposite. From the front, it is a fairly nondescript building.

However, the inside has a very different feel. The upstairs was already overwhelming with its semi-circular stone steps that overlooked the stage and its imposing ornate oval aperture that stood between the bar and viewing area. Due to renovation, only the ground floor was to open to the public so VILE ELECTRODES and OMD wouldn’t be playing to the full 3,500 capacity.

With the merchandise stand set up inside the main hall, Team Vile were very much visible throughout OMD’s performance and could be seen singing and dancing very energetically, particularly to the encore of ‘Electricity’.

After a comfortable night and a decent breakfast, they set off for the very long journey to Cologne with the prospect of a relaxing night off before the final gig of the tour. It rained, then rained some more and just when they thought they could give the wipers a rest, the rain started again.

Stopping off at a little service station, Simon Forsyth’s trusty truck Nellie was topped up too with some transmission fluid. As they rolled out of the car park, Simon made a critical observation: “We don’t appear to have a reverse gear”!

They crawled up the road far enough to establish that the situation was actually a lot worse. The Chevy was not changing gear. Nellie was poorly and needed immediate assistance.

About an hour later they were rescued and found themselves at a dealership in Kassel. Essential equipment was quickly transferred from one wagon to another so that Anais and Martin could continue their journey while Simon would stay with his van until it was repaired. The team was now separated and the rest of Team Vile were left to their own devices to get to Cologne.

Everyone arrived at the venue in plenty of time but there was no sign of Simon. Team Vile were clearly disappointed but the show had to go on and it just meant a re-configuration of duties. With the added news that the venue was going to take a commission on merchandise sales, everyone were all wondering if the last night might have a bit of grey cloud hanging over it.

But during a soundcheck break, Paul Humphreys stopped by to talk to Andy McCluskey so Team Vile took the opportunity offer them both a Vile MS20 T-shirt which had been designed by Rob.

These had been spotted by OMD in Oxford when they both claimed “we want one of those”! Their wish was now granted and Mr McCluskey was later seen performing on German TV with his VILE ELECTRODES T-shirt on! 😉

With Anais now clad in black trousers, under bust corset, sparkly bra and a vivid blue bolero styled jacket (all in latex of course), and Martin dressed as dapper as ever in matching colours, VILE ELECTRODES took to the stage, sounding awesome and delivering every song with total confidence.

Martin was visibly relaxed and in control, even caught on camera singing his heart out with passion. They were on fire and once again the crowd responded favourably.

Anais even threw caution to the wind and spoke again in German: “I studied German at GCSE but can remember very little – one thing happens to be ‘Mein Kaninchen ist tot’… I genuinely did have a rabbit at GCSE time called Creampuff who had died! I mentioned the rabbit thing, and all throughout the tour, Team Vile were encouraging me to say it on stage. The German audiences were wonderful, friendly and enthusiastic, but I really thought that ‘Mein Kaninchen ist tot’ would result in a tumbleweed moment, so I kept deciding not to say it. Basically what made it happen was that Nellie, Simon’s tour bus, broke down on the way to Cologne. It meant he missed our last show so he made me promise to say it, as a tribute to him and Nellie. I plucked up the courage – and it elicited laughter and applause aplenty!! It’s all part of the ‘silly’ human element of our band. We’re (definitely!) not too cool for school. We just try to be just ourselves!”

As it was the final night of the tour, VILE ELECTRODES were granted an additional ten minutes so they could play ‘Deep Red’, the most epically OMD sounding track in their catalogue. Andy McCluskey was watching in the wings and said “It’s great to hear that played live” but after finishing the number, Anais apologised to the crowd as it seemed like her and Martin were at times playing two different songs.

No matter, Cologne was another huge success. Crowds flocked to the merchandise stand again and Anais was even spotted singing ‘Happy Birthday’ into a video camera at one point. It was a moment she seemed to revel in, but not as much joy as when she spotted Simon in among the masses of new fans. “You made it” she shrieked, giving him a huge hug. Simon had unfortunately missed most of the concert but nevertheless his presence was most welcome. Team Vile were back together again.


Cologne and indeed the tour had been a total triumph. Whilst OMD’s crew dismantled the set and packed up for their onward journey, Andy, Paul, drummer Malcolm Holmes and keyboardist Martin Cooper along with VILE ELECTRODES mingled among friends and some special guests. They just happened to be Wolfgang Flür, ex-KRAFTWERK and Ralf Dörper from PROPAGANDA.

“After each of our shows, we helped man our merch stand… a bizarre experience for a small band, having a queue of folk wanting you to sign merch!” Anais recalled, “but it meant we didn’t get to chat to Wolfgang Flür at length, as he was being pulled from pillar to post backstage, plus he was getting ready to leave by the time we made it backstage. He was saying how much he was looking forward to coming to London for Playground Festival (which didn’t happen in the end sadly). So two KW members down and two to go! KRAFTWERK BINGO!”

With a prestigious TV slot on ‘Later With Jools Holland’ performing ‘Dresden’, ‘Enola Gay’ and ‘Kissing The Machine’ to do the following day, the OMD frontmen had to leave the aftershow. “You’ve got my email address now so keep in touch” Andy remarked. “I’ll definitely come and see you when you play London” said Paul.

When the guests had drifted away, only a handful remained with Malcolm and Anais plus the two Martins, Cooper and Swan, congregating in what was Andy McCluskey’s dressing room. The conversation was easy, with the other boys from OMD showing a great deal of interest in how Anais and Martin came to be together to form the band. All too soon, security were ushering everyone out. They stuffed the last of their belongings into holdalls and Team Vile slowly and somewhat reluctantly made their way to the doors.

It was time for one last photo opportunity in the rear car park of E-Werk. Huddled in a circle, Team Vile bowed their heads downwards and with big cheesy grins snapped one last image. Germany was done. It had been a totally and utterly awesome experience for each and every one of them, but especially for Martin and Anais.

Anais summarised it all beautifully. “If I never play another live gig again, I’ll still be a very happy bunny”


ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its grateful thanks to VILE ELECTRODES, OMD and all their crews

VILE ELECTRODES’ three-track CD EPs ‘Play With Fire’‘The Last Time’ and ‘Re-Emerge’ are available now via their online store at http://vileelectrodes.bigcartel.com/ along with T-shirts etc

The new album ‘The Future Through A Lens’ will be released on digipak CD, limited edition hand-finished mirror steel sleeve CD and download sometime in June 2013 and can be pre-ordered at the store. Please note the nine tracks from the EP Trilogy are exclusive to those releases and will NOT be appearing on the album

http://www.vileelectrodes.co.uk

http://www.facebook.com/vileelectrodes

http://vileelectrodes.blogspot.com/

http://www.sonicstate.com/news/2013/05/20/tech-diary-on-the-road-with-vile-electrodes/

https://www.facebook.com/KarenABuxtonBoudoirPhotography


Text by Karen Buxton
Interviews and Additional Material by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Karen Buxton and Rob Buxton
27th June 2013

OMD Interview

Photo by Tom Oxley

‘English Electric’ is genuinely a stunning return to form.

Utilising their KRAFTWERK, NEU! and ENO influenced avant pop template, the original creative nucleus of Paul Humphreys and Andy McCluskey have married their classic sound to glitch techniques, modern computer voice generators and sympathetic contemporary production for a wonderfully cohesive work.

The long standing influence of Düsseldorf’s Fab Four – Ralf, Florian, Wolfgang and Karl – is more apparent on ‘English Electric’ than on any other previous OMD album. From first single ‘Metroland’ to ‘Kissing The Machine’, a sonic collaboration with Herr Bartos which also features PROPAGANDA’s Claudia Brücken, OMD’s Germanic circle is now complete.

Interestingly, some OMD fans weaned on ‘If You Leave’ and ‘Sailing On The Seven Seas’ appear to have been confused about OMD recording an electronic album with references to KRAFTWERK. But right from the off with ‘Electricity’ (which was effectively the song ‘Radio-Activity’ speeded up), Kling Klang has been the seed of OMD’s genesis. McCluskey recently included ‘Radio-Activity’ AND ‘Trans Europe Express’ among his baker’s dozen of favourite albums for The Quietus so this should not have come as any great surprise!

‘English Electric’ could well be the best OMD album since 1983’s ‘Dazzle Ships’. The sparkling but bittersweet synthpop of ‘Helen Of Troy’, the Edward Hopper referencing realism of ‘Night Café and the lovely Paul Humphreys vocalled ‘Stay With Me’ are all prime jewels in the OMD crown.

Meanwhile THE TORNADOS meet LA DÜSSELDORF blitz of ‘Dresden’ will have live audiences up on their feet despite its macabre lyrical context. Although closely related, ‘Dresden’ is however not actually about the bombing in the Second World War in the same way ‘Enola Gay’ was about Hiroshima. Instead, it uses the city as an unsubtle metaphor about relationship breakdown, an emotive topic that connects with the album’s theme of unfulfilled utopian dreams.

Photo by Ed Fielding

There are also unconventional chorus-less songs like the magnificent ‘Our System’ which sees drummer Mal Holmes turn into Phil Collns for the song’s explosive climax.

But the biggest surprise is ‘The Future Will Be Silent’, a squelch laden commentary about audio pollution… despite its dubstep drops, the end result remains somehow distinctly OMD!

OMD also embark on an extensive world tour and the various support acts in each territory showcase the best of established and new talent in a thoroughly reinvigorated electronic music scene.

Special guests in the UK are JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS who need no introduction; the former ULTRAVOX front man’s partnership with vintage synth collector extraordinaire Benge also features on stage, the multi-talented Hannah Peel whose ‘Organ Song’ was sampled for the OMD track ‘Bondage Of Fate’ from the previous OMD album ‘History Of Modern’. She also covered ‘Electricity’ for her debut EP ‘Rebox’.

Meanwhile, the Belgian and Dutch dates will be supported by METROLAND, a duo with Kling Klang burned into their circuitry and whose debut album ‘Mind The Gap’ is an affectionate technological journey inspired by the London Underground network; their electronic restyling of IGGY POP’s ‘The Passenger’ has to be heard to be believed while their appropriate remix of ‘Metroland’ is a big favourite of Rusty Egan.

The striking VILE ELECTRODES will be the opening act for the German tour and ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK is particularly proud as they first  featured on the site in 2010. They were also chosen by Andy McCluskey as a direct result of him perusing this very site. Andy McCluskey spoke about OMD’s new opus…

What inspired you to make ‘English Electric’ more conceptual?

It was the logical step forward. ‘History Of Modern’ was a collection of songs in various OMD styles. But we got loads of sh*t for just making a good album with ‘History Of Modern’. If U2 or SIMPLE MINDS just make an album that sounds like them, everyone will applaud them for getting back to basics. *laughs*

I don’t think people who crave songs are going to be disappointed. Having said that, ‘Our System’ is probably more akin to things like ‘Stanlow’ and ‘The Romance Of The Telescope’.

You’re making a statement of intent by launching the album with one of the experimental tracks ‘Decimal’ AND releasing ‘Metroland’, the longest track on the album as a single?

‘Metroland’ is a beautiful song with a simple but beautiful lyric, even if I say so myself… we’re very happy with it. So the beginning of this campaign is yes, making a statement of intent and flagging that we believe in what we’ve done on this album. The people who will buy the album will buy it hopefully because they’ve heard ‘History Of Modern’ and hopefully because they are OMD fans; they will buy it in the first two weeks. Then, hopefully, the people who liked ‘Sister Marie Says’ and bought ‘History Of Modern’ because they heard it on Radio2 will then go and buy the album when they hear the next two singles… this is the theory! *laughs*

Photo by Tom Oxley

‘Dazzle Ships’ was made in a period of adversity and insecurity… with ‘English Electric’ we are sort of in that situation with the economic uncertainty and the spectre of terrorism. What similarities can you identify spiritually with the two albums?

That’s an interesting thought isn’t it… does it find itself in similar economic and political landscape? In some respects, yes it does. But I don’t think that bad as the economies are, I don’t think most people in the Western democracies probably feel quite as fearful as they did in the early 80s of atomic destruction.

So the landscape isn’t exactly the same… y’know you’ve asked me a question I don’t know the answer to, well done! There are similarities and there may be similarities in the way it is being conceived because of the environment, but I would have to admit they are unconscious. I do want to stress we have not tried to recreate ‘Dazzle Ships’! It was a little frustrating for people to be talking about ‘Decimal’ being just ‘Time Zones’ for 2013… no it’s not! It’s completely different. It’s like saying because it’s got a speaking voice in it, it sounds like ‘Time Zones’… that’s like saying THE CLASH were like THE BEATLES! It just doesn’t hold water!

What techniques have you used to conceive these shorter, collage pieces?

For ‘Atomic Ranch’, Paul turned me on to these Vox Machina plug-ins. It’s quite nice to hear the three voices offset against each other… and one of them which most people seem to think of as the wife, is she going off-message or is she going on-message at the end? I don’t know… she changes. ‘Please Remain Seated’ is a combination, there’s a second half with a programmed voice and my words but the first half is an airport recording in Chinese. When you hear them in the context of the album, the linking pieces actually set up the next piece of music very beautifully.

Is the internet today’s short wave radio?

In practical terms, the internet has influenced ‘English Electric’ because it’s a source of information in the same way that German imports were when we were teenagers and the short wave radio was; when you’re interested and alert, you soak up anything you can get. I discovered the sound of Voyager going through the magnetosphere of Jupiter on YouTube and I downloaded vocal machine programmes and samples from the internet. I used to have ring binder folders to do my homework in because OMD, we are geeks and we research our songs. My laptop became my ring binder with a load of stuff that we downloaded from the internet; information that we didn’t even get round to using like The Doomsday Clock… watch out for that one!!

Photo by Tom Oxley

Your 1993 co-write with Karl Bartos ‘Kissing The Machine’ has been reworked by Paul Humphreys for inclusion on ‘English Electric’ and Claudia Brücken is featuring too?

The original version was wonderful although not as many people have ever heard it as it was merited as I was very proud of it and I think Karl as well. I did want more people to hear ‘Kissing The Machine’ but the sound of it and lyrically concept of it fitted with the kind of dystopian vibe of the whole ‘English Electric’ album.

Paul has completely thrown everything else away and reworked the track from scratch. And yes, it sounds quite like KRAFTWERK! When Paul gets the bit between his teeth and he has a really great direction, he fires some wonderful stuff up! It’s interesting because Paul had the idea of asking Claudia to do the vocal in the middle eight and I said “let’s do that”. So we did it in the middle but I suggested we start it with the “I want you to want me – I need you to need me…” bit through a vocoder and went “y’know, could you ask Claudia to do it in German as well?” Oh! German in the middle, it’s so good on the music, it just sounds fantastic! It’s very exciting to be able to have Claudia Brücken on an OMD tune!

How did the collaboration with MARSHEAUX producers FOTONOVELA, ‘Helen Of Troy’ come about? Most people in the UK and US won’t have heard of them…

George Geranios and Nick Bitzenis of FOTONOVELA were our label bosses in Greece via their Undo Records and they sent me this track… the demo had Nick going “Helen Of Troy – Helen Of Troy” so I took his vocal off as you do [*laughs*], chopped it all up and rearranged it… it’s gorgeous! I have used some of Nick’s backing vocals. It was the third one completed on the album, I love it to bits! And ‘Helen Of Troy’ is much more of a metaphor than either of the ‘Joan Of Arcs’ were.

Several of OMD’s best songs have been inspired by the ethics of conflict and war… ‘Enola Gay’, ‘Bunker Soldiers’, ‘Silent Running’; does ‘Dresden’ fall in that category?

‘Dresden’ is a whopping great, unsubtle metaphor… it was interesting that we found ourselves in Dresden, it was quite incredible but the song had already been written before I went. It’s not about the bombing of Dresden in the same way as ‘Enola Gay’ was about the aeroplane that dropped the atom bomb.

‘Idea 3’ has been turned into ‘Stay With Me’, is there’s an ‘Idea4’?

We’ve always got bits and pieces left over. I think they will get used. ‘Ideas 1-3’ were all melodies written by Paul, it was just a question as to whether they would get turned into songs. ‘Idea 1’ became a B-side. ‘Idea 2’ became ‘History Of Modern (Part II)’ and ‘Idea 3′ has finally became ‘Stay With Me’ and that’s another great melody.

What are the bonuses that come with the various formats of the album?

The B-side of ‘Metroland’ is ‘The Great White Silence’. In the collector’s tin, there is a 7 inch vinyl; one side has got ‘Our System’ which by general consensus is everyone’s favourite song on the album while on the back of it is a song called ‘Frontline’ which is only available on that 7 inch vinyl.’Frontline’ was influenced and inspired by The Arab Spring and the vast majority of the drum track is entirely made out of machine gun, cannon and artillery fire. The song’s working title was ‘Artillery’.

There’s one more track called ‘No Man’s Land’ on iTunes and there’s also a couple of totally instrumental abstract pieces that don’t even have actual titles that may be further B-sides down the line.

You just signed a worldwide deal with BMG…

We’ve signed to BMG for publishing and global rights on this album only. It’s a new model, they’re a rights company, not a record company. They don’t have a great big building with 500 staff that is a massive overhead, they have a small office with a handful of people. Each deal they do is a bespoke deal for each artist in each territory, employing freelance people to work the project for its lifespan; that’s all it costs them. This is one of the new models in the music industry to see if there is a functioning new model! *laughs*

How does ‘English Electric’ compare with ‘History Of Modern’?

‘History Of Modern’ is what it was because of the circumstances it found itself in. There’s a feeling abroad that ‘English Electric’ is quite powerful and well conceived. That’s nice. There will be people who will have a whinge about it, but I don’t think the people who like songs will be in any way disappointed.

‘English Electric’ has been a hard album to make… really hard! Much harder than ‘History Of Modern’, it’s been torn out in several different ways for several different reasons.

By the time it was completed, both of us were emotionally and physically exhausted. We’re starting to get our energy back and we are getting feedback which is incredibly positive. Many people who have heard the album are very excited about it. It’s been an interesting journey these last couple of years writing this album. It’s been very exciting.

Where do you stand on modern vocal processing technology? I find it surprising some people who adore Kraftwerkian vocoders go “UGH! Autotune!”?

People draw lines in sound in weird and arbitrary places don’t they? *laughs*

I would say anything is fine. I’m a little bit bored of pop vocals with Autotune as an effect but modern production is so clean that you can hear all the separation between the instruments and the voices so clearly that unless you are the most incredible singer, actually most people are Autotuned! It’s just a case of how much they’re Autotuned… have you just pulled it into tune or is it patently obvious and sliding? I have no problem with anything being used, all I’m interested in is does it work for me, what do I get out of it? If I get something out of it, then everything is fine!

How are you finding new electronic acts these days?

I enjoy your website and I’ve discovered some very interesting bands actually…

Oh, who have you found recently?

I can’t say… cos one of them is going to support us in Germany!

Is it CHVRCHES?

No! But a young British electronic band is supporting us in Germany. Obviously JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS are supporting us in the UK and how could we say no to John Foxx! *laughs*

How did JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS supporting in the UK come about?

We were just asking around as to who might be available that would be complimentary and somebody said John Foxx and we were like “NO WAY? Would he tour with us?”; he said “yes” and we said “yes please”! *laughs*

Well, you get to see Hannah Peel again!!

EXACTLY!! I emailed her as soon as I found out and said “Hello, are you on the tour?” and she said “Too right!”… so yeah! *laughs*

I’m looking forward to hearing who the young British electronic act is!

Yes, and we have a Belgian two-piece supporting us in Brussels and Utrecht…

…oh! METROLAND???

Yes, METROLAND are supporting us!

Have you checked out ANALOG ANGEL? Their track ‘We Won’t Walk Away’ sounds just like OMD!

I’ll have to check ANALOG ANGEL out, the last few weeks have just been f**king mental!

They’re a trio of weegies, I said your dad played for Celtic and it turned out they were Rangers fans! *laughs*

Ha! Ha! Y’know, it turns out I don’t think my dad played for Celtic! I think he was pulling a Walter Mitty on me! He played football and he was something to do with Celtic because he knew people at the ground when I was a kid and he used to take me up there. I’ve walked on the pitch and been in the trophy room… turns out he never played for the first team as far as I could find out!! Funny old world eh?


ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its grateful thanks to Andy McCluskey

Special thanks to Toby Harris at 100%

‘English Electric’ is released by BMG in CD, deluxe CD+DVD, download, vinyl and tin box set formats

OMD’s 2013 UK tour with special guests JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS includes:
Margate Winter Gardens (28th April), Birmingham Symphony Hall (29th April), Nottingham Royal Centre (1st May), Ipswich Regent Theatre (2nd May), London Roundhouse (3rd May), Bristol Colston Hall (5th May), Oxford New Theatre (6th May), Sheffield City Hall (8th May), Leeds Academy (9th May), Manchester Academy (10th May), Glasgow Royal Concert Hall (12th May), Gateshead Sage (13th May), Liverpool Empire (14th May)

The Benelux shows featuring special guests METROLAND include:
Utrecht Tivoli (Friday 17th May) and Brussels Ancienne Belgique (Monday 20th May)

The German tour with special guests VILE ELECTRODES includes:
Hamburg Docks (21st May), Bielefeld Ringlokschuppen (22nd May), Berlin Tempodrom (24th May), Leipzig Haus Auensee (25th May), Köln E-Werk (27th May)

Please visit the official OMD website www.omd.uk.com for further details on all shows on the ‘English Electric’ tour including the rest of Europe and North America


Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
21st April 2013

A Short Conversation with KARL BARTOS

Photo by Katja Ruge

Karl Bartos first came to the music world’s attention as a member of KRAFTWERK.

Along with Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider and Wolfgang Flür, he became part of what is acknowledged as the classic line-up of the pioneering Düsseldorf quartet. Recruited in 1975 to augment the live shows following the international success of ‘Autobahn’, Bartos was studying to be a symphony orchestra percussionist at the time and had to occasionally commute across the Atlantic to complete his exams while on tour in the US.

A now iconic appearance on ‘Tomorrow’s World’ showcased the future of music when the foursome demonstrated their customised instrumentation while smartly attired in suits. Using synthetic drum consoles triggered by metal rods, Bartos and Flür punctuated KRAFTWERK’s pioneering technology enhanced sound with a distinct uncluttered percussive snap. They continued their thematic fascination with science and technology, making major artistic leaps with the ‘Radio-Activity’ and ‘Trans-Europe Express’ albums.

Two of their fans were David Bowie and Brian Eno whose work on ‘Low’ and ‘Heroes’ in 1977 helped raise KRAFTWERK’s profile in the UK and led to a spate of new acts that were to become part of the Synth Britannia cultural revolution. But following the simultaneous high profile success of the Giorgio Moroder produced ‘I Feel Love’ for Donna Summer and his own ‘From Here to Eternity’, KRAFTWERK became fascinated by the throbbing sequenced electronic disco template and incorporated it into the album that many consider to be their crowning achievement, ‘The Man-Machine’.

By this time, Bartos had graduated to become Hütter’s main writing collaborator at Kling Klang with his first contribution being ‘Metropolis’. On tracks such as ‘The Robots’, ‘Neon Lights’ and ‘The Model’, Bartos added a funky groove that hadn’t been apparent in KRAFTWERK’s previous work.

Photo by Deb Danahay

In 1981, KRAFTWERK predicted the world we now live in with ‘Computer World’, a conceptual work that looked at police surveillance, portable office technology, computer dating and home entertainment. A much more tightly programmed work but with that all important vulnerable sense of humanity, the album was rhythmically strong thanks to Bartos’ contributions and tracks like ‘Numbers’ heavily influenced musicians in America who later went on to develop genres such as electro, hip-hop, house and techno.

However in 1983, with KRAFTWERK about to capitalise on the recognition they had been accorded by the success of synthpop throughout the world with the single ‘Tour De France’ and its accompanying album ‘Technopop’, Ralf Hütter had a near fatal cycling accident. While making his recovery, the release of ‘Technopop’ was postponed and the tracks reworked using more new digital sampling technology.

A rethink had manifested itself as computer based instruments such as the Fairlight and Synclavier were becoming increasingly prevalent in modern pop. KRAFTWERK purchased the latter and the delayed result was eventually released as the disappointing ‘Electric Cafe’ album in 1986 which interestingly saw Bartos’ debut as a vocalist on one of the album’s highlights, ‘The Telephone Call’.

KRAFTWERK had clearly lost their way at this point and Flür was the first to leave in 1987. Bartos soldiered on and worked with Hütter, Schneider and new recruit Fritz Hilbert on a remix album entitled ‘The Mix’. Bartos played his last concert with the band in 1990 and left not long after. But despite having already put several years into the project, his name was missing in the credits… keen observers will have also noticed that within the artwork of ‘The Mix’, Fritz Hilpert’s robot image was duplicated in Die Quartett shot to give the impression of a new fourth member!

Wasting no time following his departure, Bartos formed ELEKTRIC MUSIC with Lothar Manteuffel from RHEINGOLD and released the album ‘Esperanto’ which at the time, was enthusiastically welcomed by fans desperate for the void in new KRAFTWERK material to be filled. “Kraftwerk were like a wonderful Jumbo Jet that almost never took off” he wryly said to Future Music in 1993, “Now I’d rather have my own little Messerschmitt… and make my own pirouettes”!

Photo by Katja Ruge

One of the erstwhile collaborators on ‘Esperanto’ was longtime KRAFTWERK fan Andy McCluskey from OMD who sang on ‘Kissing The Machine’, quite possibly the best song that both parties was involved with during the anti-synth backlash that was to eventually became Britpop.The guitar dominated environment led to rather strange happenings with both musicians.

In McCluskey’s case, it was forming ATOMIC KITTEN. Legend says it was Bartos who suggested that it was the vehicle McCluskey was using that was outdated rather than his songs, hence this new messenger! He said: “Andy, if you just write songs, you’ll be a whore and your publishers will control you. You really need to create a vehicle for your own songs… create a three-piece girl group”! To think that ATOMIC KITTEN are part of Kling Klang’s lineage is quite amusing in hindsight!

Meanwhile, Bartos went to Manchester to work with Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr on ELECTRONIC’s ‘Raise The Pressure’ album and returned to Germany with a Rickenbacker strapped to his back! Ironically, the resultant 1998 album was titled ‘Electric Music’ which Bartos himself described as “guitar pop out of the computer”. Although a song originally written for KRAFTWERK entitled ‘The Young Urban Professional’ was the first single, the album was not particularly well received by fans!

In 2003, Bartos made a triumphant comeback with his first proper solo album ‘Communication’. This saw a return to his electronic roots with lead track ‘The Camera’ in particular successfully updating the Kling Klang template of ‘The Robots’ for the new Millennium.

The album was far more of an artistic success than ‘Tour De France Soundtracks’ which had just been released by his former colleagues after a lengthy absence. Bartos’ own live show was a huge success too, mixing his new material with updated versions of his classic KRAFTWERK compositions in a striking but intimate audio/visual extravaganza.

Although having been comparatively silent for the last few years musically, Bartos has been working as a visiting Professor at the Berlin University of the Arts having founded its Master of Arts course in ‘Sound Studies – Acoustic Communication’. But now comes the release of ‘Off The Record’, the first album from Karl Bartos in ten years.

It sees lost material being reconceived and recontextualised within a 21st Century setting. The story behind the album’s concept is that during his time with KRAFTWERK, Bartos wrote – off the record – a secret acoustic diary.

Based on his rhythmical and melodic sketches, he has come up with twelve songs that could be perceived as KRAFTWERK compositions in all but name. Indeed ‘Nachtfahrt’ has its origins in the late 70s while the new single ‘Atomium’ re-explores themes first touched on with the ‘Radio-Activity’ album. Using the giant model of an iron crystal erected for the 1958 World’s Fair in Brussels as symbolism for the rise and fall of atomic power in Europe, its mantra is “what does iron crystal music sound like?”

For those who missed out on seeing KRAFTWERK’s art space album retrospectives, Karl Bartos will be touring in 2013. “Forget about technical nostalgia in 3D” says his press release, “instead tune into LiveCinema: 90 minutes of music and film – rhythmical, modern, intelligent”. So with the imminent release of ‘Off The Record’ on the prestigious German label Bureau B, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK is proud to be able to bring you a short conversation with one of the Godfathers of modern electronic music…

In KRAFTWERK from ‘The Man-Machine’ onwards, you were credited with co-writing. When did this shift come about and what sort of parts were you contributing?

I played electronic drums on ‘Radio-Activity’ and ‘Trans Europe Express’. I got my first contribution as a composer for the album ‘The Man-Machine’. On this recording and all subsequent recordings my input included all parts of the musical content ie drums, bass, sequencer, chords, melody, voice, lyrics.

You left KRAFTWERK in 1990 but you got to work straight away as ELEKTRIC MUSIC releasing the ‘Esperanto’ album in 1993. You wrote ‘Kissing The Machine’ with OMD’s Andy McCluskey. How do you feel about him reviving it for the new OMD album ‘English Electric’?

Sometimes we all love nostalgia because it’s safe. One interesting point; the process of listening to music incorporates what we have learned before, all our lives, what we know. If you listen to a track in a club, or at home, or a concert, it doesn’t matter where, always what our brain does is we remember what we have learned about music, then we have this very second, this very moment, and our expectations about how the music will evolve in the future. Listening to music incorporates all three times.

Back to Andy, when I left KRAFTWERK in the early 90s, I got a call, “Hi I’m Andy, I’d like to visit you”. I showed him part of my archive. He suggested we do something together and I was up for it, so we went through this archive [which became ‘Off The Record’]. We picked some cassettes and finally I found *sings the opening notes of ‘Kissing The Machine’*.

I’m always after melodies, and so is he. He heard this, and then we had a really good time in Düsseldorf, we had dinner with Wolfgang in his flat, and a month later he sent me a demo, “Hey Karl, what so you think of this?”

He wrote the whole song and the lyric and the robo voice and I produced it for my first album. And now, we are always in touch, and when he plays Hamburg, he invites me. Last time he asked me if I had the old vocal recording which is 20 years old. I found this, because at the time I was really well organised. I sent him the vocal track but I haven’t heard the production. Maybe the link is in my inbox. I’m looking forward to hearing it.

Photo by Katja Ruge

In 1995, you worked with Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr on ELECTRONIC’s ‘Raise The Pressure’ album but it was reported at the time you were getting disillusioned with music technology. What had happened to make you feel like this?

It was this idea of techno music with people making a track every day, another tune, releasing a record every other week, just fours-to-the-floor with no melody or structure, with no thought going into it really. I found it boring and depressing and it was the technology that was allowing it to happen. But then I worked with Johnny and Bernard who were able to use synthesisers and machines but were bringing so much melody and feeling into it as well. That really helped to make me feel positive again, it was such a great experience.

Did you have any dilemmas about how many KRAFTWERK songs to include when you first went out with your live show in 2003 in support of the ‘Communication’ album, especially as your former colleagues were returning with ‘Tour de France Soundtracks’?

Well, since I have co-written many of the hits, I always had too many of them for just one concert. The real problem was to sort out the redundant tracks.

It’s been 10 years since ‘Communication’. During that time, there has been the move to download culture and smart technology. How have these advances shaped ‘Off The Record’, bearing in mind its background?

The change in music culture had no influence in the making of this album. It is true: the music industry has lost its business model but that did not change the power of music.


ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its grateful thanks to Karl Bartos

Special thanks to Bettina Michael

‘Off The Record’ is released on 18th March 2013 by Bureau B

http://www.karlbartos.com/

http://www.bureau-b.com/karlbartos.php


Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
12th February 2013

OMD Synthetic Engineering

OMD’s existing performance set-up with two Roland Fantom X8 workstations actually has its roots in the 1983 ‘Dazzle Ships’ Live Presentation.

Some of the more purist observers complain about the lack of analogue instruments in the current live shows but Andy McCluskey said recently: “Who says that digital can’t be a beautiful as analogue?”

Even in the pioneering days, OMD were thinking carefully about how best technologically to present themselves in a live context to an audience that was still growing accustomed to electronic based music.

It is well documented that the success of ‘Architecture & Morality’ tour had taken its toll on the band emotionally and functionally. Extended touring had robbed the band of time in their studio The Gramophone Suite to compose new material. As Andy once remarked: “you can’t sit up the back of a tour bus and strum your synthesizer…”. But there was also their reliance on the equipment they took out on the road. Paul Humphreys had his ever faithful Korg Micro-Preset but also the Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 first used on the single version of ‘Messages’ and the subsequent ‘Organisation’ campaign.

In addition, there was the hefty sky blue Elgam Symphony dual action organ and the huge, even more cumbersome Novatron which was an updated version of the Streetly Mellotron M400 that had been during the recording of the album. “We used a Mellotron Mk1 on ‘Architecture & Morality’ but were advised that if we were going on the road to get a Novatron.” said Andy, “The Mk1 had a very bad whine created by the power supply. Streetly told us it was a design fault.”

The Mellotron aka Novatron was an electro-mechanical keyboard that played tape loops of sounds such as choirs, strings and brass.

The name Novatron was adopted for instruments produced after 1976 due to a legal blunder which meant the name Mellotron could not be used.

It was the dominant texture of ‘Joan Of Arc (Maid Of Orleans)’ as well as several other tracks on ‘Architecture & Morality’ so was considered a necessity on tour sonically. But it was extremely heavy, weighing in at 55 kg and due to its delicate systems, was vulnerable to malfunction under the heat of stage lights.

But there were also power supply issues as Andy recalled from a gig in Italy: “All the power was from a small generator and every time the lights got really bright on stage, the power supply to equipment reduced making the Novatron flywheel slow down so the notes went very flat. Once our lighting guy realised the problem, we did the rest of the show with reduced lights to keep the Novatron in tune.”

Meanwhile, the Prophet 5 had been a godsend as one of the first programmable polyphonic synths and used integrated circuits to make it more compact and versatile compared with say, a Polymoog or Yamaha CS50. It played an important role in the pioneering OMD sound as much as the Mellotron, with tracks such as ‘Romance Of The Telescope’. “’Romance…’ is actually a Prophet 5 factory preset for the out of tune brass sound but the choir is Mellotron” remembered Andy.

Previously, cheaper synths either had presets like Paul’s little Korg which restricted the number of sounds they could make, or they would have no memory like their Korg MS20. Synths like the latter were largely impractical for live use as a keyboard although Mal Holmes had the MS20 to generate fixed sounds for percussive effects triggered by his drum pads. But now with a programmable synth and patch memories at their disposal, a sound could be created or found, stored and then recalled for its corresponding song at a touch of a button.

However, it was still early days for developments in chip based technology and while the Prophet 5 was invaluable for studio work, the oscillators which generated the sound source would destabilise over the time it was switched on, thus causing tuning difficulties. Also the precious memories could be scrambled due to voltage spikes. To add an extra headache, the Prophet 5 had a reputation for reliability issues which necessitated two examples being taken out on the road.

Martin Cooper’s set-up included Roland SH09 and SH2 monosynths for basslines and melodies plus a Vox Jaguar organ for chords.

While this organ had been an essential part of the early OMD sound, especially on the first album, it was of 1960s vintage, large and of transistor construction. So again, it was extremely delicate and not suited for the perils of a world tour.

Mal Holmes’ percussion complex consisted of a big Tama bass drum, large Pearl snares and conventional Paiste hi-hat alongside an array of electronic percussion pads triggering the aforementioned Korg MS20 and a pair of Pearl Syncussion units which controlled two percussive timbres each. With minimised microphone spill allowing very loud acoustic drums to combine with the raw electronic noise, these helped give OMD a uniquely crunchy live sound.

But this system was also very fragile due to the exposed ceramic piezoelectric sensors on the pads. Ceramics are not a naturally malleable material so therefore prone to breakage when hit hard. Famously, a home made electronic kit designed by Paul Humphreys and Paul Collister fell to pieces while being used by Mal during OMD’s first show as a live quartet. “I hit the crystal microphone inside the pad and smashed it to bits!” remembered Mal.

The practicalities of a one and a half hour show had shown various shortcomings and provided unnecessarily stress for a group of young musicians still fighting with a music press and audience that didn’t consider synthpop real music and thought synth bands couldn’t play live! So with the future in mind, OMD looked for an instrumental set-up that was more streamlined and practical for live work.

They found it with the E-mu Systems Emulator. Founded in 1971 by Scott Wedge and Dave Rossum, E-mu began making modular synthesizers whose users included jazz virtuoso Herbie Hancock. At a convention, Wedge and Rossum saw the Fairlight CMI, the world’s first computerised digital sampling synthesizer and set about making a less expensive sampler.

The Emulator was released in 1981 at a price of £5000, considerably less than the £20,000 Fairlight.

It was a floppy disk-based keyboard workstation which enabled the recording of any sound to non-volatile media and allowed these samples to be played back as musical notes. As an instrument, the Emulator had no sound of its own.

Each aural palette had to be loaded into its memory separately, whether it was from a factory disk of sounds produced by E-mu themselves like the symphonic strings used on ‘Silent Running’, the sound of OMD’s own synths such as the Prophet 5, the voice of Andy McCluskey crooning “blue” on ‘Dazzle Ships’ or the bugle from the BBC Sound Effects record used on ‘This Is Helena’. But by wanting to make life easier for themselves on the road, OMD also entered the brave new world of sampling and were now able to realise some of their more musique concrete ambitions as was apparent on the ‘Dazzle Ships’ album.

But with regards touring, the Mellotron, Elgam, Vox Jaguar and the Prophet 5 could now be retired and replaced by two of these wonder machines on stage. However, the samples were low resolution and grainy at only 8 bits. While these sounds were suitable for chords and effects, the live punch required from the rhythm section meant that Martin’s Roland SH2 was retained as its phat twin oscillator bass sound was formidable in a live context.

Also kept was the similar looking but single oscillator SH09 which was OMD’s preferred synth bass in the studio. Meanwhile, Paul’s Korg Micro-Preset also remained. This was an important artistic gesture as when layered with suitable effects, it provided a cutting melodic bite that was in keeping with OMD’s original garage band ethos.

In that spirit, a reel-to-reel tape machine containing things such as the sequence of ‘Messages’ and the Speak & Spell Machine on ‘Genetic Engineering’ was still very much part of the line-up although this was upgraded to a new Tascam from the older Revox.

With Andy, there was no equipment change at all with his trusty Fender Jazz bass guitar. Martin however had his own Fender Jaguar bass for use on ‘Julia’s Song’ as Andy’s was strung in an unconventional manner with the lowest string ‘E’ at the bottom due to first learning to play on a left handed Wilson Rapier bass turned upside down!

For Mal, his new toy came with three Simmons SDS-V drum synths. Co-designed by LANDSCAPE’s Richard James Burgess, these replaced two of the pads hooked to one of the Pearl Syncussion units.

The Simmons was very sturdy, having already been road tested on tour by acts such as JAPAN and ULTRAVOX. It was also less of a headache to soundcheck than normal drums.

The SDS-V’s distinctive hexagonal pads were actually made from the same material as police riot sheets.Although he didn’t use the whole Simmons kit, Mal later complained of aching arms. This was from a ‘shock’ that came from hitting the Simmons pads as they did not have the natural give of skinned acoustic drums or even the earlier electronic pads that controlled the Syncussion units and MS20 which to all intents and purposes, were tiny but amplified drums!

Although a fuller Simmons kit was used subsequently on the ‘Junk Culture’ tour, it was only later as OMD made in-roads into breaking synthphobic America with the more conventional sounding ‘Crush’ that Mal started to use a full acoustic drum kit and was allowed to have one of the ultimate percussive symbols of rock ‘n’ roll, the cymbal! This would explain why Mal’s early drum kit always looked like it had been raided by thieves between the soundcheck and gig! Mal remembered “So many people like the road crew said ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with your drum kit but it looks really different! NO CYMBALS, THAT’S IT!’”

Although access to digital representations of their old synths and keyboards were now available using the Emulator live, the fledgling technology was prone to reading errors with the then state-of-the-art 5 ¼ floppy disks.

These visually did make interesting artefacts however as Peter Saville found when he saw NEW ORDER’s Emulator and designed the iconic ‘Blue Monday’ sleeve as a coded 12 inch floppy complete with cut-outs!

The Emulator would seem to take forever to load in the context of a show and the setlist needed be arranged to accommodate this. One interesting consequence of the Emulator’s loading time was that Andy’s between song banter increased to cover it up!!!

Later when the band upgraded to the Emulator II with its then innovative hard drive in 1985, Andy would often joke about Paul’s problems with his hard disk!!

Despite the expected glitches with the new Emulators, on the whole they gave the band less to worry about, especially after the difficult gestation of ‘Dazzle Ships’ and the critical mauling it received from the press.

It allowed for the band to deliver a more confident and professional performance that when combined with Ken Kennedy and Peter Saville’s impressive stage set, would later be recognised as their best live tour to date. But that’s another story although strangely, brass sections and America were only just round the corner…


Special thanks to Alex Machairas for his valued help and granting permission for the use of the archive photographs

‘Dazzle Ships’ is still available in a number of formats via Virgin Records

https://www.omd.uk.com

https://www.facebook.com/omdofficial

https://twitter.com/OfficialOMD


Text by Chi Ming Lai
16th March 2012

ANDY McCLUSKEY Interview

In 2007, OMD reformed to play a series of concerts focussing on their most successful album ‘Architecture and Morality’ and their much-loved catalogue of singles such as ‘Electricity’, ‘Messages’, ‘Enola Gay’ and ‘Sailing On The Seven Seas’.

Featuring the classic line-up of Andy McCluskey, Paul Humphreys, Malcolm Holmes and Martin Cooper, although the shows had an obvious nostalgic element, it was always the intention to eventually release new material.

In 2010, this finally happened with the release of ‘History Of Modern’, a 13 track collection of songs that captured elements of OMD’s past, present and future. Since its release, ‘History Of Modern’ has seen OMD re-established as a relevant pioneering force that has influenced a variety of new synthesizer powered acts like KLEERUP, MIRRORS, VILLA NAH and MARSHEAUX as well as less likely alternative bands such as THE XX, in much the same way that OMD were inspired by KRAFTWERK.

Incidentally, one song on the album which gave an affectionate nod to the Düsseldorf Fab Four came in the form of ‘RFWK’, the title of which was made up from the first initials of the four classic line-up members Ralf, Florian, Wolfgang und Karl.

Following a successful jaunt around the UK and Europe in the Autumn of 2010, the ‘History Of Modern’ tour will soon be heading Stateside. While finalising arrangements for the territory that gave them one of their biggest international hits in ‘If You Leave’, OMD’s leader Andy McCluskey took time out to speak about how the campaign was progressing and where he hopes OMD will head next.

Now you’ve had time to reflect, how do you think things have gone with the ‘History Of Modern’ album and tour?

The general consensus within the band is that the tour was our favourite since we reformed, possibly because we are now comfortable that we know how to do it and the audience still likes us. It was wonderful to be playing some new material, it felt like the tour was relevant and it slotted so well into the setlist. The only downside was my bloody knee which I’m still in the process of rehabilitating. The reviews for the gigs were fabulous.

The album was received wonderfully as well which is quite remarkable if you compare it with the reception to many of our previous albums, even the ones that are now considered classics! It’s now sold over 100,000 and counting which is not too bad. I was reliably informed that it has sold more in Europe that either of the last two DURAN DURAN albums *laughs*

‘History Of Modern (Part I’) looks like it’s become a live favourite?

Yes, I would say in terms of live favourites, ‘History Of Modern (Part I)’ and ‘Sister Mary Says’ went down very well like it was a hit single from years ago; it was incredibly well received live considering the bitching that was done about it prior to the album’s release. I think that ‘New Holy Ground’… people never go bananas at the end of a slow quiet song, but the feedback has been that it slotted into the kind of ‘Statues’ / ‘The Beginning And The End’ section after ‘Maid Of Orleans’ really well.

Why was ‘History Of Modern (Part I)’ not originally chosen as the lead single?

The radio stations in the UK and Germany were offered four tracks; ‘If You Want It’, ‘Sister Mary Says’, ‘History Of Modern (Part I)’ and ‘New Babies: New Toys’. Most of them came back and said either “we can’t choose because they’re all good” or ‘If You Want It’. So we went with ‘If You Want It’ just because the radio stations said they’d play it… and then most of them failed to play it which was a bit frustrating *laughs*

I think ‘Sister Mary Says’ in particular was the obvious second choice and judging by the support we had from Radio2, maybe we should have gone with that first, I don’t know. ‘History Of Modern (Part I)’ now as the third single, it’s probably a bit late. We have struggled everywhere except Radio2 in the UK to get airplay. There’s this perception that OMD are “a heritage act and they play live, their fans will buy the album but we’re not going to play it our radio station because we only play classic hits or current hits, we’re not going to play something new by OMD!”, I think ‘History Of Modern (Part I)’ will probably struggle at radio.

‘If You Want It’ was dropped during the tour? Was there any reason for that?

Yes, it was an absolute tw*t to sing in its original key!

The melody line and chorus are in quite a high octave register, are you able to tell me who it originally written for?

Err! NO! I’m not going to tell you! *laughs*

It’s very high, it sounds great in that key on the recording but doing it live… we did it in Brighton and it was hard to sing. And as an encore, it just felt like you wanted something people knew better. So we swapped it over with ‘Walking On The Milky Way’. The dilemma we’ve got now is we’ve got a setlist that works and finishing with ‘Walking On The Milky Way’ and ‘Electricity’ bloody well works just as closing the main set with ‘Enola Gay’ works.

But we put ‘If You Want It’ back in for Germany and we dropped it down two semi-tones… it was a lot easier to sing but it didn’t sound as good, that was the problem. It didn’t soar quite as well. So it was a problem to play live.

There’s only one other song we’ve shifted the key in and that was ‘The Native Daughters Of The Golden West’ for the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra show because some of the vocals are just so high. But I am quite proud of the fact I think I must be one of the only men of my age who still sings songs in the original key. If you ever go onto YouTube and look at bands singing old songs, it’s in an awfully low key!! *laughs*

‘Save Me’ effectively launched the History Of Modern campaign but appeared to confuse some of the audience, especially with it being a mash-up of ‘Messages’ with Aretha Franklin and not being included on most versions of the album? What do you think now?

Difficult to say, I still think it’s a brilliant piece of music. I can see the argument that if you’re trying to re-establish yourself as a credible current record making act, possibly a mash-up is not the most credible way to relaunch yourself. However, everyone who heard it who wasn’t a die-hard OMD fan just went “that’s a hit!”.

People wanted to play it, but the cool people and the fans were largely reluctant about it so in the end, as we weren’t going to release it as a single, we chose to hold it off the album and have it as a bonus thing on iTunes. However, the Americans insisted they wanted it on their album. And if you want my opinion, I think it should still be released as a single in the summer or something.

Germany appears to be as responsive as ever to OMD, more so than the UK. Why do you think that is?

Several reasons, we have always had a strong following in Germany. We probably get even more radio play of the old songs in Germany than we do in the UK. But for this campaign, there were two elements that really helped us. As soon as Rough Trade / Good To Go in Germany heard the album, they came straight in with a big offer of an advance to secure the album so we could put together an independent promotion team.

Strangely enough, most of them have previously worked promoting DEPECHE MODE. And they then made contact with Pro-SiebenTV in Germany who offered us a deal to put together a massive TV campaign which gave us huge TV advertising with a major station on prime time… that certainly helped.

‘New Babies: New Toys’ is probably the nearest you’ve come to ‘Radio Waves’ and the motorik aesthetic of that NEU! / LA DÜSSELDORF axis for a while. You wrote ‘4-Neu’ which was your first love song to a German band. How influential have they been to the OMD sound in the past?

I think ‘Electricity’ was probably our first love song to a German band. As I said to Karl Bartos and Wolfgang Flür, ‘Electricity’ was really just ‘Radio-activity’ sped up and they said “yes, we know!” *laughs*

I am a huge fan of that driving motorik thud… yes, you’re right, ‘New Babies: New Toys’ probably is the closest we’ve come back to it. It’s been an element that we’ve had for years; ‘Radio Waves’, ‘Genetic Engineering’, ‘The New Stone Age’. Just occasionally, we do something that drives straight down the middle in a kind of linear fashion.

Have you heard that lost unreleased ‘Neu! ’86’ album that was reworked by Michael Rother and issued recently?

No, I haven’t managed to listen to it because I’ve been away so consistently, I haven’t managed to update my laptop… my iTunes store hasn’t worked for several months! Most of last year was just mental, I’ve forgotten how busy you are when you’re pretending to be a popstar, AND a husband and a father at the same time! *laughs*

So what did you think of it?

I thought some of it was just brilliant, there’s a track on there called ‘Euphoria’ which sounds like a lost OMD demo but of course, there was a couple of those mad Klaus Dinger sound collage things!

Ah!

So did you yourself have any reservations about resurrecting unreleased material such as ‘Sister Mary Says’, a song that was recorded for ‘Universal’ in 1996 or ‘The Future, The Past, and Forever After’ which was rooted in the ‘Sugar Tax’ era?

No I didn’t because I thought the songs were really strong. There are a few elements on ‘History Of Modern’ which I knew in advance were going to p*ss people off; like the hi-hat programming sounded like the Alesis HR16 drum machine from 1991… perish the thought! But to be perfectly honest, by calling the album ‘History Of Modern’, it gave ourselves the right to do that. I’m very happy with ‘History Of Modern’ considering it was a clearing of the decks album, it was getting us started again. Paul and I have described this is our John The Baptist album… it’s the one that speaks of the one who will come after! *laughs*

… back to the old religious imagery again! *laughs*

Yes! It was a very strong album but both Paul and I are excited now about the prospect of a new album. We’ve used up all the stuff we’ve had lying around. It was good stuff but stylistically, maybe a few people can moan that “it wasn’t early 80s, it was early 90s”… shock, horror! I think ‘Sister Mary Says’ is f*cking great but if there’s one song on the album that I sometimes blow hot and cold over with, it’s ‘The Future, The Past, and Forever After’.

But speaking of modern, there was a throbbing, almost feminine electro dancefloor vibe on ‘Pulse’. How did the GENIE QUEEN members Abi Clancy and Anna Ord come to be involved?

That song is sort of a semi-cover version. It was originally given to me for GENIE QUEEN, that’s how they come to be on it. And I always loved it. The GENIE QUEEN girls cut some vocals on it and then it never got used for them and it was lying around, I just kept coming back to it. So I threw away all of the verse vocals, redid my own verse vocals in what my wife calls ‘the dirty phonecall song’ and I kept Anna and Abi in it.

The Danish girl was off the original demo that was sent to me. Essentially in a very modern and thieving way, I robbed somebody else’s song and turned it into our own.

What did you think of some fans reaction to it?

I think we can still p*ss people off!

Have you thought about getting another girl group to do it, because there’s possibly a hit single there if it was done by the ladies?

Yes, I think you’re right. I’ve actually got a few other tracks lying around that I would like a girl group to do, but having been through ATOMIC KITTEN, GENIE QUEEN and helping other young artists get established, just about the last f*cking thing I want to do in the world is to try and sell an act or songs to a record label. It fills me with horror, I have nothing but disdain for 95% of people in the music industry.

The mistake I made with GENIE QUEEN was, I should have just released it myself. The amount of time and money I spent on it, I should have gone straight in with ‘What A Girl Goes Through’, made a single and video, had a hit and then had people begging me to sign them!

‘New Holy Ground’ probably represents what is great about classic ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES IN THE DARK as opposed to OMD. On the new songs you have written with Paul Humphreys, how have your collaboration methods changed from when you were doing it at The Gramophone Suite? And do you intend to work in this more collaborative manner in the future.

The initial way we worked, I have to be honest and both would agree, it wasn’t terribly effective. We thought we could solve the problem of the geography by sending files through the internet. It works but it’s just too slow. And I think Paul would admit as well that you need to stay on his case. Left to his own devices, he always got something else to do. I think we’ve discovered that the ideal way for us to work is for me to demand he’s in the same room as me. And that way, things happen a lot more quickly. And there’s a spark and chemistry as we patently discovered with ‘New Holy Ground’.

With ‘Green’, it was one you did sending files across?

I played him that song in its original demo when he came to my studio. He said it was a good song but we both agreed the music was pants. So he said “send me the vocal and I’ll rework the backing track” and he did a brilliant job. There is one other song I’ve got that I might do with Paul that has a great lyrics but the backing track doesn’t quite work. I think ‘Green’ worked because there was already a blueprint in the sense that we had a vocal and arrangement that worked, but Paul had to come up with a backing track that would tie the whole thing together. But it’s quite a slow process working with Mr Humphreys.

The demo of ‘Green’ actually had that movement on the lovely end section that was influenced by ROXY MUSIC’s ‘If There Is Something’.

Yes, which we decided to keep. What we basically did on that one, we just cut the demo tape and flew the stereo track onto the end of ours and just put overdubs on it! It’s a brutal piece of editing! *laughs*

What is it about the early ROXY MUSIC stuff with Brian Eno and later, the ‘Stranded’ album that makes them so special for you?

I think the pure energy of the uptempo songs and the pure melancholy of the slower songs. I think the reformed ROXY MUSIC that came back with ‘Manifesto’, ‘Flesh and Blood’ and ‘Avalon’, it’s was beautiful and very slick, but it took me a while to get my head round it. But it was almost like a different band, because everything they did before was completely different. It was like they’d turned into STEELY DAN! It was almost two different bands, even more so than early OMD and 90s OMD!

I have a soft spot for ‘In Every Dream Home A Heartache’, that is so clever, so well done. It’s so touching and so raw.

I liked the raw honesty of what BRYAN FERRY used to do. People raved to me about his new ‘Olympia’ album and I did get it. Apart from the single ‘You Can Dance’ and the very last track ‘Tender Is The Night’, I thought the rest of it sounded like a bunch of out-takes from ‘Avalon’ but with lyrics where Bryan really couldn’t be a*sed!

Will you be checking ROXY MUSIC out on this ‘For Your Pleasure’ 40th anniversary tour?

I might try and go to that. But if he plays any of ‘Olympia’, I’ll be going to the bar! I’m a huge Ferry and Roxy fan but I was disappointed. I guess in the same way everyone was nervous when ‘History Of Modern’ came out, you want it to be great and then if you hear something and it isn’t, you’re like hmmm!

There were some KRAFTWERK inspired synthesizer tunes on the album. How did you get the vintage Vako Orchestron choral sound on ‘The Right Side?’

It actually a mixture of a Mellotron, a Roland string and an actual CD-ROM sample of female sopranos, the same ones that were used on ‘Sister Mary Says’. It’s a mixture of the three that creates the harmonic blend that actually works.

What did Karl Bartos and Wolfgang Flür think of ‘RFWK’?

Karl loved the old synthy sound and was quite flattered. And Wolfgang, I never found out because he came to the Cologne gig and we didn’t get to meet him afterwards because he found the gig was so hot and full that he ended up feeling ill and leaving! Unfortunately, something similar happened to Karl Bartos as well. The gig in Hamburg was so full, he and his partner Bettina couldn’t get in, they were listening to it from the foyer and after a few songs they just thought “b*llocks” and left! *laughs*

So unfortunately, both of them came to the gigs and I didn’t get to see them because they couldn’t get into the venues properly!

This was one of the problems with the German tour, some of the gigs were not quite sold out while others were over sold! The gig in Leipzig, there were 300 people who had to spend the whole gig in the foyer! Next time, we’ll be having someone clicking numbers on the door!

Wolfgang Flür has said his book ‘I Was A Robot’ and the ‘Synth Britannia’ documentary about how the young OMD came backstage at The Liverpool Empire in 1975 to tell KRAFTWERK that they had shown you the future. Is this actually truth or just legend?

It’s legend! I was the only one who saw them play at The Liverpool Empire. And I didn’t go backstage. I was 16, I wasn’t going to be hanging about backstage! And also, they were building the Mersey Rail underground at the time and I had to get the bus back so I couldn’t hang around. The first time I met them was 1981 at the Zeche Club in Bochum, Germany so it’s an apocryphal urban myth. Wolfgang sort of got his story mixed up there! *laughs*

So should the KRAFTWERK brand continue on and record new material?

My thing is KRAFTWERK will always be God to me as far as I’m concerned, But if Ralf Hütter is going to do an album that sounds like ‘Vitamin’ and ‘Aerodynamik’, then I’m not interested. The problem for me with Ralf Hütter is he’s distilled his concept of KRAFTWERK to the point where it’s like distilled water, it has no taste. It was all the vagaries of the human playing and not so perfect electronic instruments that gave the earlier albums a real humanity.

If you listen to them now, you can feel the human touch on them as we’re so accustomed now to programmed music. I’m sure they wished they weren’t, that they were programmed by robots in the first place. The more Ralf gets to his ‘nirvana’, the worse the music is unfortunately.

With that in mind, can you therefore relate to why some OMD fans may have been disappointed with ‘History Of Modern’?

I can see why a few tracks would be not what they wanted because I know the hardcore fans wanted something that sounded like the first four albums and nothing else. So I can understand why some of the songs didn’t tick all their boxes. However, I think that if Ralf Hütter released something that sounded like ‘Vitamin’ but had a f*cking great lyric and melody, I would lap it and I wouldn’t sit there going “there’s the hi-hat programming that was on the reworked Mix album which I didn’t really like in 1991…”

I thought some of the nit picking was excruciatingly anal and said much more about them than the quality of the music that was on the album. And I’m sorry, I think that anything less than 4 out of 5 stars is b*llocks.

‘History Of Modern’ is better than almost all the albums OMD have ever done apart from the first four. I was very comfortable with the album and I think most people recognised that, regardless whether you thought it was a real Korg or a Pro-Tools version, or right or wrong hat! I thought the songs were brilliant and for middle aged men, I think it p*ssed over most people’s comeback albums.

I’m entirely unrepentant Chi, I think it was a f*cking great album, especially when you consider it was the first one we’d done in how many? years. If KRAFTWERK made an album like ‘History Of Modern’, I would be over the moon. Yeah, I might decide that this particular track isn’t my favourite but I would die for KRAFTWERK to do something as good as I believe ‘History Of Modern’ is.

How do you think the support acts VILLA NAH and MIRRORS went down with the OMD faithful?

I thought they were both great, very well received and rightly so.

It was really nice that both acts included samples of ‘Messages’ into their songs during their sets.

NO! YOU’RE KIDDING ME?

VILLA NAH had it on the end of ‘Ways To Be’ and MIRRORS had it running through ‘Ways To An End’…

Well! I’m freaked out now because I don’t remember hearing any of that but to be perfectly honest, when you’re backstage, the sound isn’t that clear!

You weren’t too keen on some of the female electro artists like LA ROUX and LITTLE BOOTS who found fame in 2009. But you’ve found a bit of love for ROBYN. And what do you think of 2010’s generation of male electronic based acts like HURTS or DELPHIC?

HURTS and DELPHIC are ok. I like Stay by HURTS but in some respects, HURTS sound a bit to me like a millennial boyband with synthesizers, although a lot of the album doesn’t sound as simple and as spartan as ‘Wonderful Life’. DELPHIC? I’m sorry but they don’t quite press my buttons either.

But the more I listen to the ROBYN stuff… I’ve gone backwards now and I’ve fallen in love with ‘Konichiwa Bitches’ from the ‘Robyn’ album which I really wasn’t that bothered about. And the video is funny as f*ck! And of course, I’ve started doing a bit more homework because I’ve been sat here. And I’ve now become a huge fan of KLEERUP who she did ‘With Every Heartbeat’ with.

KLEERUP’s album is brilliant. If there’s anyone who’s got the OMD sound nailed for the 21st Century, it’s him!

Yeah, I think so. Basically, the vocal melodies on his songs are like they’re derived from synth melodies so they have that sort of OMD sound. It’s often a clear, often slow developing vocal melody. I’m very slow off the mark, just literally in the last week I’ve started listening to KLEERUP. I absolutely love it and even to the point of wondering about whether or not we should be doing some work, or some mixing or producing.

So in hindsight then, do you think that Mike Crossey was the best choice to mix ‘History Of Modern’? Although he has had enormous success, his track record ie RAZORLIGHT, THE FOALS, THE KOOKS didn’t indicate an empathetic ear for electronic based pop music. Could ‘History Of Modern’ have sounded better with say either KLEERUP or FOTONOVELA (who produce MARSHEAUX) behind the studio desk?

I suspect you might be right. I think Mike improved the mixes he was given.

He fattened them out, got some better effects, got a better balance. I think Mike’s dilemma was he had me hovering over his shoulder! I think it might be better to give something to somebody and say “do your version of it” and then we’ll spend time adjusting to whether we think it works or not. Because that was the other thing with Mike, we didn’t really have time to allow him to go off, he was just mixing what we gave him.

Maybe we should think about being a bit more pro-active with people like KLEERUP and the FOTONOVELA boys, and saying “we like what you do, we’re not far away from each other so just do something like that”. But they’ve both got very different sounds; FOTONOVELA have got a much more crystal clear digi-analogue sound… very bright, very wet. KLEERUP has got a much more grungy electro sound which is quite interesting actually because I quite like the lo-fi-ness of some of his drum sounds. But they’re absolutely incredibly present loud lo-fi drums… it’s not distant sh*t drums, it’s right in your face!

You and Paul did quite a few promotional live sets as a duo recently which harked back to the Eric’s days and you both appeared to be very comfortable with the format. Have you considered touring in this guise, perhaps in territories where OMD may a following but not have a particularly large foothold? I’m thinking in America…

I think the feeling is if we’re a band, we’re a band. We generally only do the two piece thing when that’s really just not practical like in-stores or a charity concert where we can turn up and do a short gig. I don’t think the two of us and a laptop would really want to do a full hour and a half OMD set, it wouldn’t be right. But obviously we could tour places like Japan and Australia, and probably not lose the kind of money we would do if we took the whole band. Y’know, we’ll think about it.

You’re touring North America in March. How important is it for OMD to play the USA again?

I don’t think we treat it like The Holy Grail like people used to. Paul Humphreys always says: “We broke America, but America broke us!”. I think we’re realistic about it, but it seems right that we finally get to go and play in America. We’re doing this with the band and crew on a sleeper bus, no lights, no PA, just house systems, whatever they’ve got. No LEDs, no projections, just pure and simple. Here’s the band, here’s the audience, here’s the music… GO!

Having spent the last three and a half years playing so successfully, I would love to tour the whole world. I want go to Asia, Australia and South Africa again. And I want to go to places in Europe that we don’t seem to be able to get into. And I want to go to South America. It pains me not to be touring the world but it’s purely and simply the financial logistics of taking the whole band and the crew, and what the local promoters are prepared to pay. You’re absolutely right… if me and Paul went, we could do it for peanuts and OMD as a two-piece could tour the world. But it just seems wrong, there would be two versions of OMD publically.

Your cover of Mercury winners THE XX’s ‘VCR’ has been premiered on Soundcloud, but you’ve recorded a magnificent version of ‘Shelter’ as well…

I think ‘Shelter’ is even better than ‘VCR’! It beautiful because it’s got that suspended choir chord that sounds like KRAFTWERK and the piano. It’s been quite interesting learning THE XX’s songs because when you listen to them, your initial impression is they’re quite meandering and unfocussed.

But once you get past the ‘stoner’ presentation that they have, they actually have quite simple, specific arrangements. They are arranged, they have a format but the sheer minimality of it is really quite impressive. I have to say it took me quite a few listens to get into THE XX. It was a bit like I had to acquire the taste.

But having stripped down and analysed their songs, strangely enough I think it’s going to have a good influence on OMD because things like ‘New Holy Ground’, ‘VCR’ and ‘Shelter’ have encouraged us to be confident in the quality of the minimal work again. People go how did OMD influence THE XX… but have you listened to ‘4-Neu’? Have you listened to some of the really simple, stripped down B-sides?

What were they recorded for?

The record company thought it would be very cool to ask THE XX to do a mix for us. Of course, everybody and their dog last year wanted THE XX to do a mix for them. The NME were planning to do a covers compilation album of THE XX’s songs so the band said “if you cover one of our songs, we’ll do a mix for you” in a reciprocal deal. We did ‘VCR’ which I loved playing the bass on and then they went “Oh God, not ‘VCR’… everyone’s doing ‘VCR’!” so we did ‘Shelter’. So that’s why we did two of their songs, but the album never happened.

So will ‘Shelter’ be the B-side of ‘History Of Modern (Part I)’?

No, ‘VCR’ is one of the B-sides… ‘Shelter’ we have got up our sleeves for future reference to tease people with. I’m glad you loved it, ‘VCR’ is good but ‘Shelter’ is f*cking gorgeous!

And what next for OMD?

We have the North American and German dates. A lot depends on this American tour… if its successful, we may go back in the Autumn.


ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Andy McCluskey

‘History Of Modern (Part I)’ is released on 28 February 2011 as a limited edition 4 track 10 inch vinyl single and an extended CD EP which includes all the previous ‘History Of Modern’ period B-sides. Both formats also feature OMD’s cover of ‘VCR’.

The album ‘History Of Modern’ is still available

OMD’s 2011 North American tour includes:

Toronto Phoenix Concert Theatre (5 March), Montreal Le National (6 March), Boston Paradise Rock Club (7 March), New York Webster Hall (8 March), Washington DC 9:30 Club (9 March), Chicago Park West (12 March), Atlanta The Loft (14 March), Houston House of Blues (16 March), Dallas Granada Theatre (20 March), Denver Bluebird Theater (22 March), Salt Lake City The Depot (23 March), Los Angeles The Music Box (25 March), San Francisco Mezzanine (26 March)

They also play the following German dates in 2011:

Erfut Thueringerhalle (22 June), Leipzig ParkbÜhne (23 June), Dresden Elbufer (26 June), Cologne Tanzbrunnen (1 September), Hamburg Stadtpark (2 September), Bochum ZMF (4 September), Berlin IFA Sommergarten (5 September), Schwerin Freilchtbuehne (6 September)

https://www.omd.uk.com/

https://www.facebook.com/omdofficial

https://twitter.com/OfficialOMD


Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
30th January 2011

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