Interview: Erasure

Published on Friday 27 February 2009 19:45

'I WOULDN'T mind being vacuum-packed and hung up like a bit of meat in the next show," says Andy Bell, with a chirpiness that suggests this macabre fantasy of his might take place amid lashings of glitter.

After almost 25 years bringing the world some of synth-pop's sparkliest and catchiest numbers, Bell and his Erasure bandmate Vince Clarke – who this week release a career-spanning box set featuring 40 of their greatest hits (a really quite outrageous number of chart successes by any performer.

"Maybe it will be a bit more twisted," muses Bell.

He may cite Kurt Weill as an inspiration (he'd love to do something like The Threepenny Opera for Broadway), but it's hard to imagine the cherubic Bell, with his penchant for fancy dress and high campery, delving into the murky world of noir with any seriousness. But his bandmate Clarke, a man more renowned for up-beat tunesmanship than grim balladry, is also talking about a change of musical direction.

"For the next (album] we may make our music a little darker," he says. "That's a vibe we're discussing just now." The pair are planning to start work on a new recording this autumn. "Because the commercial record business is slowly dying, we don't always have to think about doing three-minute pop songs any more." So can we look forward to Erasure performing Nick Cave, as they move into this new, blacker era?

"Well… perhaps (something more] light-greyish," concedes Clarke, with a laugh.

They may be considering new avenues, but there's no questioning that their unmistakable brand of 1980s dancetasticness has served them well over the past two decades: Oh L'amour, Sometimes, Chains of Love, A Little Respect, Chorus, Love to Hate You, Take a Chance on Me, Always – the list of hits simply continued to grow.

With more than 150 songs written together and a partnership that's lasted almost a quarter of a century – still going strong – how do they maintain the creative magic between them?

The two men now live in different countries when they're not working on a project together: Bell with his partner Dave on the south coast of England; Clarke with his wife and three-year-old son across the Atlantic in Maine.

"I'm amazed we're still able to make music after all this time together – and that we still get along," says Clarke. "It's a wonderful life. I think the secret is that we both contribute equally, especially with the songwriting. If one person comes up with an idea and the other person doesn't like it then it's dropped instantly, with no fuss. We both have to be 100 per cent behind it."

Bell can't believe it's been this long. "We've been so busy, you don't really notice the time passing. But I'm really looking forward to getting together with Vince again.

"The secret is not to talk to them when you're not actually with them, so that when you see them it's like meeting all over again," he advises, frankly.

While in the early 1980s Clarke was already a big name in the music industry, with Depeche Mode and Yazoo behind him before he formed Erasure, Bell's rise to success and fame was firmly bound to the partnership. He'd been working part time in Debenhams and playing music with an unsigned band in London when he spotted in a music magazine his hero Vince Clarke's advertisement for a singer. "I wouldn't dare utter a word in front of this genius and it took me ages to acclimatise," he has said of their early recording sessions.

But now, at the age of 44, he's been exploring his individuality. "I am having a break for a year and half, finding out about myself and how to be out of Erasure… it's really nice," he says, although he admits "it's quite hard sometimes".

"I'm working on a solo project, which I've had a going on for a while. I've been living here on the south coast (in Hastings] for a year now. I don't miss London at all, and I don't miss going out.

"There are no gay clubs here, you have to go to Brighton for that, but we've quite a few musicians down here, lots of creative people."

Despite his carnal enthusiasm for butchery-inspired exhibitionism, Bell insists he's shy and prefers to spend his free time visiting friends rather than hedonistic club nights these days. He berates himself because he's "not good at housework" and feels he should read more.

"I'm not showbizzy in real life, though it seems like that when I'm performing. When I'm off stage, I'm off. I'm quite shy and so is Vince."

He puts the contrast between his private and personal life down to "a bit of schizophrenia in our family, but you get into the habit of separating things, too".

For Clarke, who many have wrongly assumed is gay because of Erasure's outrageously camp image, his separation takes the form of family life with his wife and son.

He's just had a studio built on the Maine property where they now live. Maine, lovely as it undoubtedly is, hardly offers the high-glam lifestyle many celebrities seek. It's an interesting choice of location.

"I love it here, I really do. We live in a fantastic neighbourhood and everyone's really, really friendly. I did live in New York for a couple of years, but that was too mad for me, I come from the suburbs (of Basildon in Essex, where he formed Depeche Mode and also Yazoo, with local girl Alison Moyet] so I'm at home here.

"I don't get back to Britain so much now. I have a three-year-old child and both my parents are dead. I have brothers and sisters (in Britain], but it's easier for them to come out here. I do miss my bacon sandwiches, though."

Yet for all this settling down, neither Bell nor Clarke have any intention to give up on the business of pop and are considering going on tour again next year.

"The only thing I wanted to be when I was a teenager was a trucker, so I think I've made the right decision," says Clarke, now 48. He says he would be happy to have his son follow him into the industry.

"Music's been a wonderful thing for me," says Clarke, who cites Scottish indie quartet Franz Ferdinand, with whom he's worked, as one of his current favourite bands.

"My son's only three, but he really likes playing music and I feel it's a real privilege to do something (for a living] that I love, so if he wanted to do that and got the same out of it then (I'd be happy about] that."

As for Bell, he has "absolutely no intention" of retiring from the band. "I love it!"

His search for identity away from Erasure has in no way quashed his enthusiasm for his partnership with Clarke. What has he discovered about himself?

"I feel that I've done that (taken some time] and being out there on stage is what I miss.

"I really don't mind my own company. I've been living with people for years, since I left home. I'd quite like to live by myself."

What does his partner Dave make of this? Bell admits they haven't really discussed it.

"It's quite good to be lonely. I was lonely when I was about 16 or 17 and it's a time for that again. It can be quite useful to be lonely."

To encourage creativity? "Yes, and self-realisation."

So it has been something of a spiritual journey?

"I can do grade-two Reiki now. It makes you believe in an angelic essence," he says, but he's anxious not to get "all hippy".

"I have to be careful. I can be quite gullible. People tell me things and I accept them as true. I've seen a couple of clairvoyants and they messed me up a bit. It's about following your instincts, I suppose." He's also taken up yoga.

"Dave is the PA for a woman who founded an organic chocolate brand and also sells bread on a market stall; I'm lucky because she has a health place where you can do yoga."

Chocolate and yoga? That sounds like a recipe for contentment. "I'll be getting fat," he laughs. That could be a bit of a problem for his cellophane-wrapped suspension plans. But as long as he and Clarke keep dancing to their energetic electro-pop beats, they should both be just fine.