Tag: Rusty Egan (Page 5 of 6)

MICHAEL ROTHER + RUSTY EGAN Live at Under The Bridge

2 October 2016 /

NEU! founder members Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger were pioneering exponents of Kosmische Musik.

They met after being recruited as members of KRAFTWERK in 1971, but both left soon after to start NEU! – working with Conny Plank, the legendary producer acted as mediator between the pair’s quite different personalities and artistic aspirations as Dinger and Rother were never easy bedfellows.

While Rother was more laid back, Dinger was a confrontational character who wanted to be more than just the drummer, despite popularising the Motorik beat. But this rhythm was to later reconfigure itself in drum machine form as the backbeat for OMD songs like ‘She’s Leaving’, ‘Georgia’ and ‘Radio Waves’, as well as heavily influencing the style of ULTRAVOX’s Warren Cann.

Dinger sadly passed away in 2008, but Rother has kept the legacy of NEU! alive playing concerts all over the world. With a sold-out appearance earlier in the year under his belt, Rother returned to perform again to a packed house at London’s Under The Bridge.

While the NEU! catalogue is comparatively small, their sound has helped shape acts such as ULTRAVOX, OMD, SIMPLE MINDS and VISAGE. Their music also featured on the playlists of The Blitz Club, so it was appropriate that the evening opened with a DJ set from Rusty Egan. After playing a selection of tracks that included SPARKS, KRAFTWERK, NEW ORDER and YELLO , Egan climaxed his stint by premiering songs from his upcoming solo long player ‘Welcome To The Dancefloor’.

‘Ballet Dancer’, a heartfelt eulogy to the one-time VISAGE percussionist’s late ex-wife was written in collaboration with Chris Payne, one of the co-authors of VISAGE’s biggest hit ‘Fade To Grey’. Concluding the set were full-length playbacks of excellent new songs sung by Tony Hadley and Midge Ure, as well as the reclaimed ‘Wonderwerke’ featuring live vocals from Egan himself. This slice of classic New York electro has now been given some Sarf London swagger… in Deutsch!

Michael Rother’s headlining set delivered a variety of pieces from his vast career, beginning with ‘Neuschee’, one of the tracks that was speeded up and slowed down for side two of ‘Neu! 2’. Legend has it that when NEU! ran out of money, Klaus Dinger came up with the idea to fill the second side with versions of ‘Neuschnee’ and its B-side ‘Super’ played at 16 and 78 RPM, complete with needle drops!

But Rother’s version of the story is that Dinger just simply wanted to antagonise their label Brain Records following the perceived lack of promo support for the ‘Neuschnee’ single. Whatever the story, it was in keeping with the duo’s Pop Art aesthetic, presenting their work as variations on a theme as had been demonstrated on their iconic cover artwork.

With Rother accompanied by Hans Lampe, formally of LA DÜSSELDORF on drums and Franz Bargmann on guitar, the trio locked in tight unison to procure a trancey cacophony of sound. In particular, Lampe’s understated heartbeat was highly effective on ‘Hallogallo’; the NEU! evergreen probably got the biggest cheers of the evening.

The frantic pace took a breather with the elegiac ‘Seeland’ from ‘Neu! 75’ and this mood continued with welcome inclusions from Rother’s magnificent solo catalogue. Taken from his period working with Conny Plank and CAN drummer Jaki Liebezeit, it was fitting that ‘Sonnenrad’ was one of the songs aired, with it being the inspiration for ULTRAVOX’s ‘Dancing With Tears In My Eyes’. Plank had given Billy Currie a copy of the parent album ‘Sterntaler’ while they were recording in Cologne. The distinctive purr of the wonderful ‘Katzenmusik’ provided another highlight, but it was a shame that ‘Flammende Herzen’ and ‘Karussell’ weren’t able to be included as well.

Rother’s HARMONIA project with Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius was also represented, first by the hypnotic mechanical jam of ‘Veteranissimo’, where Rother put his guitar aside temporarily to handle a variety of electronic effects. Bass sequences and additional synths also figured pre-programmed via a laptop, but these acted more as embellishment and never dominated proceedings, allowing Rother’s drifting layers to come into play.

Meanwhile ‘Deluxe (Immer Weiter)’ and ‘Dino’ were both treated to more NEU! like reworkings. Ending the show with percussive tension of ‘E-Musik’, it was a fine demonstration as to why Rother’s infinite six string style has been so admired by fellow musicians. Indeed, he was David Bowie and Brian Eno’s first choice guitarist for the ‘Heroes’ album. While Rother may not have ended up playing on it, his template clearly helped give a direction for the final recording.

With a recording career spanning over 45 years, Michael Rother is one of the unsung heroes of German popular music. He should be up there and lauded as much as some of his better known contemporaries; quite why he isn’t is one of those great anomalies.

The NEU! and HARMONIA back catalogue is available via Grönland Records

Michael Rother’s back catalogue is available via Random Records

http://www.michaelrother.de/en/

https://www.facebook.com/michaelrother.neu.harmonia/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Richard Price
2nd October 2016

ELECTRI_CITY_CONFERENCE 2015

8 November 2015 /

Dance To The Future…

Düsseldorf paid homage to its electronic music history with a three day event of lectures, discussions and live music.

The ELECTRI_CITY_CONFERENCE celebrated the work of pioneers like KRAFTWERK, DAF, RIECHMANN, NEU! and LA DÜSSELDORF, as well as reflecting the city’s worldwide influence on bands such as NEW ORDER, THE HUMAN LEAGUE, DEPECHE MODE, CABARET VOLTAIRE, VISAGE and OMD.

A year in the planning, organisers Rudi Esch and Carsten Siewert assembled an impressive line-up of artists, musicians and academics which read like a ‘Who’s Who?’ of electronic music.

It included names such as Benge, Gabi Delgado, Ralf Dörper, Rusty Egan, Harald Grosskopf, Peter Hook, Stephen Mallinder, Andy McCluskey, Daniel Miller, Mark Reeder, Michael Rother and Martyn Ware.

Also present was Dr Uwe Schütte, whose academic conference ‘Industrielle Volksmusik for the Twenty First Century – Kraftwerk & the Birth of Electronic Music in Germany’ at Aston University helped inspire the seeting up of the event.

While there have been numerous books about Germany and in particular KRAFTWERK, few have been written by people who were actually there at the time. Esch’s own book ‘Electri_City: Elektronische Musik aus Düsseldorf’ was published in 2014 and provided a much needed eyewitness account.

It fully related the Cold War tensions within Der Bundesrepublik that inspired many young Germans into pursuing adventures in art, music and cinema as a matter of self-expression and cultural identity.

The book’s success in Germany provided much of the impetus and momentum to curate this lavish gathering of kindred spirits. The first of the special guests taking part was Peter Hook who talked to Rob Keane about German influences on the UK’s post-punk scene and in particular, JOY DIVISION.

It was Ian Curtis who first introduced the others to KRAFTWERK. After the charismatic vocalist’s passing, the surviving band members became NEW ORDER and as they became more electronic, they acquired five Prophet 5s costing £2000 each.

This had only been made possible by the posthumous success of JOY DIVISION.“God bless him, Ian… without him, we wouldn’t have been able to afford these machines to make electronic music…” Hooky said, “what happened in NEW ORDER was as the technology developed, it enabled you to buy the machines that KRAFTWERK were using. I’d love to watch them do something, I really would. Because for all the coverage you get of KRAFTWERK, you never actually know HOW they did it!”

But despite KRAFTWERK being the pioneers of electronic music, Ralf and Florian had been so impressed by ‘Blue Monday’, they arranged to meet its engineer Michael Johnson at Britannia Row Studios where it was recorded. “They wanted to book into the studio we used…” remembered Hooky, “and they wanted to use our engineer, because they wanted their next record to sound like ‘Blue Monday’, which is most ironic because we spent years trying to sound like them!”

KRAFTWERK had a look round Britannia Row but unimpressed with the old fashioned, faded grandeur of the studio, they cancelled the session. “I took that as quite a compliment” quipped the Salford Bass Viking playfully.

Hooky also reminisced about how he was very impressed by fellow Mancunian Mark Reeder’s mastery of speaking German while on JOY DIVISION’s only visit to Berlin in 1980.

But when he asked how Reeder had become fluent so quickly, the then Factory Records representative in Germany answered: “you can learn any language when you’re starving!”

Mark Reeder himself formed part of panel discussion on the German impact of the Düsseldorf Schule to give his ‘Englishman in Berlin’ point of view. As the man often credited with introducing Italo disco to NEW ORDER, Reeder’s recent film ‘B-Movie – Lust & Sound In West Berlin 1979-1989’ captured the spirit of the divided city and highlighted how a similar document about Düsseldorf would now be quite timely.

The ELECTRI_CITY_CONFERENCE was not just about lectures and talks, but about live music too. Cologne’s EMOTIKON opened proceedings with some incongruous generic pop funk, so it was a welcome relief when HEAVEN 17 took to the stage at Zakk for the sold-out show.

Headlining their first ever concert in the German art capital, HEAVEN 17 gave one of their now famous electronically focussed sets which also featured material that had spawned from THE HUMAN LEAGUE Mk1 when Martyn Ware was a member.

Inviting him to join the band, Phil Oakey remembered how Ware turned up at his house with ‘Trans-Europe Express’ under his arm and told him “Look, we can do this!”. The song that best summed up the occasion was ‘I’m Your Money’, a synthetic train ride with multi-lingual business phrases that captured the essence of a European Union.

To follow a fine performance from HEAVEN 17, Daniel Miller’s aftershow DJ set reflected his influences and subsequent signings for Mute Records to conclude an excellent first day.

With a packed second day, Friday’s numerous academic and theoretical proceedings were concluded with a Krautrock discussion in German by a panel of veteran musicians that included one-time ASHRA member Harald Grosskopf, Michael Rother from NEU! and WALLENSTEIN’s Jürgen Dollase.

Whereas Germany has usually been associated with purer forms of electronic music, its kosmische outlook has influenced many rock and alternative bands too. However, Dollase’s continual ranting about the joys of LSD proved tiresome and was exemplary evidence to children as to why they shouldn’t do drugs!

The panel was later opened up to questions from the audience so ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK took the opportunity to ask Michael Rother about his first three solo albums.

‘Flammende Herzen’ , ‘Sterntaler’ and ‘Katzenmusik’ were produced by the late Conny Plank and featured CAN’s Jaki Liebezeit on drums. Did he have a favourite?: “I don’t really have favourites, there are individual tracks I enjoy more, it depends on mood and circumstances. It would be unfair really to have a favourite album” Herr Rother replied, “Of course, I try to highlight Conny Plank’s contribution, he was so valuable… we wouldn’t have been able to record NEU! or the second HARMONIA album or my solo albums without Conny, so he’s all over the place in my music… thank you Conny”

Opening the second evening’s musical line-up, Dublin’s TINY MAGNETIC PETS have been championed by Rusty Egan and their appearance in Düsseldorf was their first in Europe.

The trio’s main strength was their engaging lead singer Paula Gilmer, while Sean Quinn’s synth soloing was also enjoyable. But the occasional rattle of an acoustic drum kit was a distraction and the trio sounded much better when Eugene Somers took to exclusively electronic percussion.

WRANGLER, fronted by Stephen Mallinder who had lectured earlier in the day, delivered a screeching set of dystopian vibes and cold wave mechanics, demonstrating how the Düsseldorf gene has mutated into marvellous pieces such as ‘Lava Land’. Mallinder’s drowning gargoyle vocal was particularly striking within the venue’s effective stereo panning capability.

Incidentally, the trio’s incumbent synth collector extraordinaire Benge has recently relocated his MemeTune studio to rural South West of England, in an echo of Conny Plank’s legendary countryside complex which KRAFTWERK, NEU! and LA DÜSSELDORF all recorded in.

Michael Rother delivered a career spanning set of his works including NEU! evergreens like ‘Hallogallo’, ‘Neuschnee’ and ‘Seeland’. There was also the welcome airing of material from his HARMONIA days too. Accompanied by Hans Lampe, formally of LA DÜSSELDORF, the drummer was unbelievably metronomic throughout, providing the hypnotic heartbeat to these much loved numbers. With assistance on bass and synth from a computer, the glorious symphony of ‘Karussell’ from ‘Flammende Herzen’ was a joy to behold. Watching enthusiastically in the crowd was OMD’s Andy McCluskey who remarked in passing to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK that ‘Flammende Herzen’ was the most played album on his iPod!

With another fine evening of live music over, proceedings then moved over to the famous club Dr Thompsons for the aftershow party featuring Rusty Egan.

Originally a location for a factory making floor wax, Egan’s DJ set reflected electronic music’s past and present, much to the approval of both TINY MAGNETIC PETS and METROLAND whose tunes got an airing on the dancefloor.

Day three featured SØLYST aka Thomas Klein who warmed up early attendees with an ambient percussive soundtrack that suited the time of day perfectly. Meanwhile, the Rusty Egan vs ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK discussion about the influence of Düsseldorf, Berlin and Bowie on the New Romantics brought up some amusing anecdotes from his Blitz Club and VISAGE days. “KRAFTWERK was all in time!” he retorted in a fascinating and at times, hilarious chat. On DAFT PUNK, he said “The reason why DAFT PUNK wear robot helmets is cos they can’t show their faces… cos THEY STOLE EVERYTHING! But they did it brilliantly!”

The conversation even turned to THIN LIZZY’s Phil Lynott who frequented the scene and recorded the synth friendly single ‘Yellow Pearl’ co-written with Midge Ure that featured Egan on drums. Also featuring Billy Currie, Egan confirmed that it was a VISAGE song in all but name. ‘Yellow Pearl’ was heavily influenced by LA DÜSSELDORF and was to later gain iconic status as the theme music to ‘Top of the Pops’ from 1981 to 1986, showing just how far reaching the influence of German electronic music had become.

Wolfgang Flür’s now famous video messages on the world wide web have been a delight to many in electronic music circles and in his absence, a special broadcast was prepared by the former KRAFTWERK percussionist for the conference.

Following on, Andy McCluskey and Rudi Esch presented some light hearted but music fan friendly banter in what was billed as The Electri_City Show. Discussing a variety of records Esch had brought along from his own personal collection, the OMD frontman mentioned how he was a big fan of LA DÜSSELDORF: “Thinking about LA DÜSSELDORF and NEU! – the biggest loss to the scene is Klaus Dinger”. Following his death in 2008, Klaus Dinger was hailed as a legendary drummer, having popularised the Motorik beat.

But as Michael Rother once pointed out, before 2004 nobody cared about NEU! “It’s great that people are thinking about NEU! and LA DÜSSELDORF” said McCluskey, “they should be up there with KRAFTWERK”. However as documented in Esch’s ’Electri_City_Musik_Aus_Düsseldorf’ book, Dinger was known to be a difficult character and that didn’t help his reputation. “It’s the Van Gogh thing” added McCluskey, “you have to bloody die before people think you’re a genius”

Of course, OMD combined various influences to achieve their distinctive template. But what is not often realised is that it is closer to LA DÜSSELDORF than it is to KRAFTWERK, especially on ‘Architecture & Morality’: “It is great that the city of Dusseldorf has woken up to the fact that KRAFTWERK and other musicians changed the world. Whilst KRAFTWERK cement their position in the pantheon of the museums and the books, LA DÜSSELDORF and NEU! were very important. They also did something that was beautiful and different. And OMD unconsciously were combining the two, the electronic sound with the organic…”

The Techno / Industrial panel in Deutsch fittingly included DAF’s Gabi Delgado and DIE KRUPPS’ Ralf Dörper as well as Ramon Zenker, the man behind FRAGMA. It would be fair to say that neither sub-genre could have had its roots in any country other than Germany. Delgado caused some amusement when he casually lit up a cigarette in the middle of the discussion, reinforcing the rebellious and confrontational aura of DAF.

During the interlude, many went to take a look at the Monster Formant modular synthesizer, owned by local enthusiast Siegfried Brückner, which was being demonstrated in the foyer. Six years in the making and featuring a gobsmacking sixteen VCOs plus many other features too numerous to mention, it was an impressive sight that looked like one of those vintage telephone exchanges.

To begin Saturday night’s live music proceedings were Zurich based combo LEN SANDER; their languid style of trip hop has become a favourite of Rusty Egan who also lists LONDON GRAMMAR among his current favourites. They provided a cerebral build before the appearance of two of the most impressive synthesizer duos in Europe at the moment.

With the amount of equipment VILE ELECTRODES possess, they could fill Klingklang itself. Using their more streamlined European touring set-up, the Home Counties couple are now effectively adopted Germans having impressed enough during their tour of Germany supporting OMD in 2013 to land two Schallwelle Awards. Splendid new songs like ‘Pulsar Timing Array’ and ‘Stark White’ from the just released EP were evidence of their continuing progression.

With a more minimalist set-up, METROLAND were the perfect act for the weekend to honour the artistic legacy of Düsseldorf. Their second long player ‘Triadic Ballet’ was a conceptual audio installation themed around das Staatliche Bauhaus. The perfect realisation of Walter Gropius’ theory of uniting art with technology, with a combination of crisp electronics and art school visuals, the Belgian duo gave a wonderful presentation that was appreciated by all those present including Andy McCluskey and Rusty Egan.

Closing the event, escapist trio DELTA turned out to be the most disappointing of all the bands participating, their landfill indie totally at odds with the weekend’s ethos. Meanwhile Düsseldorf duo BAR fared much better, their synth laden dreampop augmented on occasion by singer Christina Irrgang’s use of a recorder. However, these two acts highlighted the lack of a clear headliner to finish the weekend on a true high.

Overall though, the ELECTRI_CITY_CONFERENCE was fabulous weekend with representation from both sorcerers and apprentices of the Düsseldorf scene. With the English translation of the ’Electri_City_Musik_Aus_Düsseldorf’ book due in 2016, the story of what the city has contributed to the world can only spread further.

French icon Jean-Michel Jarre said recently: “Electronic music has a family, a legacy and a future…” and there was nothing more truer than over these three days by der Rhein.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Rudi Esch and Carsten Siewert

Additional thanks to Tom Steinseifer, Roger Kamp and Tapio Normall for the use of their photos

‘Electri_City: The Dusseldorf School of Electronic Music’ is due to be published in English by Omnibus Press sometime in 2016

The ‘Electri_City – Elektronische_Musik_Aus_Düsseldorf’ compilation is released by Grönland Records.

http://www.electricity-conference.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ELECTRICITY.Conference

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Chi Ming Lai except where credited
8th November 2015

RUSTY EGAN vs ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK in Düsseldorf

4 November 2015 /


German music formed a large part of RUSTY EGAN’s DJ sets at The Blitz Club between 1978-1981.

The legendary Blitz Club DJ and Chi Ming Lai of ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK recently participated in a well-received discussion about how German electronic music influenced the New Romantic movement at the ELECTRI_CITY_Conference in Düsseldorf.

Including other international acts such TELEX, SPARKS, YELLO and YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA, The Blitz Club‘s soundtrack cocktail was to prove highly influential on the UK music scene and spawned a wider movement that led to the success of acts such as VISAGE, SPANDAU BALLET, LANDSCAPE and ULTRAVOX who formed part of the clientele.

The discussion formed part of a wonderful three day event which co-organiser Rudi Esch said was to “honour the global importance of Düsseldorf’s pop-cultural heritage”

Taking place in front of a live audience, the amusing chat focussed on Düsseldorf, Berlin, DAVID BOWIE, KRAFTWERK and NEU! while Motorik beats and modern DJ culture also formed part of the spirited conversation.

RUSTY EGAN and ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK have previously worked on several projects together including a successful 25 week radio show series. Egan’s current radio show Electronic Family Tree broadcasts every Friday night / Saturday morning on internet dance station Mi-Soul Radio.

https://www.mixcloud.com/rustyegan/

https://www.facebook.com/rusty.egan/

https://twitter.com/DJRustyEgan

http://www.electricity-conference.com/en/

https://www.facebook.com/ELECTRICITY.Conference

Text by Kerstin Key
Photos by Tom Steinseifer
4th November 2015

5 Years of ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK – WHILE MY SYNTH GENTLY BLEEPS

14 March 2015 /

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK celebrates its fifth anniversary and it has been a glorious journey.

The site came into being on 15th March 2010 after the founding team discussed having an online platform to feature the best in new and classic electronic pop music. After weeks of deliberation, the decision to finally launch the site came at the HEAVEN 17 aftershow party for their triumphant gig at The Magna Science Park on 6th March 2010.

That evening, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK met and chatted with HEAVEN 17’s Glenn Gregory and Martyn Ware, OMD’s Paul Humphreys and Claudia Brücken, best known as the singer of PROPAGANDA… by the end of the year, all four had given insightful interviews to the site.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK received a major boost in profile in May 2010 when its interview with Paul Humphreys was quoted by The Guardian as part of a news item announcing the release of OMD’s comeback album ‘History Of Modern’.

Key interviews with DUBSTAR and CLIENT’s Sarah Blackwood, LANDSCAPE’s Richard James Burgess, THE ART OF NOISE’s Gary Langan and ULTRAVOX’s Warren Cann also followed. Later in the year, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK featured promising new act VILE ELECTRODES for the very first time; they were soon to become a stalwart of the UK independent electronic scene.

But the first act to formally be reviewed was MARINA & THE DIAMONDS, reflecting the kooky female fronted keyboard based pop like LA ROUX, LITTLE BOOTS, LADYHAWKE and LADY GAGA that was prevalent at the time. However, there was a changing of the guard on the horizon as new astute male fronted electronic based acts such as HURTS, VILLA NAH and MIRRORS appeared which the site took a keen interest in.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK has always prided itself in asking the questions that have never usually been asked, but which fans want to know the answers to. And it was with this reputation for intelligent and well researched interviewing that the site was granted its biggest coup yet when it spoke to NEW ORDER’s Stephen Morris. In the ensuing chat, Morris cryptically hinted that Manchester’s finest would return… and that is exactly what happened in Autumn of that year when concerts in aid of the band’s late friend Michael Shamberg were announced.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK was on a roll in 2011 as OMD’s Andy McCluskey, RECOIL mainman Alan Wilder, BLANCMANGE’s Neil Arthur, Mira Aroyo of LADYTRON, HOWARD JONES, THOMAS DOLBY and DRAMATIS’ Chris Payne all gave interviews. And in rather bizarre throwback to 1981, DURAN DURAN, THE HUMAN LEAGUE and JOHN FOXX released new albums on the same day in March. Meanwhile, up-and-coming acts such as AUSTRA, SOFT METALS, ELEVEN: ELEVEN and QUEEN OF HEARTS made a good first impression.

Events like ‘Return To The Blitz Club’, ‘Short Circuit Presents Mute’, ‘Back To The Phuture – Tomorrow Is Today’, ‘The Electronic Phuture Revue’ and the BEF Weekender reinforced the new found profile for music seeded from the Synth Britannia era and kept the team busy. ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK even found time to curate its own live event featuring VILE ELECTRODES.

2012 paled in comparison after such a fruitful year and several acts who were featured probably would not have gained as much coverage in more competitive periods.

But the year did unearth talents such as CHVRCHES, GAZELLE TWIN, GRIMES, KARIN PARK, TRUST, METROLAND and IAMAMIWHOAMI who were eventually make a lasting impact. During this time though, MIRRORS sadly lost momentum and appeared to wind down after the departure of founder member Ally Young while VILLA NAH mutated into SIN COS TAN.

Ahead of ULTRAVOX’s recorded return with ‘Brilliant’, Billy Currie spoke to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK and MARSHEAUX headlined a sold out second event with The Blitz Club’s legendary DJ Rusty Egan as its special guest. EDM was also becoming big news internationally. But ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK stood its ground and showed little interest in this largely repetitive sub-genre as parties within the industry desperately tried to centralise synthpop and dance music with misguided promotional campaigns such as ‘Electrospective’. It was quite obvious the industry was struggling to come to terms with a changing marketplace, as well as failing to distinguish between dance music and electronic pop.

Contrary to general perception that music using synthesizers was 80s, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK maintained a stance that electronic pop music didn’t start in that decade and certainly didn’t end there either. In fact, there was even an editorial diktat that banned its writers from using that horrific and lazy term of reference.

80s is neither an instrumentation style or a genre of music… tellingly, several PR representatives told ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK that one of the site’s main appeals was that it avoided the whole nostalgia bent as represented by events such as ‘Here & Now’ and other media, both virtual and physical.

What ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK did in 2013 would take up a whole article in itself… 2013 turned out to be one of the best years for electronic pop since 1981.  Interviews with ALISON MOYET, GARY NUMAN, KARL BARTOS, MARNIE, ADULT. and MISS KITTIN confirmed the site’s impact. There was even a radio show with Rusty Egan which ran for 25 programmes on dance station Mi-Soul.

Meanwhile new releases from OMD, NINE INCH NAILS, BEF, PET SHOP BOYS, GOLDFRAPP, MESH, MARSHEAUX, SIN COS TAN, POLLY SCATTERGOOD and VISAGE reflected the vibrancy of the modern electronic scene.

But the biggest recognition of how influential the site had become was when VILE ELECTRODES were chosen to support OMD after being spotted by Andy McCluskey while he was perusing the site’s webpages.

Over the years, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK has written about a number of talents whose promise was never fully realised despite producing great music… THE SOUND OF ARROWS, SUNDAY GIRL, KATJA VON KASSEL and THE VANITY CLAUSE all featured several times, but timing and in the cases of the first three, record company interference stifled potential. Whether signed or independent, nothing can be guaranteed in the today’s music world.

Although the year started tremendously with an invitation to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK to meet KARL BARTOS and WOLFGANG FLÜR in Cologne, 2014 suffered next to quality of 2013.

But  more key figures from the Synth Britannia era were  interviewed including MIDGE URE, ex-CABARET VOLTAIRE frontman Stephen Mallinder and the often forgotten man of the period JO CALLIS, who was a key member of THE HUMAN LEAGUE during their imperial phase.

For the 25th Anniversary of DEPECHE MODE’s ‘101’, Alan Wilder spoke exclusively to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about how that live document became a major game changer for the band. And at his autobiography launch in London, Bernard Sumner revealed that NEW ORDER’s next album would be more electronic than the band’s last couple of offerings. Meanwhile, SUSANNE SUNDFØR’s various collaborations with RÖYKSOPP and KLEERUP enhanced her profile in readiness for ‘Ten Love Songs’, her most accomplished work yet. Also riding high were Glasgow’s ANALOG ANGEL with their third album ‘Trinity’ and a support tour with Swedish veterans COVENANT in 2015 was their reward.

The live circuit was vibrant and there was a third event which had a DEPECHE MODE flavour thanks to tribute band SPEAK & SPELL playing ‘Speak & Spell’ and ‘101’ sets. There was also a DJ set by Sarah Blackwood plus a special memorabilia exhibition curated by Deb Danahay, co-founder of the first official DM Information Service. At the same event VILE ELECTRODES celebrated the first anniversary of their debut album ‘The future through a lens’ having snapped up two Schallwelle awards in Germany for ‘Best International Album’ and ‘Best International Artist’.

As 2015 settles in, highly regarded acts within the electronic community continue to engage with The Electricity Club. German trio CAMOUFLAGE used an edit of ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s career retrospective on the band as liner notes for their CD ‘The Singles’. Meanwhile studio legend John Fryer, who worked with FAD GADGET, DEPECHE MODE, COCTEAU TWINS and NINE INCH NAILS, also stopped by for a chat as did BLANCMANGE’s Neil Arthur, securing a site record with his fourth interview for the site.

Newer artists over the last few years as varied as FEATHERS, KID MOXIE, HANNAH PEEL, I AM SNOW ANGEL, TWINS NATALIA, NIGHT CLUB, PAWWS, MACHINISTA, QUIETER THAN SPIDERS, PRIEST and TRAIN TO SPAIN have proved that electronic music is still very much alive. ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK appears to have reflected the interests of people who love the Synth Britannia era and have a desire to hear new music rooted in that ilk. 🙂

While things cannot carry on for ever, there is a belief that there is much more excellent music still to be created and discovered.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to all who have contributed over the last five years, be they writers, musicians, commentators, photographers, artists or models And a big thank you to everyone who has taken the time read an article on the site

Text by Chi Ming Lai
14th March 2015

Lost Albums: VISAGE The Anvil

12 March 2015 /

By the time that VISAGE’s second album ‘The Anvil’ came out in Spring 1982, things were very different for the cast who had produced the eponymous debut started in 1979, and which in early 1981 spawned the massive European hit ‘Fade To Grey’.

Midge Ure had accepted Billy Currie’s invitation to join ULTRAVOX and were now riding hide internationally thanks to the success of ‘Vienna’; sax playing guitarist John McGeoch left both VISAGE and MAGAZINE, and was now a member of SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES; keyboards man Dave Formula though remained in the Manchester post-punk combo.

Meanwhile, thanks to the success of ‘A Club For Heroes’ at The Blitz in Covent Garden and Barracuda on Baker Street, Rusty Egan and Steve Strange were about to embark on their biggest venture yet with the Camden Palace. Strange, in particular had become a bona fide celebrity and was being snapped by Paparazzi hanging out with the likes of Jack Nicholson, Elton John, Diana Dors, Marianne Faithful and Jerry Hall.

In many respects, it was unsurprising that ‘The Anvil’ appeared to lack the focus of its predecessor, but it was still a very good record. The synthesized European romanticism that had dominated the ‘Visage’ debut was omnipresent, especially with the lavish monochromatic Helmut Newton cover photograph. But a funkier perspective had been introduced to proceedings, thanks to Strange and Egan’s growing interest in the new funk forms that had been emerging in clubland, particularly from New York.

It was a direction that had been indicated on ‘We Move’, the B-side to ‘Mind Of A Toy’ and in order to authentic things further, there had been talk of ROXY MUSIC bassist Gary Tibbs joining, but he was then head hunted by ADAM & THE ANTS. Instead, original VISAGE bassist Barry Adamson rejoined, but this time as a hired hand and his subsequent contribution to half of the album was to have a profound effect.

The funkier direction also allowed Midge Ure to indulge in techniques and styles he would have never got away with in ULTRAVOX. But while VISAGE had been started in 1978 by himself and Rusty Egan as a project to make up for the shortage of suitable Euro styled electronic dance music in the clubs, he had not been naturally schooled in funk the way Rusty Egan had been as a soul boy. While the genre blend was to produce some fabulous music, the continuing musical differences would subsequently lead to a fallout between the two friends.

To the public at least, it was business as usual with the album’s launch single ‘The Damned Don’t Cry’. Very much in the vein of ‘Fade To Grey’, it was set to a drum machine syncopated by Rusty Egan’s percussive mantra while Billy Currie’s piano and ARP Odyssey made its presence felt in the solo. And reprising the prominent female vocals that featured on ‘Fade To Grey’, ex-HOT GOSSIP members Perry Lister (Mrs Billy Idol) and Lorraine Whitmarsh added their own wispy feminine touch, as they were to do throughout the album alongside backing vocals from Ure and Egan.

While ‘The Damned Don’t Cry’ delivered what was expected, the harder edged, Teutonic salvo of ‘The Anvil’ almost certainly was not. Featuring some superb guitar work from Midge Ure and metronomic drumming courtesy of Rusty Egan minus his hi-hats, it was Steve Strange’s tale of a night out in New York’s notorious gay club of the same name. Dave Formula’s superb screaming ARP Odyssey and brassy synth riff completed the industrial revolution. It had been intended as the album’s first single and a German version ‘Der Amboss’ had already been recorded as one of the bonuses.

Rusty Egan said: “For me, ‘The Anvil’ was the lead track, ‘The Anvil’ in German (‘Der Amboss’), the 12-inch remixes… but the record company didn’t support that! They were pushing for another ‘Fade To Grey’ so they were going for ‘The Damned Don’t Cry’!” While, Polydor were not so keen to use ‘The Anvil’ as a launch pad, DIE KRUPPS’ subsequent electro metal cover in 2007 proved belatedly how seminal the track actually was!

Photo by Robyn Beeche

While the following ‘Move Up’ with its hard bass sequence developed on the title track, it suffered being sat next to it, but that set the scene for the rather bizarre but enjoyable sonic sandwich of ‘Night Train’. With Dave Formula’s wobbling, detuned synth line bouncing off Barry Adamson’s bass and Gary Barnacle’s squawking sax, the funky overtones augmented by Rusty Egan’s drumming were then counterpointed by an ULTRAVOX styled piano and violin passage in the middle eight.

While the elements all provided a marvellous musical excursion, Ure’s final production was perhaps not direct enough for the American club market that Egan and Strange now coveted. Ure said to Smash Hits at the time: “During the last album I kept hearing phrases like ‘commercial’ and ‘appealing to the American market’. I don’t like the ‘American market’ much”!

So when ‘Night Train’ was remixed for single release in Summer 1982 by noted American disco producer John Luongo at the instigation of Egan, it spelt the end of the diminutive Glaswegian’s association with VISAGE. “I didn’t like it” he simply said.

Despite an impressive first side, even better was to come on side two with some real lost masterpieces in amongst the throng. First up was the ULTRAVOX meets CHIC hybrid of ‘The Horseman’. It certainly was interesting to hear Midge Ure aping Nile Rodgers, albeit using his distinctive flanged guitar style rather than a more traditional fluid rhythm slice.

And with Ure’s backing vocals so prominent in the mix of ‘The Horseman’, especially in the middle eight, it was almost an ULTRAVOX song in all but name. While Steve Strange’s characteristic, but occasionally dispassionate lead voice was an essential part of VISAGE’s identity, it was Ure’s input that provided the credible vocal musicality, as proven by Strange’s hopeless, undirected vocals that were on evident 1984’s disastrous Ure-less VISAGE album ‘Beat Boy’.

‘Look What They’ve Done’ was a dramatic slice of neu romance, and it was on songs like these where Steve Strange’s less tutored vocals came to the fore, suiting a colder electronic backdrop more than the misguided adventures into rock which came later. But with the glorious ‘Again We Love’, every aspect of VISAGE’s collective talents clicked in unison, both vocally and instrumentally. From the dramatic start and the eerie, atmospheric melancholy to the stupendous percussive climax and echoey fade, ‘Again We Love’ summed up what VISAGE was all about. Yes, they were the New Romantic supergroup and were a formidable combination when firing on all cylinders. And it was this song on ‘The Anvil’ that probably got closest to recapturing the grandeur of ‘Fade To Grey’.

With that impressive trio of songs, the album took a slight dive with ‘Wild Life’. This was disappointing as the B-sides of the album’s two singles, the metronomic instrumental ‘Motivation’ and the proto-PET SHOP BOYS of ‘I’m Still Searching’, were far superior. Typically the type of rushed filler that adorned most albums of the day, ‘Wild Life’ sounded like several musical idea fragments gaffer taped together with a middle section that had Rusty Egan impersonating BOW WOW WOW! It had no proper lyric to speak of either but thankfully, victory was snatched from defeat with the beautiful, dreamy ambience of ‘Whispers’.

Featuring Perry Lister and Lorraine Whitmarsh surreally conversing like five year old girls over a hypnotic piano motif, the track’s chilling shimmers and sad synth replies were interrupted halfway through by a simple, heartfelt melody over a stark funereal beat. Its enigmatic use on a TDK TV advert featuring Steve Strange actually got it a single release in Japan. And ironically, despite Strange not appearing on the track itself, ‘Whispers’ has now sadly gained further poignancy and resonance in light of his passing on 12th February 2015.

‘The Anvil’ is possibly the most under rated album of that Synth Britannia / New Romantic period. Although it went silver in the UK and reached No6 in the album chart, it never got the artistic acclaim it deserved, no doubt overshadowed by the accomplishments of ULTRAVOX, JAPAN, DURAN DURAN, ASSOCIATES and SIMPLE MINDS at the time. While not as consistent as  VISAGE’s debut, there are certainly a number of songs on ‘The Anvil’ that are among the best of the era and truly merit reinvestigation.

Dedicated to the memory of STEVE STRANGE 1959 – 2015

‘The Anvil’ is available on CD via Rubellan Remasters at https://www.rubellanremasters.com/online-store

http://www.visage.cc/

http://www.billycurrie.com/

http://www.daveformula.com/

http://www.midgeure.co.uk/

http://rustyegan.blogspot.co.uk/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
12th March 2015

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