Steve Strange, lead vocalist of VISAGE and the face of the New Romantic movement has sadly passed away, aged 55.
A statement on the VISAGE Facebook page said: “We are extremely saddened to announce that Steve Strange died at 11.15 local time on Thursday 12th February, in Sharm El Sheik International Hospital, Egypt. Steve died in his sleep, of Heart Failure. Steve’s family, band members and friends are all distraught at this sudden news of his untimely death. Steve’s family request privacy at this extremely difficult time”.
Born Steven John Harrington in Newbridge, Caerphilly, he headed for London to seek fame and fortune after he saw THE SEX PISTOLS play in his hometown.
Courting controversy almost instantly, he formed a punk band called THE MOORS MURDERERS who recorded a song called ‘Free Hindley’. He then joined THE PHOTONS with whom he wrote what would become ‘Mind Of A Toy’, before working as an assistant for THE RICH KIDS whose members included Midge Ure and Rusty Egan.
When THE RICH KIDS disbanded in 1978, Ure and Egan started developing an interest in electronic music while simultaneously, Strange and Egan started a Bowie night at Billy’s in Soho where art students, hairdressers and fashion designers could gather to a soundtrack that also included ROXY MUSIC and KRAFTWERK. First called ‘Bowie Night’ and then ‘A Club For Heroes’, the evening eventually moved to The Blitz in Covent Garden. While Egan DJ-ed, Strange acted as host with a strict door policy of admitting only “the weird and wonderful”. The clientele were initially labelled by the press as The Cult With No Name and The Blitz Kids, but were eventually dubbed The New Romantics.
As work progressed on Ure and Egan’s electronic project now named VISAGE, Strange was recruited as vocalist while Billy Currie from ULTRAVOX and MAGAZINE refugees Dave Formula, John McGeoch and Barry Adamson also joined.
Recording an album at Martin Rushent’s Genetic Studios in Reading, VISAGE released their first single ‘Tar’ in 1979 on Radar Records. Business problems at the label stalled any potential ‘Tar’ had, but the single attracted interest from Polydor Records. Due to all the other VISAGE members being contracted to other labels, a complex arrangement was brokered through THIN LIZZY’s management company Morrision-O’Donnell with Strange being the sole signatory on the eventual deal.
Meanwhile in 1980, noticing some kindred spirits, David Bowie paid a visit to The Blitz to recruit extras for his ‘Ashes To Ashes’ video; among the chosen ones was Strange. The New Romantics had now gone mainstream. It was not long before VISAGE finally released their self-titled debut album and the iconic single ‘Fade to Grey’ was a hit all over Europe, becoming a German No1 in March 1981.
Further hits such as ‘Mind Of A Toy’, ‘Visage’ and ‘The Damned Don’t Cry’ followed and the success of both VISAGE and The Blitz allowed Strange and Egan to move into the 1500 capacity Camden Palace in 1982 for their next club venture. But it was here than the perils of fame and fortune started to manifest themselves. When Ure, Currie and Morrison-O’Donnell bid adieu to VISAGE, it severely left the band in a fragmented state musically and managerially. Meanwhile the pressures of keeping such a large club venture profitable, while surrounded by the tempting excesses of the era, took their toll with Strange succumbing to drug related and mental health issues in the following years. There was also a fall-out with Rusty Egan.
Strange revived VISAGE in 2004 as a live act for the ‘Hear & Now’ nostalgia tours and did his public profile no harm when he won reality TV show ‘Celebrity Scissorhands’ in 2007.
There were attempted reconciliations with Rusty Egan on Living TV’s ‘Pop Goes The Band’ in 2009 and The Blitz Club Reunion event in 2011, but to no avail. Indeed, Egan had alleged that Strange misplaced VISAGE royalty payments owed to himself, Dave Formula and the estate of the late John McGeoch.
Meanwhile, a 2013 comeback album ‘Heart & Knives’ and subsequent tour featuring Strange as the only original VISAGE member drew mixed responses. Controversial right to the end, at the time of Strange’s passing, Universal Music had launched legal action for appropriating parts of the original VISAGE recordings for the recent reworked best of album ‘Orchestral’.
Chris Payne, who had co-written ‘Fade To Grey’ with Billy Currie and Midge Ure said: “I have been forthright in my criticism of the new VISAGE, but it is very sad to hear about the death of Steve Strange. I had never met him personally, although we shared something in common with the song ‘Fade to Grey’”.
What does remain of Steve Strange’s legacy is his very significant contribution to popular culture. In addition to VISAGE, ‘A Club For Heroes’ spawned bands like SPANDAU BALLET and CULTURE CLUB, while others regulars such as Dylan Jones, Peter Ashworth and John Galliano made their names in writing, photography and fashion respectively. Madonna played her first UK concert at Camden Palace in 1983 while ‘Fade To Grey’ was voted ‘Song of the Decade’ on the prestigious German music show ‘Hit Giganten’ during an 80s special in 2010.
There is a new VISAGE album but the majority of its founder members have not been involved.
John McGeoch passed away in 2004 and although Barry Adamson played on the first two albums, he gave up his equity in the collective after the first single ‘Tar’.
Whilst Dave Formula has contributed one song ‘Dairies Of A Madman’, ULTRAVOX members Midge Ure and Billy Currie did not participate.
The collective’s original catalyst Rusty Egan did take part in the initial stages as musical director of the project, but withdrew due to artistic differences and disagreements over production values.
Then in November 2012, Steve Strange announced on German TV that he was writing songs with Midge Ure which proved to be incorrect while various sources reported on the fallout to confirm that all was not well.
Thus Steve Strange is the only ingredient from the original Blitz Club days who appears throughout the resultant album entitled ‘Hearts & Knives’. Although there are guest appearances by notable players from the scene such as ex-ULTRAVOX guitarist Robin Simon and ex-SIMPLE MINDS keyboardist Mick MacNeil, this album to many ears is not a realVISAGE album.
Rusty Egan spoke to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about the background of ‘Hearts & Knives’ and how he intends to pursue his own musical interests in the future…
How did the idea for a new VISAGE album come about?
I was consulted about the possibility of a new VISAGE album on the basis that royalties due to me, the estate of John McGeoch and to Dave Formula had been misappropriated by Steve Strange over a period of eight years.
The proposition was that the only way to recover the misappropriated royalties was to produce a fourth VISAGE album and pay Steve Strange a reduced royalty share until the misappropriated funds were restored. I was only willing to be involved in the production of an album that would do credit to the heritage of VISAGE. I spoke with all the members to establish their willingness to reform which was a tough call, and one by one they all declined.
So what did you do then?
I then thought “If I was going to form VISAGE today, who would I invite?” I talked with Chris Payne who co-wrote ‘Fade To Grey’ for writing and keyboards, SPANDAU BALLET’s Steve Norman for sax and percussion, ex-ULTRAVOX guiarist Robin Simon, Didier Marouani of SPACE and as producer, Brian Tench who had worked with KATE BUSH and OMD as well as VISAGE.
But some might say your concept for a new VISAGE is no more valid than this solo Steve Strange version?
Of course, a VISAGE album without a contribution from Midge would be crazy. When the team started to come together, Midge kindly offered a song called ‘Become’.
But early in the production cycle, it became clear to me that the company who were funding the production had no intention of meeting my production values nor matching the quality of the team that I had pulled together with an album that would show them or the VISAGE heritage in a good light.
So why is ‘Hearts & Knives’ not a VISAGE album then in your opinion?
Midge Ure and I alone came up with the concept for VISAGE. That is a matter of historical fact. VISAGE was and is our intellectual and emotional property.
The album has been produced and released without the consent of Midge or myself.
‘Hearts & Knives’ I presume alludes to love and death. Well I loved VISAGE, but this album is the death of everything that VISAGE represented. This collection of songs/music does not represent the heritage and musical values of VISAGE. It is a Steve Strange album. I believe that no-one would be interested in a Steve Strange album so using the name VISAGE is the only way to market the album.
So what have you thought about the end result?
Given this background, I have really struggled to be impartial about this album. ‘Lost In Static’ is the only track on the album that actually works, just because it’s simple. It has a decent drum and bass track. There’s one song ‘Never Enough’ which was very SIMPLE MINDS; but it could be good if we worked on the lyrics, got some great guitar and pumped that bass… the final version sounds like a home recording that was submitted as a demo. The production company has only added some guitars.
‘Shameless Fashion’ is OK but does not sound like VISAGE. ‘She’s Electric’ is also OK but nothing special; the ‘Fade To Grey’ CR78 drum track has been copied as an intro. The thin drums once again sound like a demo as if the producer has said “We’ll do the drums later” but never got around to it. I hate the vocal delays.
‘Diaries Of A Madman’ is the only song written by Steve and he had recorded it a few years ago with Dave Formula.
‘Dreamer I Know’ appears to have some potential…
That song is the one that I am most upset about. I met Arno Carstens at the Isle Of Wight Music Festival after I saw his performance. I just had to ask him about this song, he said it had been released but without any great take up. “I love it” I said, “It is like DEPECHE MODE, can I use it for VISAGE but make some changes?” Arno said “Sure, just do it and let me hear it”. I hope he does NOT EVER hear this VISAGE version… I had nothing to do with it. I have done this song the justice it deserves.
So what are you going to do music wise?
I have continued to write with Chris Payne and an amazing writer Gerard O’ Connell who co-wrote ‘Welcome To The Dancefloor’. We have done an amazing job on ‘Dreamer’; Youth co-wrote that with Arno, I have to say the mixes are simply wonderful. I have six more amazing songs co-written with Chris Payne and other songwriters. Didier plays his style keys, Steve Norman plays some nice sax which is very ROXY MUSIC.
Now I must say I am so much more content now to just do ‘Rusty Egan Presents…’ and release some tracks AFTER this album has gone away.
You’ve previewed ‘Welcome To The Dancefloor’ which is like GIORGIO MORODER meets DAFT PUNK…
Well, collaboration is really the way forward. Robin, Gerard , Didier, Brian Tench… there are many talented people I come across. If you listen to the radio show there are some amazing new bands that I would love to work with; SIN COS TAN really do it for me, METROLAND and KARIN PARK too.
‘Welcome To The Dancefloor’ is an example of how I have always worked. There was this amazing bassline with synth stabs that grabbed me, but what I could hear was an electro style uplifting track and I wrote this on the roof of the villa in Ibiza… I just looked and thought “Welcome To The Dancefloor of THE WORLD”. It’s here and as a DJ, I am and always was inspired in Ibiza and will head there again this summer and write some more… we wrote that track and recorded it very simply and then sent it to Robin Skouteris who did the final mixes.
I first came across Robin when I heard his amazing ‘Wonderful’ mix featuring HURTS. We just clicked and he did exactly what I wanted with the finished mixes… we are working on every track together first, then some friends want to remix. We are speaking with Paul Oakenfold, Richard Grey, Michael Gray and Tim Overdijk. And I’m excited to be in contact with METROLAND.
Although you did the deep backing vocals on VISAGE songs like ‘Fade to Grey’ and ‘Night Train’, you’re not known for singing. So will all the songs be vocodered like ‘Welcome To The Dancefloor’ or do you have other plans?
I always did backing vocals on everything and I sung ‘Dancefloor’ then got Gerard to do it pre-vocoder.
On ‘Night Train’, I do the whole answer verses and on all my current stuff, I just sing it badly and then Gerard does it better.
I could sing it but it would be in the Bowie/ Iggy low baritone and I love that style but I am not a frontman. I would love VIKTORIA MODESTA rather than me.
Once I have the songs recorded… well, all I can do is make some calls and hope people like them. I would just love KARIN PARK to sing on them, I have two songs that I know would suit her and also Theo from HURTS or the guys in MIRRORS. There are so many perfect singers out there.
So now I just want to get the songs and the music right, the only good sign I have is that when I ask people to work with me, they hear the simple music and say “YES I love it, let’s do it” … that is the way I know I am doing something right.
I have Robin Simon playing on one song and it’s perfect, he just sounds like the Robin of the ‘Systems Of Romance’ era.
How are you finding doing the radio shows?
I say “Less Talk, More Music” as I really think ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK is about the NEW MUSIC and the inspired classics. I am just the link… people love the tracks I select and that’s always been the case. I find bands / songs / music and say “I love this”… success!
It may take a year or four albums like with SIMPLE MINDS and ULTRAVOX but I can hear it, first time… and my track listings will show that we have found great talent; it may take time… but it’s QUALITY!
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Rusty Egan
With the well received returns of ULTRAVOX and DURAN DURAN in the last few years, it was inevitable VISAGE would resurrect themselves.
Originally a synthesized collective comprising of Midge Ure, Rusty Egan, Billy Currie, Dave Formula and the late John McGeoch, it was fronted by the face of the New Romantic scene, Steve Strange. But on this new album, only Strange remains although Formula co-writes ‘Diaries Of A Madman’, the only track to emerge from an aborted attempt to revive the brand as VISAGE II back in 2007.
Rusty Egan was involved in the early stages of ‘Hearts & Knives’, but departed due to creative differences while despite an announcement by Strange on German TV that he was working with Ure again, the diminutive Glaswegian has distanced himself from the project although it is known he had submitted a song on condition that it involved Egan.
The absence of the key musical driving forces that gave the world ‘Fade To Grey’, ‘Mind Of A Toy’ and ‘The Damned Don’t Cry’ really exposes itself on ‘Hearts & Knives’. Even an attempt to lob the iconic Compurhythm intro of ‘Fade To Grey’ onto ‘She’s Electric’ to reference past glories cannot detract from the poor quality of this album.
The first two VISAGE albums were notable for their arrangements, counterpoints and musicality while layers of Midge Ure’s backing vocals propped up Strange’s lead monotone. But like the disastrous third album ‘Beat Boy’ which saw Strange and Egan try to keep the VISAGE name alive after the departure of the ULTRAVOX and MAGAZINE crew, Strange’s voice is laid bare and simply not strong enough for a collection of songs to be based around.
Bare is a description that could be used for the music too. The production is almost demo-like; the rhythmical base is particularly thin and while it is great to hear ex-ULTRAVOX guitarist Robin Simon again, the squawky nature of his interplay becomes irritating from being pushed too far up in the mix. And despite claims that exclusively analogue synths are used, they’re hardly noticeable with the assorted technicians seemingly unaware of VISAGE’s history.
It’s not all bad; ‘Shameless Fashion’ is unsurprisingly the single and could have come off ‘Beat Boy’ while ‘Dreamer I Know’ has unleashed melodic potential. But compared with ULTRAVOX’s ‘Brilliant’ or DURAN DURAN’s ‘All You Need Is Now’ though, ‘Hearts & Knives’ just doesn’t cut it!
With thanks to Vicky Berry at Quite Great PR
‘Hearts & Knives’ is released on 20th May 2013 by Blitz Club Records as a CD and download
The Blitz Club celebrated its 30th Anniversary with a special reunion at its old site which is now The Red Rooms in Holborn, London.
its original soundtrack centred on the music of David Bowie but also included KRAFTWERK, ROXY MUSIC, ENO, LA DUSSELDORF, GINA X PERFORMANCE, ULTRAVOX, THE NORMAL, THE HUMAN LEAGUE, YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA, TELEX and MAGAZINE amongst others. This vibrant post-punk scene, whose clientel were dubbed ‘The Blitz Kids’ and ‘The New Romantics’, became the catalyst for several bands including SPANDAU BALLET, CULTURE CLUB and of course, VISAGE as well as assorted fashion designers and visual artists.
Hosted by its founders Steve Strange and Rusty Egan, among the special guests attending tonight’s party are SPANDAU BALLET’s Martin Kemp and John Keeble, Martin Kemp’s wife and WHAM! backing singer Shirlie Holliman, SPANDAU BALLET manager Steve Dagger and renowned photographer Peter Ashworth whose striking images adorn the covers of SOFT CELL’s ‘Non Stop Erotic Cabaret’ and ‘The Art Of Falling Apart’, ASSOCIATES ‘Sulk’, EURYTHMICS ‘Touch’ and the very first VISAGE album.
Also reunited for the first time in many years were members of The Blitz Club dance troupe SHOCK including Carole Caplin, LA Richards, Tim Dry aka Tik from TIK & TOK and Barbie Wilde who appeared in ULTRAVOX’s ‘Passing Strangers’ promo video with the absent Sean Crawford aka Tok.
After an initial DJ set by Rusty Egan, PARADISE POINT took to the stage to deliver a lively performance with their bassist Roman Kemp following in the footsteps of his father Martin by playing The Blitz Club. His mum Shirlie looked on proudly. Despite at least three members of the group looking barely old enough to be playing on licensed premises, they were impressive with a polished danceable pop style that wholly suited the occasion.
Singer Cameron Jones has a charismatic confidence which should see PARADISE POINT fill the gap in the market for a smart boy band that actually plays their own instruments. During the interlude to remove the stage to reveal the dancefloor proper, both Steve Strange and Rusty Egan took to the mic to thank everyone for attending.
The old Blitz Club dancefloor filled as its original resident DJ spinned classic after classic with many songs from the original Blitz Club playlist. It was quite surreal to not only be hearing the 12 inch mixes of ‘Fade To Grey’, ‘To Cut A Long Story Short’ and ‘R.E.R.B.’ in the very place that helped inspire them, but to also be in the presence of the very people that were involved in their genesis and recording.
With the essential inclusion of David Bowie’s ‘Heroes / Helden’, ‘The Model’ by KRAFTWERK, OMD’s ‘Enola Gay’, JOY DIVISION’s ‘She’s Lost Control’ and a bit of Bryan Ferry et voila… this was the perfect combination to celebrate nearly four decades of fantastically inventive avant pop music.
Next to take the decks was Princess Julia who famously appeared in the iconic ‘Fade To Grey’ promo video with Steve Strange. Again, it was surreal to see the pair standing together in the DJ booth.
Onlookers were even treated to the former Steven Harrington doing some impromptu miming over the soon-to-be released reworking of VISAGE’s ‘Frequency 7’ which now features extra lyrics borrowed from HEAVEN 17’s ‘Temptation’. This is a song which incidentally also has Blitz Club connections as it was Rusty Egan who recommended Carol Kenyon to Messrs Marsh, Ware and Gregory when the Sheffield trio were seeking a soulful backing vocalist for their then yet-to-be completed 1983 single.
Meanwhile Princess Julia’s set was varied, ranging from the not entirely unexpected like DEPECHE MODE’s ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’ to the biggest surprise of the night, FANCY’s cult Euro hit from 1983, ‘Slice Me Nice’. The various Germans and Scandinavians, who have made the journey specially to be at this reunion tonight, were particularly appreciative!
But with the landlords The Red Rooms reverting to their usual source of income as a table dancing establishment, it was time for The Blitz Club, like Cinderella, to make its exit before midnight.
The whole night was terrifically friendly with lots of great electronic pop music and many attendees got into the spirit of things by togging up as New Romantics, Peacock Punks or in the case of ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK, 1950’s German bank clerks!
The Return To The Blitz Club 2011 couldn’t have been any better. With ULTRAVOX having just signed a new recording deal with Universal Music and plans also for a new VISAGE album, the legacy of The Blitz Club is alive and well! Tonight really was a Club For Heroes!
Rusty Egan’s DJ setlist
THE KNIFE Pass This On
THE STOOGES I Wanna Be Your Dog
THE BLUE NILE Headlights On The Parade
THE HUMAN LEAGUE Being Boiled
TOM TOM CLUB Genius Of Love
KRAFTWERK Neon Lights
DAVID BOWIE Sound & Vision
IGGY POP Sister Midnight
KRAFTWERK Trans Europe Express
DAVID BOWIE Fashion
GINA X PERFORMANCE No GDM
SIMPLE MINDS Changeling
LIAISONS DANGEREUSES Los Ninos Del Parque
BLONDIE Heart Of Glass
SHOCK R.E.R.B.
ULTRAVOX Visions In Blue (EMP 09 Remix)
ABC Tears Are Not Enough
YOKO ONO Walking On Thin Ice
BRYAN FERRY Let’s Stick Together
DAVID BOWIE Ashes To Ashes
DAVID BOWIE Boys Keep Swinging
SPANDAU BALLET To Cut A Long Story Short (Long Mix)
HUMAN LEAGUE The Sound Of The Crowd
OMD Enola Gay
SOFT CELL Tainted Love
THE CURE In Between Days
JOY DIVISION She’s Lost Control
DEPECHE MODE See You
ULTRAVOX Hiroshima Mon Amour
VISAGE Mind Of A Toy
DURAN DURAN Planet Earth (Night Version)
IGGY POP The Passenger
ASSOCIATES Club Country (12″ Version)
DAVID BOWIE Heroes/Helden
KRAFTWERK Das Modell
VISAGE Fade to Grey (Club Mix)
Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Richard Price
24th January 2011
A gathering of romantics old and new at Raffles in Chelsea saw the launch of ‘The Face – The Best Of Visage’, a new compilation by the electronic supergroup.
Rusty Egan, VISAGE’s drummer and the DJ of the now legendary club The Blitz was present to spin some electro tunes and give the welcoming speech. Telling the story of VISAGE and the New Romantic scene, he recalled how he also gave SPANDAU BALLET one of their first gigs and played DEPECHE MODE’s debut single ‘Dreaming Of Me’. He also reiterated how in that era, the UK produced the best music in the world and that 700,000 units sold of the recent ‘Ministry Of Sound – Electronic 80s’ compilation almost thirty years after that classic era was proof of that!
He finally thanked Universal Records who have released the album and interestingly said that the UK Music Industry needs to “find more acts like LA ROUX”!
Featuring new remixes of ‘Fade To Grey’ and some original 12-inch dance mixes, ‘The Face’ is a fine collection of VISAGE’s singles output. However, in a repeat of an error on previous collections, the album version of ‘Night Train’ appears to have been featured instead of the John Luongo single remix.
Formed in late 1978 as a reaction to the shortage of new electronic dance music to play at The Blitz, disillusioned ex-RICH KIDS members Midge Ure and Rusty Egan recruited its figurehead Steve Strange to front the project under the name of VISAGE.
They recorded a cover of the Zager and Evans one hit-wonder ‘In The Year 2525’ as one of several demos which were subsequently offered to EMI and turned down!
The demos though soon caught the attention of producer Martin Rushent who had an office above The Blitz. Working for Warners subsidiary Radar Records, he was intending to launch his own Genetic Records imprint through them. With their own bands on temporary hiatus, ULTRAVOX’s Billy Currie and MAGAZINE’s Dave Formula, the late John McGeoch and Barry Adamson (who left shortly after but later returned as a ‘hired hand’) were soon recruited and together at Rushent’s incumbent Genetic Sound Studios in Reading, they started recording an album.
The first track from those sessions ‘Tar’ was released as a single on Radar in Autumn 1979 but within days, Warners pulled the plug on the label and plans for Genetic Records became stillborn. This move was extremely short sighted on Warners part as Rushent had been in discussions with several acts about signing them, apart from VISAGE, it was rumoured that JOY DIVISION, ULTRAVOX and SPANDAU BALLET were also waiting in the wings.
Despite this set back, several positives emerged from this period; at Rusty Egan’s suggestion, Midge Ure joined Billy Currie in a re-launched ULTRAVOX… we know what happened there! And Martin Rushent, encouraged by all the synthesizer technology he saw being used in his studio, bought a Roland MC4 Micro-composer and Linn Drum Computer.
Working initially with his old mate Pete Shelley from BUZZCOCKS on his seminal ‘Homosapien’ album, he then ended up producing a struggling band called THE HUMAN LEAGUE, the rest as they say, is history…
Meanwhile, VISAGE was put on hold while a new deal was brokered by ULTRAVOX’s new management team Morrison-O’Donnell with Polydor Records. During breaks in their day job, Ure and Currie continued to work with the others to finish the album, with Ure taking the helm as producer.
Needing one more track to complete it, Currie brought in an instrumental he had written during his time as a member of GARY NUMAN’s live band in 1979 with fellow keyboardist Chris Payne called ‘Toot City’. With Ure adding a lyric and melody line, the subsequent track became ‘Fade To Grey’, released in December 1980 as VISAGE’s second single and becoming a massive hit in Europe. It reached No8 in the UK chart but more importantly, was No1 in Germany, then the biggest market for English language music outside of the USA.
With all the other members of VISAGE signed to other labels, it was left for Steve Strange alone to promote VISAGE and appear with a young lady nicknamed Princess Julia in the now iconic Godley & Creme directed promo video for ‘Fade To Grey’. Other acts from The Blitz like SPANDAU BALLET and CULTURE CLUB may have had greater success, but VISAGE truly encapsulated the New Romantic aesthetic; the beauty of the synthesizer played with symphonic classical overtones fused to the electronic dance beat of Neu Europa and visually styled like a cross between the Edwardian dandies and Weimar Cabaret.
Other hits like ‘Mind Of A Toy’, ‘Visage’, ‘The Damned Don’t Cry’ and ‘Night Train’ affirmed that VISAGE were as important a part of the ‘Synth Britannia’ landscape as GARY NUMAN, THE HUMAN LEAGUE, OMD, ULTRAVOX, DEPECHE MODE and SOFT CELL.
The eponymous first album particularly captured an exciting era in the development of pop featuring an early use of the Fairlight CMI to produce the realistic sound effects to link the album tracks together while the second VISAGE album ‘The Anvil’ is still an underrated synth classic.
But once Midge Ure left in mid-1982, it was never the same again although the first post-Ure single ‘Pleasure Boys’ possessed an aggressive New York disco edge that was certainly a more exciting proposition than the disappointing rock-orientated direction which was eventually pursued on the swansong ‘Beat Boy’ album.
However, the VISAGE legacy still endures in this modern electro-pop era with KELLY OSBOURNE’s ‘One Word’ and KYLIE MINOGUE’s ‘Like A Drug’ being the most obvious (and some would say blatant) musical pastiches of ‘Fade To Grey’ itself. Meanwhile in an episode of BBC drama ‘Ashes To Ashes, the real-life Steve Strange can be seen performing ‘Fade To Grey’ at The Blitz… a bit of artistic licence went on there though as the original incarnation of VISAGE never actually played live.
But with classic electro-pop back in vogue three decades on, life can sometimes feel like you’re in your own episode of ‘Ashes To Ashes’! With Rusty Egan playing SOFT CELL’s ‘Say Hello Wave Goodbye’, TUBEWAY ARMY’s ‘Are Friends Electric?’, OMD’s ‘Souvenir’ and a number of VISAGE tracks later on, it seemed to confirm that!
Just before he hit the decks, Rusty Egan took time out to speak about being an electro pioneer and his return to DJ-ing:
‘Fade To Grey’ is not only the best record of that New Romantic era but it’s also up there with ‘I Feel Love’, ‘The Model’, ‘Don’t You Want Me’, ‘Blue Monday’, ‘Enjoy The Silence’ etc. So 30 years on with new electro acts like LITTLE BOOTS and LA ROUX plus this ‘Ministry Of Sound – Electronic 80s’ compilation, it’s suitably apt that this new VISAGE collection ‘The Face’ has been released. How does it feel now looking back to have had an active part in such a pioneering, and in retrospect, culturally influential period?
How does it feel? I’m proud to have been part of something that was pioneering.
It’s difficult to be pioneering when people aren’t that welcoming to different new sounds, new ways of doing things. Not only did ‘Fade To Grey’ sound and was recorded technologically different, we also made a video pre-MTV which was also an award winning video. So the sound and the visual side, the artwork, the video and music all encompassed what the 80s were about. It was about visually stunning and if possible, thoughtful music. Now all the technology is here, you can do it with your eyes shut! But then, it wasn’t!
When was the moment that you decided you wanted to make electronic pop music and ‘downed sticks’ to get a drum machine? Did Midge Ure’s acquisition of a Yamaha synthesizer while you were both in THE RICH KIDS in 1977 play its part?
No, there was a couple of years of punk which Midge Ure and myself weren’t too impressed with in terms of the clubs and the environment in Thatcherite Britain, it was horrible in Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool! It was depressing and THE RICH KIDS were trying to be positive, so y’know, you’ve got talent, you don’t need money etc! So we were just trying basically to grasp the good in life, trying to be positive in a very negative time.
What were your favourite electronic records of the time that inspired you?
Obviously GIORGIO MORODER and for me, you could go into a disco and you could forget the grey, horrible environment as that beat “doo-doo-do-do” went on and on, and the lights flashed, reality soon hit you as you came out of a club! And again, you didn’t know what instrument was playing ‘cos it wasn’t a band. So a band was guitar, bass and drums! A record that you danced to, you didn’t care what it was as it had the beat! You didn’t go, “oh he’s not playing the bass”… it was just a good bassline. It wasn’t about musicians, or musicianship!
Alright, so that ‘muso’ aspect never bothered you, that dilemma about what was programmed and what was actually ‘played’?
NO! I saw drummers like Billy Cobham and I thought “F*CK THAT! I can’t do that!” And then I thought, nor could Ringo and he sold more records!
The eponymous debut was a great success but the follow-up ‘The Anvil’ is still a greatly underrated album, I love it! The title track should have been a single and there were some fantastic tracks on it like ‘The Horseman’ and ‘Again We Love’. Do you think it deserved more recognition, especially as it was musically a more sophisticated record?
Well, what originally started out as five musicians and a singer to make music to be played in the club where I was the DJ, having had such worldwide success with ‘Fade To Grey’, by the time we got to ‘The Anvil’, my very good friend Midge Ure was now fully encompassed in ULTRAVOX. And ULTRAVOX’s managers were in fact the management of VISAGE. And their priority was ULTRAVOX so ‘The Anvil’ album didn’t have what they considered to be the lead single. It had ‘The Damned Don’t Cry’ and ‘Night Train’ but they didn’t get the thumbs up. So we did the best we could on that basis.
For me, ‘The Anvil’ (the song) was the lead track, ‘The Anvil’ in German (‘Der Amboss’), the 12-inch remixes, all that which I did with John Luongo was for me, the single. 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’!
Photo by Sheila Rock
You played on a number of other records, most notably ‘Yellow Pearl’ by Phil Lynott which was co-written by Midge Ure and the ‘Top Of The Pops’ theme in the early 80s. But one of my favourites is the lost cult classic ‘R.E.R.B’, the B-side you did for SHOCK’s ‘Angel Face’ with producer Richard Burgess back in 1981.
ISN’T IT FANTASTIC? YEAH!
It is! Any regrets that you didn’t keep that track for a VISAGE album?
Well, R.E. is Rusty Egan, R.B. is Richard Burgess. And he produced SPANDAU BALLET’s first album and was in the group LANDSCAPE. Basically, we wanted to produce together a sound and we got a Roland, one of the ones with all the components, I mean it was massive! I think YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA had one! Anyway, we just played around with that and we came up with that track and it was the beginning of what never happened because then Richard had a success with ‘Einstein A Go -Go’ and Spandau had a success. So again, success sometimes separates you from possible good!
You’re DJ-ing again and have been playing some of the old tunes from The Blitz days. Who of the current generation of electro pop acts float your boat and are any going to be in your DJ set?
Oh yeah, there’s quite a few in there, I’d have to stand next to my laptop and go through my bag of tunes but SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO with Beth Ditto ‘Cruel Intentions’, fantastic! I love THE ADMIRALS, they’re German! There’s also LA ROUX ‘In For The Kill (That Doesn’t Sound Like A Screem Mix)’, ‘Hiding All The Stars’ by CHICANE with GARY NUMAN, ‘I’m In Love With A German Film Star (PET SHOP BOYS Remix)’
Speaking of them, on the B-side of ‘Night Train’, ‘I’m Still Searching’, did you and Steve Strange invent the PET SHOP BOYS?
Ha! Ha! Yeah, that was just me and Steve actually! There was no-one else around as the band were all gone by then! MAGAZINE were busy, ULTRAVOX were busy! So we had to keep knocking up B-sides! I like ‘Motivation’ as well. But ‘I’m Still Searching’, does it sound like PET SHOP BOYS? Well!! Were they around at that time? I don’t know much about them!
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Rusty Egan
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is released on 20th May 2013 by Blitz Club Records as a CD and download
is released by Universal Music Group
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