{"id":2863,"date":"2014-05-23T00:04:31","date_gmt":"2014-05-23T00:04:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/omdculture.com\/?page_id=2863"},"modified":"2014-05-23T03:06:54","modified_gmt":"2014-05-23T03:06:54","slug":"mr-m-2011-read","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/omdculture.com\/?page_id=2863","title":{"rendered":"Mr. M. 2011 Read"},"content":{"rendered":"

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark\u2019s founding members Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys have been making music together since the mid 70\u2032s. They were eventually enlarged to a quartet when Malcolm Holmes and Martin Cooper joined the team and together they broke the musical airwaves with their own unique blend of synth music that married the infectiously fun pop with the melancholy sounds of choirs and strings. Upbeat hits like\u00a0Electricity\"\"\u00a0and\u00a0Enola Gay\"\"were matched with equally enduring, moving singles like\u00a0Joan Of Arc\"\"\u00a0and\u00a0Maid Of Orleans\"\"\u00a0to help cement OMD\u2019s place in the UK and European charts. But it wasn\u2019t until the mid 80\u2032s that the American public really started to take notice.<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

When John Hughes\u2019 movie of Pretty In Pink came out with OMD song\u00a0If You Leave\"\"\u00a0as its single, you couldn\u2019t go anywhere without hearing it. But American success meant more pressures and eventually the band got to a point of calling it quits. Andy McCluskey continued on, releasing three more albums under the OMD name while the other three remaining members formed The Listening Pool. By the mid 90\u2032s synthpop music wasn\u2019t seen as \u201ccool\u201d anymore so Andy McCluskey turned to writing and working with girl band Atomic Kitten (and later with The Genie Queen).<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Fast forward to 2005 and the band agreed to do a German TV gig. It would be the first time in over a decade that they would be on stage performing together but it went so well, and the music scene was once again changing, this time to their favor, that they agreed to give a short tour a try. That tour sold out quickly and was followed by more gigs over a 3 year period.<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

But being true musicians, OMD weren\u2019t going to just stop at touring and in 2010, fans were given the prize of a stellar new album called\u00a0History Of Modern\"\". Keeping to the OMD sound, yet updated for the times, it was met with great reviews, even from American Press\u2026Spin Magazine giving it a 7 of 10. A world tour saw the guys finally hitting the American shores in March to a triumphantly sold out crowd everywhere they went!<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

I had the massive honor of sitting down with Andy McCluskey in Miami a couple days before the start of their North American Tour Part 2 to discuss the tours, then and now, among other things\u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Compared to the March tour to now, where do you feel, I mean where\u2019s your mind? Are there the same concerns that you had in March that you have now or the same expectations?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

We have concerns, but they\u2019re different. I think possibly we shouldn\u2019t have taken the offer to come back. I don\u2019t think we\u2019re going to sell out as many of the places. I think maybe it was too soon to come back but we were just so excited after the success of the March tour and the feedback was SO positive and the audiences were SO good. And we had a whole line of promoters who didn\u2019t take us in March going \u201cOh, oh, yeah can we have them now please? Now that they\u2019re selling out and everybody loves them\u201d. So we\u2019ll see, but I think there\u2019s going to be a couple of real stinkers\u2026 but then again what we\u2019re doing here is we\u2019re mopping up the secondary markets and there\u2019s a reason obviously why we didn\u2019t come to some of these places first time out is that they\u2019re just really not going to be big ticket sales.<\/span><\/p>\n

And also, I mean we only ever played one gig in Florida before in our lives for example and that was supporting Thompson Twins way back in the mid 80\u2032s so, you know, there isn\u2019t even a history of having a live audience. However, whoever turns up, I\u2019m sure they will be great and we will give them the best concert we can. So yeah, my only other concern is just these 3\/4 in a row. We survived last time, just gotta take it easy. I mean the other reason is Malcolm and I are here early is because we found the first week we were just so tired from jetlag. I mean Friday night.. had we come in today with everybody else, Friday night at 10 o\u2019clock it would be like going on stage at 3 o\u2019clock in the morning for us so we had to try and get over the jetlag a bit but we\u2019re looking forward to it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well in terms of what you had with the booking agents and everything from the first tour to now, you said that you had a lot of people popping up after the sell-outs. Is there a different layout from what you did before? Like I know Bright Antenna kind of split the bill for the first one. Were they the ones that were promoting you and now you have a promoter or booking agent?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

No, Bright Antenna were literally just offering to cover the shortfall if there was one. In the end, because of the VIP thing, I think it worked out that the shortfall wasn\u2019t that bad. And we used the money from the summer festivals to offset what we did lose in America, which ended up not being that much. The VIP tickets thing really helps actually. That\u2019s a nice way to earn extra money and everyone seems to love it. It\u2019s an opportunity to actually physically meet people and to see a sound check and get a little bit of an idea of behind the scenes. So, you know, we\u2019ll have to see, but we will lose money. As long as we don\u2019t lose like $100,000 or something.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Which was what your last tour was.. the risk right?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, yeah, I\u2019m not going to tell you exactly what we\u2019re going to lose. Considerably less then the POTENTIAL projection.(laughs)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

So what\u2019s your favorite and your least favorite thing about touring?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

My favourite part of the tour is actually the gig and the crowd. Because the concerts these day, without jinxing us, are so consistently good. And I mean the American audiences in March were just incredible. I don\u2019t think we really knew what to expect.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah, you could tell by the looks on your faces<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

They were fantastic crowds and some of them were ABSOLUTELY unbelievable. So yeah, how can you not bathe in the fabulous soaking up of all that love you get on stage?(laughs)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

So I would say that would be the most positive\u2026 I mean I like seeing places. The dilemma is that these American tours are so tight, so cut to the bone that there\u2019s very little time to see anything.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unless you do something like this where you come in early. Are you going to stay a little bit later when you guys get done? You finish in Mexico\u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, I\u2019m going to stay in Mexico for a couple of days and see if I can go do Aztec Pyramids for a few days.<\/span><\/p>\n

Be careful! Cause that\u2019s the reason I\u2019m not going, everyone kept saying it\u2019s so dangerous and\u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, but I think that\u2019s more kind of along the borders where you\u2019ve got the drug wars and things. Eh, maybe I\u2019ll just be locked in my hotel room for two days wishing I\u2019d gone home early. And the down side I think it\u2019s just the tiredness. Malcolm and I were SO tired on that American tour. But you know, we hadn\u2019t slept on buses before. We hadn\u2019t flown in and taken on a tour where we were jet lagged like the day after we landed kind of thing so, that\u2019s why we\u2019re here a bit earlier. But that\u2019s not really a big downside\u2026 I just worry, as a singer, I\u2019m always worried about my voice. So I can\u2019t party, which is not a bad thing at my age. I can\u2019t party, I can\u2019t stay up late. I literally, I get on the bus, have a jack and coke, a sleeping pill, jump in my bunk with my iPad and pass out and that\u2019s it. No staying up late, no rowdy late nights, just bed. Really boring\u00a0(laughs)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

If that\u2019s what it takes\u00a0(laughs)<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

(laughs)<\/span><\/em>\u00a0But that\u2019s what it takes. You know you\u2019ve got to prioritize. I need 90 minutes of energy on stage and the rest of the time I\u2019m just a vegetable.\u00a0(laughs)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

We were talking about the reviews of your shows, how do you think the American press treats you guys like now versus in the 80\u2032s? Because you got a lot of good reviews from the tour which was encouraging but are they nicer to you this time around for a lack of a better way of saying it?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The general press attitude towards us is generally more positive than it used to be. I mean we do seem to be seen as this sort of, you know, iconic influential group that has stood the test of time now which is considerably more positive than some of the things we used to get. So that\u2019s part of it but I think also aligned with that is the fact that so many of the American reviews were written by people who had either seen us 25 years ago or never seen us and didn\u2019t know what to expect and this pleasant surprise and shock that like \u201cHoly shit, they kick ass on stage!\u201d.\u00a0(laughs)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just a bunch of old men going through the motions. And I think that generally was really nice to see. Just every single review was like \u201cOh my God, they\u2019re so full of energy, the songs are great, they play them just like the record, there\u2019s such a huge interaction between the band and the audience\u201d. So yeah I would probably say that the general press view of us is more positive than ever before really.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s cool!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah, I mean, when we first came over to the States, there was a real attitude cause a lot of the press was very kind of traditional rock press in America. And their attitude was that \u201cOh it\u2019s you know, faggot synth music we\u2019re gonna be glued to now\u201d\u2026\u2026and not real rock and roll. There was a lot of resistance.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well even when I was growing up, we had to go to import stores to find you guys. I mean you were pretty much considered \u201cunderground\u201d or \u201ccollege\u201d radio and I was young, I was 11 years old when I heard you so I didn\u2019t have that ability. But was it frustrating for you guys to come over here and be seen like that? I mean in the 80\u2032s over in Europe and UK, you had Architecture and Morality, had all those hits and stuff so you guys were playing a lot bigger\u2026<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Yeah, it was very frustrating! It was very frustrating to be selling out big theatres in Europe, having hits and then coming over here and being in little shitty clubs and having to start all over again. It was very frustrating. We weren\u2019t helped by the fact that Virgin gave our license away in sort of block booking: \u201cHere take XTC, Japan and OMD and see what you can do\u201d. And the first label we were on over here, were just hopeless. Their idea of releasing an OMD record was hide it under the carpet. We were totally wasting our time. Basically it wasn\u2019t until we got on A&M with the\u00a0Junk Culture\"\"\u00a0album that things started to improve. It just felt like we kind of wasted all those first four albums. But there\u2019s people who were literally finding us on college radio or going to import stores and it was nice to see that when we came back here, there were people who remembered the early stuff, not just\u00a0Crush\"\"\u00a0and\u00a0Pacific Age\"\".<\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah, I had a friend who was like \u201cOh,\u00a0Enola Gay\"\"\u201d and I was like \u201cREALLY? you know\u00a0Enola Gay\"\"?\u201d\u00a0(laughs)<\/em>\u00a0It\u2019s like how\u2019d that happen? What about airplay? Cause you have Bright Antenna now, are they a subsidiary of 100%?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

No no, they\u2019re a small label out of the bay area.<\/span><\/p>\n

OK, so is anything going to be played?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

No, they\u2019re not going to get it. You see, they\u2019re a small label, they don\u2019t have a big budget for like radio pluggers and things like that. And radio\u2019s not going to play us. We have this problem in Europe as well though\u2026you know, apart from BBC Radio 2, we don\u2019t get radio play. Cause what tends to happen is you take a new song into a station and the Top 40 stations are like \u201cWell we don\u2019t play it, they\u2019re too old for our demographic\u201d and then the other stations that play more broad or retro stuff or older music go \u201cYeah OMD, yeah we love that stuff.. let\u2019s play\u00a0Maid Of Orleans\"\"\u00a0instead\u201d\u00a0(laughs)<\/em>\u00a0\u201cPlay the new one\u201d \u2026. no no, our listeners like the old stuff\u201d. So you\u2019re just falling down a hole.<\/span><\/p>\n

Damned if you do, damned if you don\u2019t.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

It just doesn\u2019t happen. We just have to accept that. I mean, when we made\u00a0History Of Modern\"\", we knew we were not going to get the sales, we knew we weren\u2019t going to get the radio play. We weren\u2019t making it because it was a career move in terms of thinking we were going to get a radio hit or it charted. And that\u2019s not how we judged it and I found it quite surprising that some people on the forum were like \u201cWell it hasn\u2019t charted very well or it hasn\u2019t done this\u201d and it\u2019s like, well, you know\u2026we weren\u2019t expecting it to. I mean the fact that it sold about 130,000 copies worldwide\u2026 for ME is like 4 times what I thought it would sell.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well and especially the way the market is now\u2026.I mean, growing up we had CDs and you would go to the store and buy something. Now people digital download. I don\u2019t even pay attention to what\u2019s on the top of the charts.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

No, I don\u2019t even know what\u2019s in the charts these days. We accepted that we weren\u2019t going to get radio play. It\u2019s frustrating because I think something like\u00a0History of Modern (Part I)\"\"or\u00a0Sister Marie Says\"\"\u00a0\u2026well you see how they go down live. People just treat them like they were hit singles. I think that had we HAD support, you know, a lot more people would have heard the songs and got into the band. We just have to accept that it is what it is.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What about\u00a0New Babies: New Toys\"\"? Cause I know that was used on America\u2019s Got Talent. Is anything happening?\u2026 I mean are you guys really going to release it? I know you made a video and\u2026.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Well it\u2019s been available as a download single but we just have to realize that we\u2019re going to be largely flying under the radar. We just hope that it\u2019ll grow a little bit. We\u2019re starting also, almost from scratch again because the band stopped, you know? It\u2019s not like the Pet Shop Boys or Depeche Mode who carried on and retained a residual live audience and sort of fanbase. Ours went down really low so we have to kind of rebuild it from scratch.<\/span><\/p>\n

Except now you\u2019re getting all the young ones too.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

That was VERY noticeable on the last American tour. It wasn\u2019t just the 40-somethings, there were a lot of younger people who had obviously picked up on what contemporary bands have said about us or they\u2019d done their research or they\u2019d heard about us and so it\u2019s interesting how the music industry works. I mean if I\u2019d been 20 years old, I wouldn\u2019t have gone to see a band who were a bunch of 50 year-olds who were my parents era.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now do you notice a difference? Cause I\u2019ve seen the crowd, like you were saying, the American one, I had young kids standing behind me. Do you notice a difference between the American crowd demographics vs. UK and Europe?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s more young people in America.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

You\u2019re going to be playing repeat cities so how did you guys decide what songs were going to be on your set list?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

We haven\u2019t yet\u2026 we\u2019re going to argue about it tomorrow. Two things will be in the set in every city that we didn\u2019t do in March. We\u2019re going to start with\u00a0Dazzle Ships (Parts II, III And VII)\"\"\u00a0as opposed to\u00a0History of Modern (Part III & IV)\"\"\u00a0and we\u2019re going to play\u00a0Statues\"\"\u00a0instead of\u00a0New Holy Ground\"\".<\/span><\/p>\n

I mean, there\u2019s four others that we will be putting in. One of them might also go in some of the others as well. Then we\u2019re going to have to work out what we\u2019re going to take out. That\u2019s the big issue. Are we going to take out\u00a0Radio Waves\"\", are we going to take out maybe\u00a0Dreaming\"\"\u00a0or\u00a0Seven Seas\"\"\u2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

You had taken\u00a0Talking Loud And Clear\"\"\u00a0I know before. Like you had\u00a0Pandora\u2019s Box\"\"and then you bumped\u00a0Pandora\u2019s Box\"\"\u00a0and brought\u00a0Talking Loud And Clear\"\"\u00a0out so I was wondering if that was one of the ones you\u2019re going to bump since you already bumped it technically.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah, yeah, I don\u2019t know. I was negotiating with Malcolm at the Thai restaurant we were eating in last night going \u201cHow about we do 3 tracks as an encore instead of two? We can get one in there\u201d. Beause we\u2019re so used to a set flowing, you\u2019ve worked it out and then you start pulling things out and putting things in, it\u2019s like\u2026Pandora\u2019s Box\"\"\u00a0\u2013 I mean we intended to play it, we just felt it didn\u2019t really go down well in Toronto.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I love them all so I was just getting into the moment but I didn\u2019t really notice. I thought surprisingly NY was one of the, at least from where I was standing, maybe it was different for you guys but where I was standing the crowd was not\u2026<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s NY.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah, but I noticed like\u00a0New Holy Ground\"\"\u00a0didn\u2019t go over so well. I didn\u2019t see anything in Toronto that stuck out as not so great.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Well we got offered Terminal 5 again and we chose not to play it. That\u2019s why we\u2019re doing the two Irving Plaza smaller venues.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was going to say, it looks smaller than Terminal 5<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Oh it is much smaller, it\u2019s like less than half the size. But also it\u2019s safe. We didn\u2019t want to take on Terminal 5 and not sell it out this time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah cause if you have a smaller one that you don\u2019t sell out, at least you can\u2019t really tell if there\u2019s just like a section in the back.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s one of the good things about standing venues. If you get 50 or 60% sometimes still looks full cause people just spread out a bit more.\u00a0(laughs)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Well, and how far can you see out? I mean with the lights and stuff.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s totally dependent upon the venue. Usually depends on if there is a spotlight. If the spotlight is low\u2026 if the spotlight is low I\u2019m blinded\u2026 it\u2019s like oncoming headlights on a car.<\/span><\/p>\n

When we were at Covenant he kept asking the guy to turn the lights down. Have you ever had to do that?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

No\u2026I mean I\u2019ve sometimes asked Andrew Little to turn the lights up on the audience so I can see them. We can see the audience from time to time but generally you tend to find that it\u2019s only the first few rows you can see clearly all the time and the rest of the time you can\u2019t see past sort of the fourth or fifth row, you\u2019ve just got a light in your eye and it\u2019s dark out there.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was reading an article and they had asked if you had any regrets in your career and you mentioned\u00a0Dazzle Ships\"\"\u00a0as a possible one. So I\u2019m just curious, if you could go back and do it differently would you?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

No I wouldn\u2019t do\u00a0Dazzle Ships\"\"\u00a0differently actually. I think we had to do it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah, I was thinking maybe it helped you get where you are.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I would probably do\u00a0Crush\"\"\u00a0and\u00a0Pacific Age\"\"differently. I think in particular\u00a0Pacific Age\"\". There\u2019s tracks on there that had we had more time, we would have had better ones. And\u00a0Liberator\"\"\u00a0as well. I kind of messed up\u00a0Liberator\"\". And it\u2019s simple, you know, it always comes down to the same problem, not giving ourselves enough time to get it right.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dazzle Ships\"\"\u00a0you had a lot of time though, was it more you were experimenting?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Dazzle Ships\"\"\u00a0was just a bit of a block really. You have to understand that we, as kids\u2026 music had become like our be all and end all. It was like our holy grail and somehow we had it fixed in our heads that we were going to change the world with our music. Now, in hindsight, quite how we were going to change the world I don\u2019t know but it was that important anyway.<\/span><\/p>\n

So when you find that you\u2019ve sold millions of records and you\u2019ve done everything you\u2019ve wanted, you suddenly realize that, well\u2026. you know what\u2026. it\u2019s one of those things like sometimes when your dreams come true you turn around and go \u201cOK well, that hasn\u2019t transposed my life. I don\u2019t feel suddenly better or different so\u2026\u201d. All of your preconceptions that you\u2019d created for yourself are sort of thrown on the floor and you\u2019ve got to pick them all up and rebuild your whole mental framework again. And that\u2019s kind of what happened with\u00a0Architecture & Morality\"\". Strangely, the success of\u00a0Architecture & Morality\"\"\u00a0detonated certainly my mental frame work. And we were ABSOLUTELY adamant we weren\u2019t going to do\u00a0Architecture & Morality\"\"\u00a0part two.<\/span><\/p>\n

Which would make sense, you wouldn\u2019t want to.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The record company would have liked us to have carried on doing that.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, yeah, of course they would.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But, yeah, we struggled to get a grip on what we should do with DS and that\u2019s probably why it was a lot more overtly political, it was a lot more stripped down. I was talking to Malcolm last night about the new album and he was really excited about some of the ideas but he\u2019s like \u201cyeah but you know, you don\u2019t want to do what you did on\u00a0Dazzle Ships\"\"\u00a0and just leave it like all the bare bones\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

And I think\u00a0Dazzle Ships\"\".. I mean, I heard it when in America\u00a0Crush\"\"\u00a0andPacific Age\"\"\u00a0were big cause it took us forever, it took 5 years to find it because we couldn\u2019t find your stuff. So I remember popping it on and it started and I was like \u201c\u2026what language is that? What is that?\u201d and then it went to\u00a0Genetic Engineering\"\"\u00a0which I\u2019d already known and then it went into\u00a0ABC Auto-Industry\"\"\u00a0and I\u2019m like \u201cwhat the?\u201d and it was like this ping pong, but I loved it. I thought it was one of the most creative, imaginative\u2026.and for me to hear it when you guys were \u201cmainstream\u201d I think is probably just as stark as someone else hearing it for the first time after\u00a0Architecture & Morality\"\"\u00a0which I hadn\u2019t even heard at that point.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s interesting though. You have to put a little bit of energy into digesting\u00a0Dazzle Ships\"\"\u00a0I think if you\u2019re not used to it. But subsequently, if you sort of had gone into\u00a0Crush\"\"\u00a0andPacific Age\"\"\u00a0and then you went back to discover\u00a0Architecture & Morality\"\", there\u2019s some pretty weird shit on that album as well. I mean apart from the three singles and\u00a0She\u2019s Leaving\"\", the rest of it is quite\u2026.odd.<\/span><\/p>\n

And that\u2019s how I saw\u00a0Dazzle Ships\"\". You\u2019ve got\u00a0Telegraph\"\",\u00a0Genetic Engineering\"\"\u00a0but then you have all these weird things but they were different. The ideas that you\u2026I mean did you\u2026<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Well I\u2019m very pleased with those ideas. It might have been a bit of a career wrecker at the time, but in hindsight you listen to it now and it\u2019s coming up not far off 30 years old now. You listen to it now and you think it STILL sounds quite radical. The same way that I was listening to\u00a0Radio-Activity\"\"\u00a0by Kraftwerk the other day and I was thinking \u201cThis stuff would still be experimental. This stuff would still make people scratch their heads\u201d but it\u2019s wonderful. But anyways, we\u2019ve got a load of interesting, new, inspirational music that we\u2019re digesting.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yes! I was going to talk to you about that.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve only skimmed the surface with the stuff I\u2019ve put up on the website to listen to. There\u2019s a whole new load of stuff in there that is going to freak people out.<\/span><\/p>\n

You mean your playlist?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

yeah, yeah<\/span><\/p>\n

OK, I saw the goth\/industrial and I just didn\u2019t have time to comment but when I saw that I was like \u201cWow, I\u2019m proud of you. You go Mr. M. that\u2019s awesome!\u201d You\u2019re branching out, that\u2019s good.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Our mantra for English Electric is quite simple\u2026 it\u2019s what does the future sound like? It\u2019s one thing to do\u00a0History Of Modern\"\"\u00a0where we relied on our own sound and our own history and we just modernized our own sound for the new millennium. The songs were great songs but we have this constant nagging dilemma\u2026we were a band that was trying to be the future. That was part of our ethos, that was part of our appeal to a lot of people when they first got interested. They were great tunes. They liked the lyrics, they liked the melodies.. they liked some of the melancholy emotion in the lyrics and everything, but they also liked the fact that we were quite challenging and it was kind of like pushing the envelope. And THAT still remains an issue for us, that we feel like we should be trying to do that. And there\u2019s been sections of our career where maybe we lost the plot and we weren\u2019t, but now we can clearly see what\u2019s going on. That we have this need to try to do something that is, if we can, going to go forward.<\/span><\/p>\n

But we\u2019re not going to do something that\u2019s just experimental for it\u2019s own sake. This is something that we definitely feel now that we\u2019ve grown up is that there\u2019s no point of doing something that\u2019s just \u201cHere\u2019s an idea, what do you think?\u201d. lt\u2019s like, OK I\u2019ve got the idea and now it sounds shit so I\u2019m not going to listen to it more than once. That\u2019s one of the dilemmas with experimental music is that if it\u2019s just a theory expressed as a piece of music then it doesn\u2019t bear repeated listening because you don\u2019t get anything from it other than just the conception, sort of a theme. So it\u2019s important to TRY to push, but to do it in a way that is essentially musical, that bears repetition, that has a lyric or a melody or something that you want to hear again. That\u2019s why I think English Electric is going to take a little bit of time. Because there will probably be a lot of experiments that go \u201cOK well that works but it\u2019s not working with this piece of music, we don\u2019t want to listen to that again\u201d. So it\u2019s just trying to pull in all of this kind of gothic and industrial and even MORE than that. Have you heard of a style of music called Glitch? This is really going to be the basis of the next album. Essentially, it\u2019s music made out of pieces that are not musical basically. All the noises that used to be called interference or distortion or damage, people now make music out of these like clicks and bops and bangs and buzzes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Is it from a certain part of the country? Is it European?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

No, it\u2019s a lot of German stuff so bands like Atom TM, Harmonic 313\u2026.I actually put up a track I think by Harmonic 313 on my playlist. It\u2019s taking that kind of rudimentary, simple building blocks, not in the same way that we tried to use synthesizers to not be traditional rock and roll instruments. Well synthesizers are now traditional instruments, and choirs and string pads. And so it\u2019s \u2018can we find a whole new palate to create a new sound?. It\u2019s tightrope walking. It\u2019s going to be a seriously difficult balancing act. But we have to try and do it.<\/span><\/p>\n

So when you were finding these things that you were posting on the forum, were you literally just\u2026.like sometimes I\u2019ll type in something off of YouTube and then on the side it\u2019ll give you all these different\u2026<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s exactly how you do it. You\u2019re just following the lead. And then you end up on this safari where you\u2019ve come fifty clicks away from where you started.<\/span><\/p>\n

(laughs)<\/em>\u00a0you\u2019ve forgotten where you started.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

How did I end up here, you know? And it\u2019s the same on iTunes as well\u2026 people who\u2019ve bought this bought that so you just keep clicking and a new list comes up, a new list comes up and you just find things. I mean that\u2019s a classic example of how the internet is a remarkable kind of learning tool. You don\u2019t have to wait to read it or play it on the local station or somebody recommends it to you. Or going to the import store and pulling something out and going \u201cI\u2019ve never heard of this but I like the cover. I wonder what it sounds like\u201d which I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve done before\u00a0(laughs)<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Or like \u201cThat looks good and it\u2019s only $2. Yup, I\u2019ve got it\u201d.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah so that\u2019s a whole new way of discovering things.<\/span><\/p>\n

Looking back, what would you say is the biggest change in you? In terms of either performance or how you look at things now.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I can only speak for myself. I\u2019m considerably less uptight and intense and precious.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s good<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

I was quite a quite an intense, difficult shit when I was younger. I was hard work. But if I had not been like that, the music wouldn\u2019t have been the way it was. I was very driven. The music is still important to me but I\u2019ve got a realistic handle on life now.I\u2019ve grown up, I got married, I have kids, my father died. But it\u2019s all the things in the real world that add up to a much more wider and much more fulfilling life than just having your blinkers on, you know, \u201cI\u2019m going to make music that\u2019s gonna change the world!\u201d. And so I\u2019ve mellowed and that helps.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well you were so young when it started too, that\u2019s kind of all you had. And then you had that break when OMD wasn\u2019t performing\u2026 did that kind of help you expand?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Well, I mean it was good in a sense that I saw some other angles of the music industry. I had to think differently about music. I learned programming and production techniques that I wouldn\u2019t have learned had I just sort of wandered away. So everything you do in life you should learn from and I did.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cool<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

How did we get here? Yeah we were talking about things that we wished\u2026no no\u00a0Dazzle Ships<\/span>\"\"! Let\u2019s go back to this\u2026\u00a0Dazzle Ships<\/span>\"\"\u00a0I\u2019m glad we did. The biggest mistakes we made were all the mid to late 80s stuff. The long tours in America, the getting sick to death of each other\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Those two albums sound like they were kinda your black sheep almost.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah and I think Americans, they\u2019re kind of a bit depressed about what we say about them because they were the big American albums.<\/span><\/p>\n

I think if anything, it was more sad to know that, the whole \u201cAmerica broke us\u201d. I know that those two albums were so hard for you guys, the touring and trying to break through to radio thing, I don\u2019t get so bummed out that you don\u2019t like the albums so much that\u2026<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s soul destroying. I mean, in some respects this is why I\u2019m not worried about not getting radio play. I will do interviews but really it ground the love and the life out of us. Whoring ourselves around America month after month going to W\u2026KRAP and whatever\u2026. all these stations where they don\u2019t give a shit about you, you don\u2019t give a shit about them but you\u2019ve got to shake their hand and smile and brown-nose them and move onto the next one and in the end you just feel shallow and horrible and shit and you\u2019re tired. And you realize that without even noticing it several years down the line that you\u2019ve turned into the type of band that you\u2019d be horrified at the thought of when you were 19 years-old. And that really the business has taken over from the music. It was wrong all the way around<\/span><\/p>\n

Were we like the main market so to speak to break or did you have a lot of trouble in Europe too?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

That was where the money was. And we had American management. We\u2019d been so frustrated that we hadn\u2019t done well in America in the early 80s that when the opportunity arose, that things were starting to go well, 3 month tours around America, SUPPORTING other bands, losing money\u2026 losing HUNDREDS of thousands of dollars so the record sales just got eaten up in the tour losses. Cause we didn\u2019t have a very good handle on the business. We were just being in a band, someone else was looking after the accounts \u2013 or not as the case may be. So yeah it just kind of ground the love out of us really..<\/span><\/p>\n

It pretty much became more of just a job. Get up and do it and you didn\u2019t, you couldn\u2019t enjoy it.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah, yeah it was really. And we got really tired, fed up and I think that THAT would be my greatest regret is that we allowed that to happen.<\/span><\/p>\n

So if you could go back, how would you change that? Would you just put your foot down and say \u201cLook, we\u2019re not doing this. We\u2019re going to look out for ourselves\u201d?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Well, you know what, we could have put our foot down. I think it\u2019s just\u2026if we had a management or a label that had just been a little bit more long term and just said \u201cguys, OK you know we\u2019d like the album before Christmas but you know what\u2026 if you need another 4 months or 6 months just go home, chill out, recharge your batteries\u201d. I\u2019ve used the analogy before that we were just constantly going back to the well and the well was empty. There hadn\u2019t been enough time for it to fill up. It\u2019s like what I\u2019m doing now. I mean I\u2019m not writing at the moment, I\u2019m collecting, accumulating ideas and influences. You\u2019ve got to stock up on all this stuff. And then when you\u2019ve got all the raw material floating in your head or in your notes or on your lap top then you can start to play with it and see what comes out. When you just go back in the studio\u2026 I mean we were rehearsingDreaming<\/span>\"\"\u00a0last year and I said to Paul I said \u201cThe music\u2019s alright in this song, but the lyrics are shit\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

(Laughs)<\/em>\u00a0I read you said that in an interview but you didn\u2019t say which song and I thought \u201cit\u2019s gotta be\u00a0Dreaming<\/span>\"\"\u201c.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

So embarrassed, so embarrassed about the lyrics, cause I had nothing left to say. We had to write a song and I had nothing I wanted to say\u00a0(Laughs)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

So in 2005 when you guys got back together and did the German gig, Martin wasn\u2019t with you for that one right?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019d booked into going camping with his kids. He couldn\u2019t get out of it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you think if you hadn\u2019t said yes to that one, would OMD have still gotten together eventually or\u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to know. I mean obviously that was a catalyst. It was the first time that certainly Malcolm and Paul and I had been together doing something under the name OMD for 16 years or something. We had a great time and we were with Stewart Kershaw who was great, he was there as well cause Martin couldn\u2019t be there.<\/span><\/p>\n

I can remember we sat at the bar in Cologne and I just said \u201cRight guys now listen. Look at this picture here, we\u2019ve been here for two days and somebody else has paid for our airfare, and somebody else has paid for our hotel, and we\u2019re sitting here drinking beer and yesterday we did six minutes work and today we\u2019ve done 3 minutes work. Would you like to do this again for a living?\u201d\u00a0(Laughs)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

(Laughs)<\/em>\u00a0So is that why you said yes, because everything was paid for? Compared to like some of the other stuff that you got offered\u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Nah, it just made you realize what a great life it is you know? But we have to balance it. Particularly because Martin\u2019s wife works, his kids are still young. So we have to balance taking Martin away from his family and letting him spend time with them. The rest of us are a lot more flexible so\u2026.yeah that also has to be born in mind.<\/span><\/p>\n

So you guys hadn\u2019t really talked. If you hadn\u2019t done that gig it wasn\u2019t something that you were already kind of tossing about in your head?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

No, no it wasn\u2019t.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was that gig that did it.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

That was the thing where we just thought \u201cAh, this is fun\u201d. Beause we hadn\u2019t really spent much time with each other. We\u2019d gone our separate ways and that was it. And then Paul and Malcolm and Martin sort of had a falling out with each other over Telegraph Records and so everybody just sort of atomized into different directions. So yeah\u2026enough water under the bridge, and we all got back together and we remembered why we all liked each other and off we went.<\/span><\/p>\n

(Laughs)<\/em>\u00a0Good ol\u2019 German TV show! So this may have been asked at some point, it\u2019s kind of a silly question but I\u2019m just curious to get the nitty gritty. Who came up with the idea to actually do a new album after you guys had done the 2007 Architecture & Morality tour and\u00a0Messages<\/span>\"\"\u00a0and stuff,? It sounded like it was a natural progression but was there something where like you called up Paul or you guys were over dinner\u2026.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I think it was my idea but it did seem like a natural progression. But also again it was a dangerous thing to do because there\u2019s a lot of bands of our generation who\u2019d reformed and\u2026.I hated doing interviews where everybody\u2019s going \u201cOh, yeah, you know all you guys are all getting back together again now\u201d. And I\u2019m like \u201cWell, no, I\u2019m not back together again with Spandau Ballet or The Police\u201d or it\u2019s like we\u2019re not doing it for our pension fund or cause we have nothing else to do. We\u2019re doing this because we really wanna do it. And obviously making a new record gives it a certain veneer of being contemporary and relevant. Which not having a new record\u2026 because after we did a couple of tours we were like \u201cAre we just gonna keep playing the old stuff? Is this just always going to be a nostalgia tour?\u201d But the problem is, and ALL bands think this, we need a new record to make us seem relevant and contemporary. The problem is they\u2019ve got absolutely no f*cking ideas. They\u2019ve got nothing to say. They\u2019re just doing it because they think they need to make a new record, so that they\u2019ve got something new to hang their tour on. And that was the big issue for me. I think all of us wanted to make a new record but it was really important not to make a bad record. Not least because we would then undermine all the good work we\u2019d just done previously with touring again and everybody talking about how great you are and how wonderful\u2026 if we then capped our career with a piece of shit\u00a0(Laughs)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

There are bands who are our contemporaries who\u2019ve made records recently and quite frankly, they just shouldn\u2019t have been allowed in the studio. They should have stopped themselves cause they didn\u2019t have any good ideas, they didn\u2019t have any good songs. They had nothing to say, nothing of interest. They\u2019re just doing it because they think they need a new record. If they could only transport themselves BACK to when they were 18 years old and remember why they wanted to make music THEN and try and recapture some of that energy and desire. They weren\u2019t touching back on that. And I said to Paul: \u201cIF we can get some good songs, some great ideas then we\u2019ll think about making a record\u201d. And it was only when we started to accumulate things and it was like, yeah you know it\u2019s really exciting writing songs about the end of the universe.<\/span><\/p>\n

So did you send him something first or did he send you something first?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

He sent me stuff because of this geographical issue of him in London and me in Liverpool. We thought right, let\u2019s be terribly modern and we\u2019ll just ping things up and down the internet.<\/span><\/p>\n

Couldn\u2019t you have just taken a train? I mean from London to Liverpool is not that bad.\u00a0(Laughs)<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Well the thing is\u2026 how can I put this diplomatically? Paul is often very \u201cbusy\u201d.\u00a0(Laughs)<\/em>Just trying to nail Paul down is quite hard so he would send things to me and then I would work on them and send them back to him. But it was just so slow, SO slow. So it wasn\u2019t until we really got into the studio together, when I insisted he come up. In fact, it was Claudia. I was just bitching to her one day about \u201cPaul is SO slow. He\u2019s always doing this or doing that\u201d and she just said \u201cYeah well how long have you known him? You\u2019ve just gotta tell him. Put it in the diary: \u2018You are coming to Liverpool TODAY for a week. No escape, no excuse.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

(Laughs)<\/em>\u00a0Have them put it in their calendar book or whatever.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, so that\u2019s on Claudia\u2019s suggestion, I started insisting he came to Liverpool and that\u2019s when we started to really work.<\/span><\/p>\n

So\u00a0History Of Modern<\/span>\"\", when you guys put it out you said you had wanted to make an album, like you said, you\u2019re saying it in your own words and your own language but you didn\u2019t have a record label when you first started making it correct?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah<\/span><\/p>\n

So it was all just on you guys. So when you had the 13 songs, did you start shopping it around? Was there somebody that you already knew that you could go to?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

There were a few people we knew at labels who were interested. But it became quite obvious quite quickly that the major labels weren\u2019t gonna put\u2026 Their attitude was \u201cOK, so OMD, let\u2019s all sit down. What do we reckon they\u2019ll sell? Worldwide they\u2019ll probably sell, eh, 40,000. OK, right so we will give them an advance of 10,000 pounds, we\u2019ll get that back, we\u2019ll do no promotion, we\u2019ll do no radio work and we\u2019ll just put it out there and we\u2019ll get our money back and that will be our predict\u201d. And I just thought, I don\u2019t wanna go through labels like that who just aren\u2019t interested in it. Who just see it as bottom line that we\u2019ll sell this, we won\u2019t spend any money on X, Y and Z.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you think they would have gotten that money back?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah they would have because they wouldn\u2019t have spent any money. I mean 40,000 people would have found that album and bought it out of curiosity with no money being spent on the promotion and that\u2019s what they would have done. They wouldn\u2019t have done any promotion. We were just very fortunate that we know Mirelle Davis.<\/span><\/p>\n

She\u2019s part of the Barmy Army originally wasn\u2019t she?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

She was yeah. I went to Mirelle and I said \u201cYou are the best person in England, possibly the world, at independent international marketing and licensing deals. Here\u2019s our new album\u00a0(Laughs)<\/em>\u00a0So we gave her the record and she thought it was a great record and she just started calling people. And so we ended up with 13 different distribution deals around the world from people who wanted it, who were going to put a little bit of effort in.<\/span><\/p>\n

She got a lot of people interested. But the whole thing essentially has been self funded. We had to pay for a lot of the stuff and we used 100% as our kind of mother label. We did a deal with them where they would put up the money for manufacturing and artwork and stuff, and videos and we\u2019d lock in and we\u2019d do a deal\u2026. but see the great thing is, in the old days, you sold a record and if it sold for like $10, you\u2019d get $1. Whereas now if it sells for $10, you get $4 or $5. So we don\u2019t sell as many but because of the licensing and distribution deals, you get a much higher return. YOU bare the burden of the possibility of having to pay the costs which the label used to do but similarly you get more money back if you sell.<\/span><\/p>\n

So you take the risk and then hope that it works out.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Exactly, you have the potential risk but also you can do better.<\/span><\/p>\n

Has it paid back for you guys?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah! I mean listen, it\u2019s made a bit of money. To me, it didn\u2019t matter that it made any money. Again, it was like touring\u2026 do we want to do it, did we believe in it. So 130,000-140,000 people have bought an album that wouldn\u2019t have existed had we not taken a chance on it. We are in the fortunate position that we have a fan base, we have a history. It\u2019s not like trying to be a new band getting and doing this yourself. We knew that there would be a certain number. We just thought listen, if Virgin Records or Universal think there\u2019s 40,000 people out there who will buy it, then let\u2019s get those 40,000 people ourselves and do it ourselves. F*ck the major labels\u00a0(Laughs)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

So this whole risk taking with the album and with the touring\u2026. did you have to run it? And \u2013 this is kind of personal, you don\u2019t have to answer it if you don\u2019t want to \u2013 but run it past the families? I mean, cause that would be a big money risk for you guys. Your wife must be pretty understanding. She\u2019s a fan right?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

To a degree. But she knew that that was what I wanted to do. And she\u2019d seen that I was much happier being in Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark than I had been the previous 10 years in trying to develop other artists. So I think she understood that it was\u2026. I don\u2019t think she thought I was going to lose money. I\u2019ve done plenty of other stuff that\u2019s lost money. Trying to develop a band called The Genie Queen lost me a shit load of money.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah, I don\u2019t really see too much, I mean you hear everything about Atomic Kitten and you don\u2019t see too much\u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Well The Genie Queen never got a release. The girl who put it together, the lead singer, decided there was a better living to be made out of f*cking a football player and she was right\u00a0(Laughs)<\/em>\u00a0She\u2019s now a model and he makes $100,000 a week playing football and she makes several hundred thousand a year just by wearing a bikini for a photoshoot every couple of months, so nice work if you can get it. She\u2019d seen how hard work it was in the music industry so she chose to abandon it so, there you go. Cost me a fortune trying to make her famous and I failed.<\/span><\/p>\n

S<\/span>o English Electric, obviously it\u2019s going to be the same thing as\u00a0History Of Modern<\/span>\"\"\u2026you guys will put it out when you feel you\u2019re ready. There\u2019s no contract so to speak\u2026.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve got a target.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s what I was going to ask you. Do you have something in mind?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, yeah, I\u2019ll tell you\u2026but don\u2019t hold us to it. We would ideally like it for the spring of 2013<\/span><\/p>\n

I know last year at the beginning of the tour, you had come out and said that tour, America in the spring and then some summer festivals you were going to take like a 2-3 year break and it seems then the second American tour\u2026 you didn\u2019t really get a break.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019re not going to tour Europe or England or America next year. We may do festivals if we get good ones offered to us. We, tentatively have been offered South America and Australia and Singapore and the Philippines but if it doesn\u2019t happen, it doesn\u2019t happen. And they\u2019ll be very short tours so no, basically 2012 is going to be writing English Electric.<\/span><\/p>\n

Which is good because you guys had so much going on this year, your well is going to be dry!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Well this is what it\u2019s about exactly, giving ourselves time to get it done.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you feel more of a pressure? Because\u00a0History Of Modern<\/span>\"\"\u00a0kind of seemed like that was your way to get your feet wet. Do you feel more pressure, either from fans expecting English Electric to be all experimental Or is it more of an open book, like there is no boundary where\u00a0History Of Modern<\/span>\"\"\u00a0was more pressure?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Well, I think you kind of answered your own question Lori. I mean the thing is, in this sort of, well it\u2019s not even post-modern, it\u2019s now NEO post-modern era,\u00a0(Laughs)<\/em>\u00a0um, there\u2019s no tribal music anymore. There\u2019s no \u201cThis is in, this is out\u201d. A whole cultural circus is being atomized now. So, the bottom line is quite simply, whilst we keep saying to ourselves \u201cWhat is the future of music? What does music sound like in the future?\u201d. The reality is in a broader picture. As OMD we are going to try and stick to our mantra and see what we can do. But the reality is that in this kind of non-conformist, non-tribal, non-fashion music scene, music can be\u2026you know the future of music can quite frankly be anything you f*cking want it to be.\u00a0(Laughs)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

You don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to run another cycle like before?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, eh\u2026it will but I don\u2019t think that what we do will go completely out of fashion again. It\u2019s just that everything now is all up for grabs ya know. Because it\u2019s not linear anymore. It\u2019s not like \u201cThis replaces that, replaces this, replaces that.\u201d Now it\u2019s going round in swoops and swirls and remixes and everything, EVERYTHING\u2026 it\u2019s not just music I mean art, film, fashion, architecture. Every sort of creative exploit has now become self referential. There\u2019s almost nothing done totally new anymore. Everything\u2019s going round and round in circles so it can be anything. I mean these days it\u2019s almost like\u2026 being an artist is like \u201cWhy does that pile of dog shit on a silver platter with a spotlight on it..why is that art?\u201d \u201cBecause I\u2019m the artist and I said it is!\u201d\u00a0(Laughs)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

(Laughs)<\/em>\u00a0I mean I\u2019ve gone to museums and I\u2019m like \u201cUm, why does someone have that on their wall?\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Why is it art? Because the artist says it IS art. Full stop.<\/span><\/p>\n

And then you believe it\u00a0(Laughs)<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s it exactly. So ya know, what is the future of music? Anything I f*cking say it is OK?(Laughs)<\/em>\u00a0Pardon my swearing, I\u2019m just trying to make the point.<\/span><\/p>\n

(Laughs)<\/em>\u00a0That\u2019s alright. You don\u2019t feel the pressure then? Like you don\u2019t feel like you have to go in a certain way?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes and no, I would like to come up with something that\u2026 if we could push the envelope a little bit it\u2019d be quite nice, but we\u2019ll see. But it\u2019s fun to have a challenge isn\u2019t it? Fun to have a goal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Is Paul going to sing another song on it? I have to ask you all English Electric questions now.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

yeah, I would like Paul to do some more singing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Does he have one yet that he feels he wants to do?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

He hasn\u2019t told me if he has yet. I mean Paul has spent this entire year, basically when he\u2019s not been playing with us, he\u2019s been mixing Claudia\u2019s live album. He\u2019s been really nailed down with that.<\/span><\/p>\n

You had mentioned Dresden and Final Song were a couple of your songs. Are you still working on Atomic Ranch?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Atomic Ranch Part 1 is finished<\/span><\/p>\n

Oooo! There\u2019s two parts?\u00a0(Laughs)<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Well see Atomic Ranch started as a lyric that I was writing for myself to sing and then I got this vox machine app on my laptop and I started putting the words into that and trying out different voices so I\u2019ve now got a vox machine version of it which is quite cool. It sounds quite good actually, it\u2019s all about the sort of utopia of the 50\u2019s that never quite arrived so that sort of \u2026. that sort of \u201845-\u201870 where everyone thought they were going to turn into George Jetson and the future would be great and the atomic power would solve all our problems and science would fix everything in medicine. This sort of utopian vision that everything was gonna be great and of course in reality, it didn\u2019t turn out that way. So Atomic Ranch is about that kind of utopian view. I mean I think the opening line is \u201cI want a house and a car and a robot wife, I want two kids, a yard and a perfect life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But now what\u2019s part two gonna be? Is it actually happening?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Well part two will be me singing the song with those words. So you\u2019ll get the robot version and my version. It\u2019s almost like a remix version. Because it starts out very positive. You\u2019ve heard the opening line which is \u201cI want a house and a car and a robot wife\u2019 and then I think the last line is probably \u201cThe future came down like an avalanche and it f*cked my house\u2026 it f*cked my life and my atomic ranch\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yep, I remember reading that and was like \u201cOK!\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

So it kind of closes itself up in a sort of self-fulfilling negative prophecy. We\u2019ve got another song called Our System, which utilizes a lot of noises from space probes. Voyager and stuff like that, so that\u2019s exciting. Dresden is half finished. There\u2019s also a couple of other bits and pieces like that. Final Song is finished.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is done? OK<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s our first completed song and it\u2019s BEAUTIFUL! And it will be the last song on the album<\/span><\/p>\n

Is it another New Holy Ground where it just grabs you and makes you want to cry?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not quite as sad as that. I think there\u2019ll be some good songs. It\u2019s not all going be just bleeps and noises. There\u2019s going to be some good songs \u2013 and there\u2019ll be some really exciting bleeps and noises on it.<\/span><\/p>\n

(chuckles) Is it too early to have Martin and Mal in? Have they come in at all and done anything with you guys?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Well no, I mean literally, Final Song just happened to get finished by accident. The rest of it, you know, everything is in its infancy and there will be contributions made along the way.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do they come in when it\u2019s pretty much done? Or do they put some stuff in even when you guys are only part way through the song?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

They weren\u2019t particularly, deeply involved in\u00a0History Of Modern<\/span>\"\". I would like them to be more involved in this one, if we can get them involved.<\/span><\/p>\n

I know\u00a0History Of Modern<\/span>\"\"\u00a0had songs that\u2019d maybe come from elsewhere either from your history or from some of the other ones\u2026 is that going to happen on English Electric?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Uh, well no because we\u2019ve kind of used up everything we had lying around so it\u2019s pretty much all going to be brand new material.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s cool. Anything aside from English Electric? If you had unlimited resources, unlimited time, is there any other project that you want to do?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, I would like to do another concert with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra<\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah, that was one of my questions, if we were going to get another one of those.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to do that, really like to do that.<\/span><\/p>\n

Weren\u2019t you originally looking at doing it this year?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, they offered us this year and I said no we\u2019re busy with the\u00a0History Of Modern<\/span>\"\"\u00a0stuff. We did tentatively talk about the possibility of next summer. That might be something to do in the summer, maybe just throw in a quick orchestral gig. I was SO nervous before that gig. I was SO far out of my comfort zone.<\/span><\/p>\n

Awww,<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019d done, you know playing with the band again and all four of us had gotten used to that, but that was so nerve wrecking. And I was mostly involved in the arrangements because all the arrangers lived up in Liverpool. And of course it had the Energy Suite as well. And Paul had to go to his daughters graduation 2 days before the concert and he arrived the day of the concert.<\/span><\/p>\n

So he had never played any of it before, like he\u2019d never played with the orchestra up to that point? Couldn\u2019t he have come like the week before or something and done something?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s so expensive to rehearse with an orchestra that you only rehearse the day before and the day of. So I was there the day before on my own. 75 people on stage who are all classically trained and I can\u2019t read or write music and I\u2019m just like \u201cWhat do you think?\u201d<\/span>
\nSo I was sort of saying to the arranger \u201cCan you tell them that I think that better go\u2026 OK so yeah D57 row\u2026. this should be a minus 7 third. Wait on, is that what I said? Minus 7 third diminish\u2026K whatever\u201d\u00a0(Laughs)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

(Laughs)<\/em>\u00a0\u201cAs long as it sounds the way I want it when it\u2019s done, that\u2019s all\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

yeah, so it was pretty nerve wrecking but it was such fun! And some of those songs just sounded SO good!<\/span><\/p>\n

I would have loved to have gone. I just couldn\u2019t come over, but if you guys do another one there\u2019s no way I would miss it.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

So I\u2019d like to do that and I would like to do another installation actually.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Like the Energy Suite?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Actually that\u2019s something else, we need to get the Energy Suite out. We need to get that released.<\/span><\/p>\n

And the no hits thing that you guys were talking about? Are you still thinking about that or\u2026that\u2019d be so much work for you.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It would be a HUGE amount of work. I mean there would be 2 or 3 months of programming, there would be probably 2 or 3 weeks of rehearsals because we\u2019d have to do everything from scratch. It would be a MAJOR undertaking. And I think as much as I\u2019m sure there is a certain number of people out there who would love to come to a no hits gig, I think if it was a trade off between that and English Electric, I think people would probably go for a new album.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well even you guys would probably\u2026 I mean I can\u2019t speak for you but if you had a choice, would you rather do your album?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah! But ya know what, it\u2019s nice. There\u2019s lots of possibilities on the horizon! So as long as we\u2019re still enjoying it and people still want us to play or do things, then we\u2019ll do it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Who would have thought in 2005 you\u2019d be doing all this!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Yep, not gonna make a load of money out of it but we\u2019re very fortunate that we have residual royalties that keep coming in.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well from a fan\u2019s stand point, hearing you guys say that it\u2019s not about the money and it\u2019s about your love of music and you wanting to do that type of stuff, I mean you can\u2019t ask for anything more than that. I think if anything, I think fans will be more appreciative because they\u2019ll know.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Well the main important thing is you strike the right balance. Because there\u2019s a lot of people who don\u2019t have to do something for the money but the trouble is that they then can be rather self indulgent. They just do it because, \u201cHey it\u2019s for me\u201d\u2026 and it\u2019s like \u201cYeah, well YOU listen to it then cause it\u2019s shit, I\u2019m not listening to it ya know?\u201d(Laughs)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Previously posted at<\/span>\u00a0omd-messages.co.uk<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark\u2019s founding members Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys have been making music together since the mid 70\u2032s. They were eventually enlarged to a quartet when Malcolm Holmes and Martin Cooper joined the team and together they broke the musical airwaves with their own unique blend of synth music that married the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":44,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2863","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/omdculture.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/omdculture.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/omdculture.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omdculture.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omdculture.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2863"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/omdculture.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2886,"href":"https:\/\/omdculture.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2863\/revisions\/2886"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omdculture.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/44"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/omdculture.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}