Interview With Andy Bell From Erasure

Erasure formed in the mid 80’s. The duo have had hits with Sometimes, Ship of Fools, Stop and Oh L’amour amongt others. A new album, The Neon is due to be released in August. I spoke to lead singer Andy Bell about the album, his early interest in music and an end of pier concert in Blackpool!

What can we expect from the new album as the last one seemed very downbeat?
This new album is definitely upbeat, it is completely opposite to the last one, though I don’t remember the last album being that downbeat though. We did an orchestral version of the album too which was unusual for us.

The new single Hey Now (Think I Got A Feeling) sounds very optimistic.
It is and the rest of the songs on there are in the same direction, there are only 2 slow songs on there. In total we recorded 16 songs for the album which we got down to 10, Vince (Clarke) and I had a list of priority tracks which we wanted on the album which we mixed 4 or 5 times and then as I say we eventually whittled the songs down to 10 which are on the album.

Where was the photography taken for the new album?
We did it at an old warehouse in Walthamstow, it has the largest stock of Neon signs in Europe. It’s an amazing place but with total sensory overload, but after being in there after 2 hours I needed to switch off as neon is so bright! It was like being inside a pink pinball machine. You can actually hire the place, it would be a good place to open as a club, they have a bar and a breakfast room, the only thing though is that it has to close at 7pm so perhaps a little too early for it to be a club.

Erasure concerts are always quite spiritual, I once saw you in Blackpool at the theatre on the North Pier, do you remember the concert?
I do remember it as I have only been to Blackpool twice. We are always treated so well in the north. Our concerts are quite spiritual as you say, Rosie O’Donnell once said to us that going to one of our concerts was like going to church which I can understand as they are a celebration.

Who or what got you interested in music?
To be honest most kids do not have a lot of patience, our mum never bought us toys that were weapons, I wasn’t even allowed an Action Man! I was given a Bontempi Organ as a present and I learnt to play Once In Royal David’s City, I was always picking up musical instruments to see if I could play them. I went to Sunday School too and used to sing there but stopped going.

I used to have a record player in the bottom of my wardrobe, I read in one of the newspapers that to create a certain atmosphere you had to try and create a certain ambience so I used to burn strawberry incense and have the curtains drawn.

Is there any country that gives you inspiration or where you would like to spend more time in?
I like quite a lot of the Latin countries in Europe such as Spain and Italy but really Erasure have never been big in those countries, but South America is one, we are very popular in Argentina, they make me feel like Madonna! They are so passionate. I like playing a concert in Russia too, I can’t speak Russian and if you go there and can’t speak the language it is not easy. They probably have no idea of what I’m singing about. The people there can be very bombastic and OTT especially in Moscow, they like to show off their wealth but I should imagine in the rest of Russia it is not like that at all.

Do you warm up your voice before a concert?
I always warm up my voice with Vince. Before we go on stage we are climbing the walls, our nerves feed off each other, there are one or two toilet visits and plenty of hysterical laughter in the dressing room before the show.

Do you design your own costumes/outfits for the tours?
I have a good friend in Dean Bright who is a costume maker, he once even did a pearl corset for Kim Kardashian, which you might remember. He did a fantastic blue sparkly outfit I wore on tour in 1992. I can go to him and say that on the next tour I would like something like along the lines of Victorian lady and he would be able to come up with something unique. He went to St Martins School of Art and has a huge talent, he can literally cut a pattern out of a piece of paper.

How have you spent Lockdown?
We finished the album just in time before the Lockdown came in. The Lockdown though split me apart from my partner who is in Miami. I was going to go over in September but have just heard that the flight had been cancelled again. I hear that the on line dating sites have been very busy during the Lockdown but how do they meet up? I can imagine lots of films being made about the virus, you can just see it now with them turning the virus into a huge monster.

Are you going on tour next year?
Yes, when things have calmed down and it is safe to do so. The further north we go in the UK the more raucous it gets though Brighton is always a party as that one always has a big gay audience, but yes we will be going out on tour to give everyone a good time, we all need it after what we have been through this year.