Tag: Neil Arthur (Page 6 of 7)

BLANCMANGE Semi Detached Interview

11 March 2015 /

Following ‘Blanc Burn’ in 2011 and a 21st Century rework of their debut ‘Happy Families Too’ in 2013, BLANCMANGE are back with their fifth album ‘Semi Detached’.

A brilliant title, Neil Arthur’s tremendous wordplay does it again with a phrase that acts as both a commentary on English suburban aspirations and the fact that this new long player is Arthur’s first of new material recorded without his long time partner-in-crime Stephen Luscombe. Sadly Luscombe has been unable to work due to illness since BLANCMANGE went back on the road in 2011, but with Arthur’s notable dry Northern humour, he manages to put joy into despair with just those two words.

Filling in the void though is producer Adam Fuest along with guitarist and long-time collaborator David Rhodes whose other credits have included Peter Gabriel, JAPAN and NEW ORDER. His whirring E-Bow is a particular highlight on the ‘Heroes’-esque ‘Useless’, but Neil Arthur’s own six-string textures make their presence felt on the sombre closer ‘Bloody Hell Fire’, concluding the bitter sweet journey that is ‘Semi Detached’.

In some ways, this is BLANCMANGE’s technostalgic album and beginning with eight minute opener ‘The Fall’ which actually references Mark E Smith’s cult combo, ‘Semi Detached’ is Neil Arthur’s personal recollections as an art student set to a midlife narrative. The first single ‘Paddington’ features some of the Middle Eastern aesthetics that BLANCMANGE became known in the mainstream for with hits like ‘Living On The Ceiling’ and ‘Don’t Tell Me, but the raw backing and Neil Arthur’s endearing drawl keep things very English and minimally contemporary.

As the first act in the history of ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK to be interviewed for a fourth occasion, Neil Arthur kindly chatted about BLANCMANGE’s latest opus…

‘Semi Detached’ is your first album of new BLANCMANGE material without Stephen Luscombe and the title appears to be a reference to this?

It could be… but there’s an ambiguity in there like in much of the lyrics so they can be taken in more than one way and that goes for the title. It can mean many things and of course, that definitely crossed my mind. Since we finished ‘Blanc Burn’ in 2010, Stephen hasn’t worked with BLANCMANGE and you haven’t seen him live, but the project goes on with his blessing. Sadly, he’s not well enough to work. So musically, I’ve driven it forward the last 4+ years and ‘Semi Detached’ is me writing and recording it.

Looking back, was reworking ‘Happy Families Too’ a busman’s holiday to prepare you for ‘Semi Detached’?

It took a bit of rearranging but I didn’t have to do any writing *laughs*

‘Happy Families Too’ and ‘Semi Detached’ were very different animals. Interpretation is a very different thing so what I did do was go into the minutiae. That was a strange journey going back to ‘Happy Families’ in such depth and understand what it came from beyond the embryonic memories of what happened 30 years ago. It was actually analyzing data. When I was programming the very early stages of the new versions, it unlocked a few memories that I completely forgot about.

When you come to writing a new album, you don’t have that. But you take on board the experience and one of the things was the technicalities… I always try and learn something from doing any project whether it’s film or doing a new album so that I can learn and say “I won’t make that mistake again”. I’m not a trained musician so you’re kind of cobbling it together… and you think you’re gonna get found out! *laughs*

On the subject of looking back, I remember you saying to me in 2012 that you weren’t interested in doing nostalgia events like Rewind, but you relented and played it in 2013. Why was that?

There’s two answers here; one is, and I’ll basically be honest, I was offered a fee… like everybody else, I have to earn a living and there’s certain things you will do and things you won’t. An offer came in and I knew I was in the process of putting together ‘Happy Families Too’. And in that process, I also did a load of other stuff as well, like things with ‘Blind Vision’ that may not actually ever come out. It made sense to take it a little bit further to understand some of the things we’d done in the past. One of the great things about that is I was creating a lot of sounds for us to be able to manipulate live. When we were offered Rewind, it fitted in perfectly. We’ve been offered things like that since, and I’ve decided not to do them because I want to concentrate on ‘Semi Detached’ and the future of that.

How was the various collaborative processes this time compared with ‘Happy Families Too’ and previous albums?

With ‘The Fall’, that started off as an instrumental groove that Graham Henderson, who’s played live keyboards with BLANCMANGE, had. Then I had another song from a project called AWP1 which Pandit Dinesh played in sometimes. I was listening to this other track called ‘Sequence’ and I had these lyrics and it took me on a journey… I don’t sit around with notebooks waiting for something to come, it tends to mull around in my head and then it just ends up being there. 70-80% will just come out! I wrote these things down and then with these two songs, which are very different songs, I decided to play one on top of the other to see what happened and it just sounded nice. So that’s a kind of collaborative thing!

‘Useless’ is brilliant, it’s quite ENO circa ‘Here Come The Warm Jets’ meets LCD SOUNDSYSTEM. Is it about anyone in particular?

Well, yes and no! It’s about anyone who thinks they might be Useless… I take it as a compliment about ‘Here Come The Warm Jets’, it’s one of my favourite albums and I really do like LCD SOUNDSYSTEM. This song is about that whole idea that we’re all flawed and you’re “useless as you are”… there are just times when you think “f*cking hell, I couldn’t organise a p*ss up in a brewery” or that whole thing about confidence. Whatever they think is their failing, irrespective of that and with it, “useless as you are, everybody loves you”… I thought that line just deserved to be in a song. Once I got those lyrics together, I had this trip down memory lane in terms of melodies and cheap synth sounds, and put them all together, cliché upon cliché really. And then I thought, how can I make it slightly odd without anyone noticing, so I took a bar out of the song… if you listening to it, instead of being four or eight, quite often it’s three and seven, just to be awkward! *laughs*

How did ‘Paddington’ come about?

I don’t live in London anymore, much as I love it. I spent 34 years of my life in the city, it’s a part of me. No disrespect to Paddington, but it’s not the prettiest place to disembark into… I love the station but do you know what I mean? But what I absolutely loved when I came in that way was how people bumped into you, everybody is going about their business and you’re anonymous. I’m not joking about this, but I have kissed the ground at Paddington because I love London so much. So many memories and there’s so much future there and I enjoy aspects of it.

It conjured up this idea of this journey of tiny snippets, like looking at a cutting room floor for bits of memories… I just patched all those bits together, turned it round and played with words. For example, “tank top, bus stop”, it was just good fun and fitting them into an electronic groove. Quite a bit of it is ad-libbed but then weirdly, I’ve just had to write it all down which is interesting. That made me look at things like ‘Feel Me’, ‘Blind Vision’ and ‘I Can’t Explain’, they’re all ad-libbed… then you’ve got to try and remember the words! Quite often, the fans know the words better than me! But it’s my prerogative, I wrote them so I’m entitled to ad-lib it again! *laughs*

I decided to use a different sequencer, I’d been using Logic for years and I wanted to use a different digital audio workstation. I used Ableton for ‘Paddington’, then transferred it across to Logic and it ended up in Nuendo! A lot of the songs, I took to Adam who has a studio up in Wales to mix it. We’ve worked together since my solo album ‘Suitcase’ and he comes out on tour with us controlling the sequencers on stage.

You have David Rhodes again working with you on ‘Semi Detached’?

Yes, but on ‘Bloody Hell Fire’, Adam and David voted for my guitar to stay from the demo… they rib me about my guitar playing and say “we wouldn’t have it sounding like that”; but that’s why it works because I’ve gone for the tinnier sound. It wasn’t intentional, it only fitted there. It’s a crappy sounding guitar but they feel it works. Why bother with six if two will do!? I think what influenced my playing initially was punk, YOUNG MARBLE GIANTS and T-REX, they used to have fantastic sounds but quite minimal at times. But I talk a lot more than I play! *laughs*

What’s are the main differences between ‘Semi Detached’ and ‘Blanc Burn’?

I’m collaborating with myself mainly, battling my way through programming synths up and taking it to Adam’s and doing the lead vocals. One big contrast with ‘Blanc Burn’ is I decided I would have a number of backing vocals on.

On ‘Happy Families Too’, I had post-it notes around and one of the things was “minimal – stripped back” to remind me it didn’t have to be over produced. I kept that in mind when I was doing ‘Semi Detached’. One of the things about having more space was to have fun with some backing vocals. There are lots of backing vocals, my family did backing vocals, my daughter sang on it, one of my son’s mates came and sang on it. And then I got the neighbours in and some other friends on ‘I Want More’! I think everyone and the dog’s on that one!

What inspired you to cover CAN’s ‘I Want More’?

The work was done for me but I’ve always enjoyed CAN. I first did a demo of that with David McClymont and Malcolm Ross from ORANGE JUICE back in 1987-88 when we were working on a project post-BLANCMANGE with Dennis Bovell. We went to a studio down the Old Kent Road and that was one of the tracks we did. Funnily enough, we approached CAN to produce our second album, so it could have been even more of a story but we ended up working with John Luongo and Peter Collins.

You’re back doing instrumentals again with ‘MKS Lover’, what is that referring to and why did that not end up with a lyric?

It would never have had a lyric, it’s like ‘Sad Day’… but it isn’t like ‘Sad Day’ in sound. ‘MKS Lover’ was the working title and it was as simple as this; it was all done apart from the 808 rhythm unit on a Roland MKS80 which is a Super Jupiter, and not to be confused with a Jupiter 8.

Overall, you’ve kept the sound of ‘Semi Detached’ quite stripped back and raw with vintage drum machines. Was that deliberate?

Well, it’s all I’ve got! *roars of laughter*

I’ve still got my original 808 and that gets used… with a struggle on some of it, I ended up using the MKS80 with the MPG80 programmer to replicate some of the percussive noises, plus there are some VSTs in there. I’m quite awkward, I put VSTs through amplifiers and god knows what to get I want. The thing for me is I tend to work with a limited palette, because if you’re confident enough to let the line breathe on its own, it doesn’t really matter what it is. I will use anything, I really would… there’s no kazoo on this one, but there was definitely kazoo on the album before! *laughs*

CHIC’s ‘I Want Your Love’ has also been covered and is on the deluxe 2CD edition. What’s that like?

I first did a version with AWP1, the band is basically two acoustic guitars with noises and percussion. We tried to play as little as possible to support the song. Our manifesto was “less is best”… I once fell asleep during one of our songs in rehearsal, I’m not joking! I thought ‘I Want Your Love’ would lend itself to an electronic version and it is absolutely not a dance track, it is a ballad, stripped down… it’s a bit dirty and seedy actually, very sad and menacingly desperate. So it’s a tad darker than the CHIC version which I do love! *laughs*

What else makes up the bonus CD on the deluxe version of ‘Semi Detached’?

I had a pool of about 20 songs and it ended up with 16 being recorded. I didn’t want 2 covers on the final album so we split them. ‘I Want More’ ended up on the album and ‘I Want Your Love’ didn’t… very similar titles actually! There’s a couple of other songs ‘Silk Sea’ and ‘That Worm’ which we thought would be good to go on the deluxe 2CD, but a track called ‘Cactus’ that might come out in the future, I didn’t put on at all. And then we added alternative mixes including a very long version of ‘I Want More’ plus extended versions of ‘Paddington’, ‘Like I Do’ and ‘Useless’.

With the upcoming shows at Red Gallery, are you likely to extend it as a tour and have you decided what to play? Are you going to do all of ‘Semi Detached’?

I did a working setlist the other day and it starts with ‘Irene & Mavis’! So that’s because I did it in chronological order. The shows are obviously to launch ‘Semi Detached’ so there will be a number of songs from it… so you might get to hear ‘Useless’ and join in on the chorus! My dream is for that to become a football terrace anthem: “EVERYBODY LOVES YOU! USELESS AS YOU ARE!” *laughs*

I think people will be disappointed if we they didn’t get something from what we did in the 80s, and maybe we’ll have some things that haven’t had an airing for a while. I think I’ve put ‘Murder’ and ‘See The Train’ on the list… maybe we’ll do ‘Blind Vision’ and ‘Feel Me’ if someone twists my arm! My manager Steve says “if you don’t do ‘Living On The Ceiling’, you might have a problem!” so we’ll probably have to do that!

‘Living On The Ceiling’ has almost turned into a terrace chant live now…

…it’s a singalong, I can almost just leave it up to the audience. And ‘Starf*cker’ might get an outing. I wasn’t originally thinking about taking ‘Semi Detached’ out on tour, but it may well happen because it’s being discussed. I wanted to do something very different which is why the Red Gallery shows happened. I wanted to do something special and not just do the conventional tour. But we may be able to find the right venues for people to be able to come and see it further afield, we’ll wait and see. For now it’s just those two shows I’m concentrating on.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Neil Arthur

Additional thanks to Steve Malins at Random PR

‘Semi Detached’ is released by Cherry Red Records on 23rd March 2015 in CD, limited edition deluxe 2CD, vinyl LP and digital download formats. Pre-order at http://blancmange.tmstor.es/

BLANCMANGE will be appearing at The Red Gallery, 1-3 Rivington Street, Shoreditch, London EC2A 3DT on Friday 15th and Saturday 16th May 2015. Support on both nights will be provided by BERNHOLZ

https://www.blancmange.co.uk

https://www.facebook.com/BlancmangeMusic

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Hana Knizova
11th March 2015

BLANCMANGE Happy Families Too Live in London

16 November 2013 /

The concept of an album being revisited and restyled for a live setting is now a regular staple of the professional circuit but can be controversial.

In 2008, GARY NUMAN gave an industrialised makeover to his classic ‘Replicas’ which delighted some but alienated many others, so much so that when Mr Numan undertook his 30th Anniversary tour of ‘The Pleasure Principle’ a year later, it was note-to-note faithful, right down to the absence of guitar as on the original.

Since their return in 2011, BLANCMANGE have been very much about looking forward with frontman Neil Arthur focussing on material from the comeback album ‘Blanc Burn’ during live shows and even daring to omit their much loved ABBA cover ‘The Day Before You Came’. But this year has seen a slight change of heart with Arthur now comfortable with BLANCMANGE’s legacy as shown by a willingness to play at the ‘Rewind Festival’ in Henley.

Tonight, BLANCMANGE journeyed back to their recorded beginnings by airing their highly regarded debut album ‘Happy Families’. But rather than go through the practice of recording the show via the Live Here Now process and issuing it on the night, warts ‘n’ all, Neil Arthur has gone through the unusual process of re-recording the album as a memento for fans attending the shows. Not surprisingly, it’s been retitled ‘Happy Families Too’

Much loved by people unless their name was Julian Cope, the original ‘Happy Families’ album was produced by Mike Howlett and featured then new kit such as the Linn Drum Computer and Roland Jupiter 8.

The Linn in particular was a star of the album with busy digital claps and congas manifesting themselves in a way that a trained percussionist would never have dreamed of attempting. But while ‘Happy Families’ is as a result, an album very much of its time, it also gives it a unique and sparkling charm.

Thus Neil Arthur’s concept for ‘Happy Families Too’ was to realise the starker vision that Arthur and his BLANCMANGE partner Stephen Luscombe had envisaged when writing the songs with more basic approaches. After all, the version of ‘Sad Day’ for the now iconic ‘Some Bizzare Album’, which also launched DEPECHE MODE, SOFT CELL, THE THE and B-MOVIE, was just a Minipops rhythm unit, a borrowed Wasp synth, a battered string machine and Arthur’s countrified guitar.

While Arthur has used VSTs for the sounds to keep it very much in the present, it’s the more minimal approach that has been the key.

Bearded and in a floral shirt, Neil Arthur was as down-to-earth as ever but giving it his all. First up, there was ‘Lose Your Love’, the lost second single from 1985’s ‘Believe You Me’ album. On a mission to ensure the show was not just about nostalgia, highlights from BLANCMANGE’s comeback album ‘Blanc Burn’ formed the initial part of the set. Several of the audience were actually heckling for the more recent material such as ‘The Western’ and ‘Drive Me’, both of which are certainly on a par with the best of anything Neil Arthur and the sadly absent Stephen Luscombe have recorded.

But as well as the newer songs like ‘By The Bus Stop @ Woolies’ (accompanied by archive news reel of Arthur’s hometown of Darwen in Lancashire) and ‘Ultraviolent’, there were also the ‘Happy Families’ era B-sides ‘Game Above My Head’ and ‘Running Thin’. It was particularly nice to hear the latter, a number that has only ever been recorded as a John Peel Session but now to be properly recorded and included on the deluxe edition of ‘Happy Families Too’ slated for 2014.

Focussing on ‘Happy Families Too’ in tracklist order for the second half of the show, ‘I Can’t Explain’ was as enthrallingly ferocious as ever but with the added tension and bite of live guitar. Swapping positions as Neil Arthur’s on-stage straight man with regular percussionist Pandit Dinesh (who only actually played on one ‘Happy Families’ song), it was David Rhodes who was on virtually all of ‘Happy Families’ that returned to the BLANCMANGE fold.

A regular sideman of PETER GABRIEL and JAPAN’s live guitarist on their ‘Tin Drum’ tour, his virtuoso expertise varied from the E-bowed strings on ‘Waves’ to the Spiders/Ronson power chords replacing the Hawaiian zing of ‘Wasted’. Arthur himself took to lead six string for ‘Sad Day’ in a rework that almost returned to the ‘Some Bizzare album’ take, referencing ENO and his ‘Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)’ long player, in particular ‘The Fat Lady Of Limbourg’ and the beautiful title track.

‘Living On The Ceiling’ required no introduction and even featured an audience chant-along of its main Middle Eastern motif at the song’s conclusion as Arthur held the mic on its stand out into the crowd. ‘Feel Me’, ‘I’ve Seen The Word’ and ‘God’s Kitchen’ are already enjoyable regulars in the usual BLANCMANGE live set, so positive reaction to those was not to be unexpected.

But the premiere of ‘Kind’ as part of 21st Century BLANCMANGE was highly welcomed, its sub-JOY DIVISION tension and percussive ferocity providing a fitting companion to ‘I Can’t Explain’ played earlier. Returning to encore with the vocoder layered ‘Radio Therapy’ and a stomping ‘Blind Vision’, it was a wonderful evening of post-modern artistry and entertainment that celebrated history rather than pandered to nostalgia.

And as if to make that point further, ‘Don’t Tell Me’ and ‘The Day Before You Came’ were bravely left out of the evening’s proceedings. No-one seemed to mind though as the throng around the merchandise stall to purchase CDs of ‘Happy Families Too’ and meet the big man at the end of the night proved. Yes, it was one big happy family 🙂

‘Happy Families Too’ is released on Blanc Check Records. A deluxe edition will be issued in 2014 featuring a new version of ‘Running Thin’, Vince Clarke’s remix of ‘Living On The Ceiling’ and much more.

http://www.blancmange.co.uk

https://www.facebook.com/BlancmangeMusic/

Text and Photos by Chi Ming Lai
16th November 2013

Having A Coffee with BLANCMANGE’s Neil Arthur

5 October 2013 /

Native Lancashire lad Neil Arthur and Hillingdon domiciled Stephen Luscombe first met at Harrow College of Art and began experimenting in various bands.

Eventually forming a duo, after a close call with the name A PINT OF CURRY, they opted for BLANCMANGE in 1978. 1980 saw the release of their debut EP ‘Irene & Mavis’ with the pair adopting the aliases of Mavis Secostas and Irene ‘Disco’ Sinden.

They then went on to play as support for NASH THE SLASH which lead to their first composition ‘Sad Day’ being given a slot on the iconic ‘Some Bizzare Album’ which also featured the then unknown combos DEPECHE MODE and SOFT CELL.

In late 1981, a support spot for Grace Jones attracted the attention of The Blitz crowd, thus thrusting them into a new sphere. Further support tours with DEPECHE MODE and JAPAN led to London Records offering BLANCMANGE a record deal in 1982. The singles ‘God’s Kitchen’, ‘Feel Me’ and ‘Living On The Ceiling’ followed, with the latter being their biggest hit reaching No7 in the charts while the parent album ‘Happy Families’ got to No30. After two further albums ‘Mange Tout’ and ‘Believe You Me’, BLANCMANGE split in 1987 but 2011 saw BLANCMANGE reform and back to form with a new album ‘Blanc Burn’.

BLANCMANGE commence touring again in November by revisiting their debut album ‘Happy Families’. They have also recorded a new limited edition version for the occasion entitled ‘Happy Families Too…’ which will only be available on the tour. In addition, there will be a 10” vinyl reissue of their debut EP ‘Irene & Mavis’ 33 years after its conception and at a later date, a deluxe special remixes edition complete with extra tracks including one old favourite that has never made it onto vinyl.

In the plush offices of Ditto in London, Neil Arthur kindly chatted to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about re-recordings, reissues and remixes…

How did ‘Happy Families Too…’ become a reality?

I’ve been asked quite a few times to go out and play ‘Happy Families’ but I’ve always said no… in fact my words were “I won’t go out repeating myself over and over unless we can find a way to offer something new”. This is a bit like starting again in a way. I’ll probably repeat myself in this interview (*loud laugh*) but in terms of music and creativity, I’ve no interest in it; I’m really only interested in the future. However, I’m aware that we have what some people call a Legacy, which I take as a compliment, that people do want to hear it again…

But I thought, let’s move on and re-record it. I want to do an interpretation of the songs of how they were written. So I imagined that ‘Happy Families’ had never been recorded. I’m very proud of how it was of course, but we went into the studio using the technology of 2013 thinking Stephen and I had just written the tracks. I wanted a pared down version of what we did, it’s quite raw the way I’ve gone about recording.

I didn’t want any extraneous stuff in the production, 80s values were terrific but the pared down route suited me and the way I wanted to approach these songs. There are also economics to consider, technology allows you to work a certain way and I had all the synth sounds I needed and I knew David would perform brilliantly.

So you are working with David Rhodes again?

When we decided that we were going to record ‘Happy Families Too…’ – most of the original tracks had guitar on and my guitar playing is as good as my singing… so a bit dodgy *loud laugh*

So for the main guitar I said “let’s get David in”. We had a fantastic time, we recorded all his guitar parts in two days, he worked bloody hard and is coming on tour with us, which is fantastic as we’ll have a good laugh.

So you’ve kept in touch with him all this time?

Yes, after touring with DEPECHE MODE in 1981, Stephen and I were still working full time but we then got offered a tour with JAPAN. I think it had a lot to do with the fact we were a two piece, economical and not much gear etc. We were playing in St Austell, the Coliseum I think, a great big cavernous place, when this bloke comes up to us and says “Here… do you want some beers?”. Then he brought some beers through from JAPAN’s rider! And, I thought, I like him! David and I got on very well from that moment. After seeing him play with JAPAN, we invited him to come and play with us. He happened to live near me so we would meet up for a lot for gigs, the pub etc and I liked his own music that he was doing so asked him to come and play on the original album.

How different was the recording experience this time around?

I listened to the demos and parts of the original tracks but I didn’t study the album as it was. I’ve got the memory of ‘Happy Families’. The interesting part was recreating it using Linn Drum, 808s and some VSTs on there and bizarre things happen when you start listening to parts of songs that you wrote 30 odd years ago…

I looked at tempos, and Adam Fuest, who does our live sound said they were interesting. For example, ‘I’ve Seen The Word’ is 129.73/74! Normally 129 is enough for most people but I wanted it specific, it didn’t feel right any slower or faster. The arrangements are pretty true; when I was analysing a drum part, I would zoom in like an audio microscope using today’s technology. One time I ended up right in the thick of a bass drum and it triggered a memory for me. I remembered Stephen and I programming in the studio and I’d never thought of that moment before then, I suddenly realised I was listening to a memory and it was really moving.

Years ago if you had a buzzing synthesizer and someone suddenly turned a light on, you’d get a terrible noise when you were trying to record. That noise isn’t an issue anymore, there’s things you can put in the computer, programmes that isolate that frequency and take it out. David came in and starting playing and there was this “bbrrr” sound; he said don’t worry about that, just record a bit of that noise at the end of the track. Then Adam, who is mixing the album too, puts one of his VST plug-ins on it that analyses the sound, sets a threshold and it’s gone. Years ago that used to take days to sort out. Don’t turn a light switch on. Someone’s using a Hoover next door. Oh that’d be Stephen! *laughs*

In which formats will ‘Happy Families Too…’ be available?

‘Happy Families Too…’ is in two stages. There’s an exclusive very limited edition version that will only be available in CD and maybe vinyl on the tour dates. Sadly we can’t afford to give it away but we wanted to reward people for making the effort to come and see us. I could have just called the record company and said can you give us some copies of the original, but no. Ten songs have been reprogrammed like ‘Living On The Ceiling’, ‘God’s Kitchen‘, ‘Feel Me‘ and ‘I Can’t Explain‘. I have used a lot of the old stuff as well but brought it into the present day. Nobody in their right mind would record an album for a tour, it’s usually the other way round. It is exclusive and I’m bonkers for doing it *roars of laughter*

There is also going to be a booklet printed with memorabilia etc. We want people to come along to the tour… very unlikely to do it again.

It is part of the live gig experience now isn’t it? People expect to see and buy new merchandise and hopefully get albums signed and of course, one of your strengths is the Meet and Greet…

I absolutely love it. I find it quite humbling as I didn’t get the chance to do it for years. In the 80s, we were just pushed from pillar to post, “where is your next single? Is it as good as the last one?”. Now I get a real buzz from hearing all the stories. I get ideas for lyrics, it’s fantastic! I think I’m in a really lucky position.

So what is the second stage?

A deluxe version that will have extra tracks and remixes… we’re in discussions with a record company at the moment. For example, take ‘Running Thin‘, that track wasn’t on the original album, it was only ever played on a John Peel session and I wanted to document a proper version of that.

Photo by Deb Danahay

So the remix of ‘Living On The Ceiling’ that Vince Clarke is working on and tweeting about is featured on the deluxe edition? He has said it’s his “kinda song” as it only has two chords!

Yes, that’s true, ‘Living On The Ceiling’ does only have two chords, it goes up and down a few times then heads out to sea, my kinda song as well *loud laugh*

That’s fantastic; that’s so nice of him to do it and he sent me a message saying he is having a “splendid” time putting it together.

Would be “Splendid”; that was Vince and Eric Radcliffe’s studio name in the past. What other artistes have you involved, and did they choose the tracks themselves?

The choice was theirs and we have the wonderful Greg Wilson who did such brilliant things at the Hacienda, absolutely amazing… can’t believe he’s doing it, he is going to remix ‘Feel Me‘. We also have my son Joe, who is doing very well for himself under his stage name of APPLEBOTTOM. He was on Radio One recently.

Joe is on my list of questions and I checked this morning, he has nearly 10,000 followers on Facebook now!

He has had over a million plays on one of his tracks. Come on Joe, give me a plug lad… Son of BLANCMANGE! *laughs*

There is a rumour… well, actually he is, going to do a couple of slots on the tour.

He’s your support act?

Think I’ll be supporting him! He’s studying hard and doing his music, I’m really proud of my daughter too, both my kids.

‘Living On The Ceiling’ was written for Helen, your long time partner?

Yes, quite a few songs were written for the lovely Helen, like ‘Sad Day’. I wrote it on a day we had had a bust up and I was bit mopey. I wrote the ‘Living On The Ceiling’ lyrics at college and Stephen came up with an interesting groove so he came over to a squat I was living in at the time in Wood Green.

Stephen played a keyboard and I made a mistake in the melody line, but the mistake was better than the intention. That missing half tone gave the track that Middle Eastern, Arabic flavour. So the lesson is, if you make a mistake, record it, and many mistakes were made in public after that and I will continue to that in November Deb *laughs*

Photo by Deb Danahay

It is really sad to hear that Stephen is still not well enough to go on tour, wondering if Pandit is going to be joining you again?

Not this time. There will be David Rhodes and Oogoo who did the visuals on the last tour, he’s an electronic whizz kid playing the keyboards. So there’s three of us on stage plus Adam. He doesn’t simply mix the sound, he does a lot of treatments live. It’s exciting as I didn’t want it to be the same performance every night. It’ll be ‘squeaky bum’ time every night! *laughs*

I want it to be like that. For example, ‘I Can’t Explain’ is an ad lib each time I do it live. It’s exciting for me as I know I can take it lyrically, and delivery wise, but it can go to a different place. It’s a similar thing with ‘Feel Me’ and I love that idea. It’s great looking at the audience. They are singing the original lyrics and I’m up there giving it a ton, locked in, I go into a zone. I think if you do that, the audience will go with you and believe it; if you’re only half in there, you are duping your audience but I’m completely committed and manic at times.

I remember when you performed ‘I Can’t Explain’ live last year, thought you were going to have a heart attack on stage! Are there other tracks not included on ‘Happy Families Too…’ that will be performed on the tour?

There will be a new track, from the new album which is already started. Maybe the ABBA one, but mainly BLANCMANGE songs… not about to do BEATLES songs! Maybe a Johnny Cash track, I’m a big fan of Johnny Cash as you know! *loud laugh*

Along with the other memorabilia, I have brought along a copy of ‘Irene and Mavis’; were they pet names for you and Stephen?

Yes, we could have had alter egos. Me and Stephen know who is who *loud laugh*

We had this idea that two old dears are in the launderette and instead of reading ‘People’s Friend’, they read ‘Practical Electronics’, and they make an electronic record. It’s coming out again. There’s a scoop! On Minimal Wave Records, there’s a limited edition 10” vinyl to coincide with the tour. I’m so excited about it, they have done a wonderful job remastering it; it’s the best I’ve heard it and it’s the first time it’s been available for 33 years. Minimal Wave are a brilliant record label and I’d advise anyone to check out their stuff.

The DAVE CLARK FIVE track ‘Concentration Baby’ was posted on Facebook today funnily enough. What memories does that conjure?

Stephen played violin and used to do a version with his previous band MIRU. I played guitar and bass, and Lawrence played drums. It was recorded on a four track, all the other tracks were just on a cassette tape. A friend called Dave got a £200 tax rebate so he paid for 1000 copies and became Executive Producer. Porky Prime Cuts cut it, and then we sat in Stephen’s back garden and put the single in the gatefold sleeve. I designed the front, Stephen the back and then we threw Stephen’s cat in for oomph. We couldn’t afford to get it type set, so we wrote it on Stephen’s wall in his flat. *laughs*

There are so many bands from the Synth Britannia era that are still touring and, more importantly, writing new material just like BLANCMANGE…

I still have an intense desire to express myself, irrespective of my age, whether it’s as Neil Arthur or BLANCMANGE. I’m driven to perform music, whether I perform live all the time is another matter. I won’t retire, I will just decompose! *roars of laughter*

Everybody is different. I like to take elements from the past, not just stay there and repeat endlessly like ‘Groundhog Day’. But I realise we are in a world where a lot of people are afraid of the future and nostalgia plays a big role for a lot of people… but I’m really excited about the future. There are also lots of bands referencing that era and loads of new bands reinventing it, absolutely brilliant bands around at the moment.

So what artists are you are listening to at the moment?

I tend to listen to a lot of electronic music still like KRAFTWERK. I love CAN and NEU! Really brilliant! I will always come back and listen to Eno who got me through final course work at College. Especially ‘Music for Airports‘, everybody in the house puts that on, it’s stood the test of time.

Then there’s Matthew Dear, I love what he does; Luke Abbott, DARKSTAR, LCD SOUNDSYSTEM, CASIOTONE FOR THE PAINFULLY ALONE, PANTHA DU PRINCE to name a few and Nicholas Yaar; his album ‘Space is Only Noise‘ is beautiful.

What about my socks Deb? Same colour as my watch (orange)…

…and your teeth Neil *loud laugh*

Would you like to come down to the studio and hear a few of the tracks from the ‘Happy Families Too…’ album?

Yes please! Be rude not to…

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Neil Arthur

Special Thanks to Mike Wilson, Founder and Creative Director of Ditto

Additional thanks to Duncan Clark at 9PR

BLANCMANGE’s ‘Happy Families Too…’ tour includes:

Clitheroe The Grand (3 November), Darwen Library (4 November), Darwen Library (5 November), Manchester Soundcontrol (6 November), Glasgow Braodcast (7 November), Newcastle Think Tank (8 November), Southampton The Brook (9 November), Brighton Concorde 2 (10 November), Wolverhampton Robin (11 November), Nottingham Rescue Rooms (12 November), Liverpool Erics (13 November),Wakefield The Hop (14 November), London The Garage (15 November), Cardiff, Ifor Bach (16 November), Dublin The Button Factory (21 November)

Tickets available at www.blancmange.co.uk

The ‘Irene & Mavis’ EP is reissued as a 10 inch vinyl by Minimal Wave Records in a limited edition of 999 on 5th November 2013. Please visit www.minimalwave.com for more details

https://www.facebook.com/BlancmangeMusic

https://twitter.com/_blancmange_

Text and Interview by Deb Danahay
5th October 2013

The Very Best Of BLANCMANGE

16 July 2012 /

Back in 2008, reissue label Edsel licensed BLANCMANGE’s three albums ‘Happy Families’, ‘Mange Tout’ and ‘Believe You Me’ from Warners.

Although it was great to have these long players available on CD for the first time since their original release with turned up sound and bonus tracks, they were notable for their errors and omissions plus some unsympathetic liner notes by Alan Robinson.

For example, ‘Happy Families’ was missing the original album version of ‘Waves’ along with the notable B-sides ‘I Would’ and ‘Running Thin’ due to contractual issues with the BBC! Meanwhile ‘Mange Tout’ was missing the album cut of ABBA cover ‘The Day Before You Came’. There was also the much discussed absence of the 12 inch version of ‘What’s Your Problem?’ from the extra tracks on ‘Believe You Me’.

However, BLANCMANGE got off lightly compared with Edsel’s ALTERED IMAGES reissues which featured mixes of songs duplicated across their three albums despite being labelled otherwise, tracks mastered off flexi-discs, more muted sleeve notes from the same writer (who clearly disliked Claire Grogan & Co) and in the sad case of ‘Bite’, half of the album consisting of entirely the wrong versions! Thankfully, some of those missing tracks by The Maiden Aunts of Techno have surfaced on ‘The Very Best Of BLANCMANGE’, a timely new 2CD collection compiled by Music Club Deluxe with input from Neil Arthur and Stephen Luscombe themselves.

Music Club Deluxe, an arm of Edsel’s parent group Demon, have made a concerted effort to work with Warners to source masters and negotiate around any contractual issues with the BBC to plug the essential gaps in BLANCMANGE’s digital catalogue.

Photo by Deb Danahay

While all the singles like ‘God’s Kitchen’, ‘Feel Me’ ‘Living On The Ceiling’, ‘Blind Vision’, ‘Don’t Tell Me’ and ‘That’s Love That it Is’ are included, it is the rarities and selected album highlights (including most of ‘Happy Families’ and songs such as ‘Murder’ and ‘All Things Are Nice’) which make this collection.

The original version of ‘Sad Day’ from the ‘Some Bizzare Album’ is all present and correct. In 1981, this futurist showcase launched the careers of DEPECHE MODE, SOFT CELL, THE THE and B-MOVIE as well as that of BLANCMANGE. Here, Neil Arthur’s twangy guitar is augmented by a Minipops rhythm box and Stephen Luscombe’s Wasp synth bass reminiscent of ENO’s ‘The Fat Lady Of Limbourg’. Very different from the more familiar Oldfield-ish album version, ‘Sad Day’ was the start that eventually led to prestigious support slots with DEPECHE MODE, GRACE JONES and JAPAN as well as a deal with London Records.

Also from those fledgling years are the superb Peel Session tracks ‘Running Thin’ and ‘I Would’ which later cropped up on the flip of ‘Living On The Ceiling’. Both are stark and almost minimal but ‘I Would’ with its clattering rhythms is menacing while ‘Running Thin’ is more resigned in tone. Interestingly in retrospect, they hint at 2011’s ‘Blanc Burn’ album more than anything that featured on the original London LPs.

And as if to make the link, new track ‘Making Aeroplanes’, an outtake from the ‘Blanc Burn’ sessions follows this vintage pair on CD1. One notable inclusion on CD2 of ‘The Very Best Of BLANCMANGE’ is the album version of ‘Waves’. Without the strings, it is like SCOTT WALKER fronting OMD with the sombre detuned brass line allowed to breathe at the song’s conclusion. For those that want it, the single mix with the orchestra is there but this earlier version IS much better and strangely more emotive. Sometimes, less can mean more.

But best of all as far as the rarities go is ‘Hello Darling’ by Stephen Luscombe side-project BLUE WORLD which first appeared as a BLANCMANGE credited track in 1986 on Record Mirror’s free cassette ‘Spools Gold’. Available on CD for the first time, it is an early mash-up where Bollywood meets Giorgio Moroder.

The track is based around a sample of Indian comedian Kishore Kumar from a film called ‘Darling Darling’ which Luscombe saw as a teenager growing up in Southall. It ended up as part of the soundtrack for a BBC documentary ‘The Legend of Leigh Bowery’ about the fashion icon who designed the costumes for BLANCMANGE’s 1984 tour and despite being recorded nearly 30 years ago, it sounds amazingly contemporary.

Although the 12 inch version of ‘What’s Your Problem?’ and single mix of ‘I Can See It’ are still missing, thanks to the masters being lost within Warner Music’s vaults, ‘The Very Best Of BLANCMANGE’ is an essential artefact for the duo’s many fans. A lot of the important material tracing the quirky duo’s history is now thankfully restored, albeit not quite in its rightful place. But thanks to the efforts of Music Club Deluxe, Neil Arthur and Stephen Luscombe, this collection is an informed start to at least softening past mistakes made by others.

As for Music Club Deluxe’s colleagues in the next office at Edsel… do a bit of research and ask! Attention to detail doesn’t hurt! There are plenty of people out there who are willing to give their time for the music they love, simply because they care!

‘The Very Best Of BLANCMANGE’ is released by Music Club on 23rd July 2012

http://www.blancmange.co.uk

https://www.facebook.com/BlancmangeMusic

https://twitter.com/_blancmange_

Text by Chi Ming Lai
16th July 2012

BLANCMANGE Live at Koko

27 March 2011 /

BLANCMANGE presented a sharp show at London’s Koko as part of their highly welcomed comeback.

The duo of Neil Arthur and Stephen Luscombe recently released their first album for 25 years in ‘Blanc Burn’, a dark collection of songs delivered in a modern technical setting but retaining all the hallmarks of their quirky and humourous sound. Unfortunately, Stephen Luscombe has been diagnosed with a spinal aneurysm and unable to take part in the tour; ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK wishes him all the best and a speedy recovery.

However tonight, he’s able to observe proceedings from the sidelines as his charismatic band mate Neil Arthur leads honorary mangers Pandit Dinesh and a deputising Graham Henderson through a spirited if short set to a crowd of eager onlookers who interestingly seem to have more hair than the average OMD or NEW ORDER audience!

Following a great warm up DJ set by the ubiquitous Mark Jones from Back To The Phuture who digs up the lost synthpop classic ‘Haven’t We Met Somewhere Before?’ by TELEX for all to hear, a taped intro of Vishnu acts as overture before BLANCMANGE begin with ‘I’m Having A Coffee’. An everyday tale of life how life can pass you by, of course one way to stop this from happening is to try something new… opening with an impressive new number is a fine statement of intent that this is not to be a complete night of nostalgia. It acts as a perfect starter before the main course which consists of half the tracks from their brilliant debut album ‘Happy Families’.

“Long time innit?” murmurs Mr Arthur by way of a greeting. Julian Cope will probably be skating on another copy of ‘Happy Families’ if he can hear the amazing response that is greeting tunes like ‘I Can’t Explain’, ‘God’s Kitchen’ and ‘I’ve Seen The Word’ tonight. On ‘I Can’t Explain’ in particular, Arthur almost turns into Ian Curtis as the blistering synths accentuate the overall intensity.

Meanwhile, ‘I’ve Seen The Word’ retains its melancholic beauty while the observational narrative on religion of ‘God’s Kitchen’ recalls a time when record companies were willing to take risks on unconventional musical subjects. And all this a couple of years before DEPECHE MODE’s ‘Blasphemous Rumours’ too.

Neo-referencing ROXY MUSIC’s ‘Do The Strand’, new single ‘Drive Me’ is part autobiographical as Arthur adds some theatrical surrealism when recalling his youth, particularly on meeting a DAVID BOWIE impersonator who refused to shave his moustache! Throughout the colourfully lit proceedings, Pandit Dinesh effortlessly taps his way through probably the largest array of ethnic percussion instruments ever to have been gathered to add a rich, spicy flavour to proceedings. He acts as the perfect sidekick in Luscombe’s absence to Arthur’s wonderful down-to-earth charm.

On ‘Don’t Tell Me’, the first hit single of the night, Neil Arthur is both dramatic and self deprecating. And the big belting voice of yore that has been more subdued on ‘Blanc Burn’ returns, bringing many smiles from the crowd.

Further amusement occurs when Arthur reaches for a megaphone for a rendition of ‘Probably Nothing’. He even treats onlookers to a spot of Tai Chi, no doubt the secret to his enormously fit, lean and healthy look.

Arthur’s joyful demeanour often disguised the edgier lyrical elements of BLANCMANGE’s catalogue in the past which have only become more obvious in retrospect.

A nice welcome surprise arrives in the shape of the brilliantly funky ‘Game Above My Head’, B-side of ‘Waves’ while the magnificent A-side itself really does sound like Scott Walker fronting OMD. With further roars of approval plus the passion which Arthur gives to this crescendo ballad, Julian Cope will probably now need to find two copies of ‘Happy Families’ to skate on!

‘The Western’ is an addition to the tradition of ‘Don’t Tell Me’ and ‘Living On The Ceiling’ and is probably the album’s most instantly accessible track. And when Koko gets ‘Living On The Ceiling’, this smash that still fills dancefloors and gets used in adverts acts as a symbol of BLANCMANGE’s musical and cultural legacy. An audience singalong is conducted superbly by Arthur’s animated arm actions coming over like a Lancastrian David Byrne.

During the bionic electronic disco of ‘Blind Vision’, the frantic rhythmical rattles and clouts are faithfully reproduced although occasionally, there is a strange aural cavern in the absence of the mighty female gospel vocals that appear on the original. Towards the final straight, a futuristic updating of ‘Feel Me’ gets the one of the biggest cheers of the evening as the audience “feel the pain”. Its dynamic adventure is a reminder than there are 101 things that can be done with a Linn Drum Computer.

Genuinely flattered by the response and attention, Arthur and co encore with ‘Starf*cker’, the sinister highlight from the ‘Blanc Burn’ album. It recalls the sound of BLACK GRAPE as it rightly attacks the UK’s shallow and vapid obsession with celebrity. It is unmistakeably BLANCMANGE but could never have come from ‘Happy Families’, ‘Mange Tout’ or ‘Believe You Me’. Now that’s progress! Then, unfortunately that was it!

At least one thing BLANCMANGE manage to do is leave everybody wanting more. While the brief set was a fine balance between the immediacy of their classic songs and the vitality of the new material from ‘Blanc Burn’, there was no room for the ABBA cover ‘The Day Before You Came’ or the engaging nearly single of ‘Kind’.

However, with the mixed emotions around Camp BLANCMANGE at the moment, it’s great just to hear these fantastically under-rated compositions within a concert setting again. The final word though has to go to the amazing Pandit Dinesh who shouted out “Jai Ho” as the band said their goodbyes. This is a Hindi victory shout… roughly translated into English, it means even “you rock”!

A pint of curry anyone?

Special thanks to Stuart Kirkham at 9PR

‘Blanc Burn’ is released on Proper Records

http://www.blancmange.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/BlancmangeMusic

https://twitter.com/_blancmange_

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Richard Price
27th March 2011

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2017 ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK | Email: [email protected]
Privacy Policy

Up ↑