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MUSIC INTERVIEW: Andy Bell, Erasure
Andy Bell, the amiable singer with Erasure, has something out of the ordinary in mind for his 46th birthday this weekend.
"I'm doing a home-made video for the next single," he confides. "I'm making it with a couple of friends of mine that did the I Love Saturday video (for Erasure]. We're going to have fun at home.
"There's no money for these things these days – unless you're mega."
The track, Call On Me, is a taster for Andy's second solo album, Non-Stop, a pithy, poppy 36-minute affair that's pitched as much at the dancefloor as daytime radio.
It's an attempt, the Peterborough-born singer admits, to show a different side to a listening public that knows him only for the string of electro-pop hits he made with Vince Clarke, formerly of Depeche Mode and Yazoo.
Despite sales of more than 20 million records, Andy's frustrated that Erasure are "branded an an 80s band".
"People think we stopped after Abba-esque (their No.1 EP of Abba covers] came out," he says.
Non-Stop, he hopes, will win over a contemporary audience.
"I had a couple of years off from Erasure around 2007," says Andy. "I said to Vince, 'It's been 21 years non-stop'. He was fine about it. I went off to find myself – and what do I do but write songs with other people? I can't stop myself."
The club scene is very much in his blood. "I've been doing remixes and DJ-ing and personal appearances. It's how I started – recording cassettes way back when. I wanted to show off that side and have a bit of fun doing it."
All the same, recording an album without his longtime musical partner was "quite strange", particularly "not having him around afterwards to promote it".
"He's in America these days, I don't see him that often. But I miss his camaraderie. We both have a dry humour and left-field views of the world."
The writing and recording of Non-Stop was very much a collaborative process with Belgian producer Pascal Gabriel, whose previous credits include records by Kylie Minogue and Little Boots.
Andy had begun the project with electro-pop producer Stephen Hague but ditched the recordings after his label boss Daniel Miller "thought it sounded like Erasure". He turned instead to producer Jon Collyer for assistance and, through him, "I got the gig with Pascal".
"He's a hard man to track down," says Andy. They wrote together at Pascal's house in France. "He would put up loops of basslines and grooves that he had going; I just sang over the top."
Many of the tracks on Non-Stop are love songs, but Touch takes aim at reality TV. "I have been invited twice to go on Celebrity Big Brother and to go in the jungle," admits Andy. "I don't think I could cope going on those things. The exposure would be nice but with my family... it's like a media blitz. It's like selling your soul to gossip magazines. It's hard to get your music out there but I would rather do it the hard way."
Elsewhere Andy pays tribute to his heroine Debbie Harry in DHDQ. "I love Madonna and Annie Lennox and Sinead O'Connor but there's no-one like her," he says.
Meeting the Blondie frontwoman in the flesh was "a magical experience", he adds. "To me that's one of the most beautiful things about doing music, getting to meet your idols like the B52s. It's like an affirmation."
There's also a surprise duet with alternative rocker Perry Farrell, of Jane's Addiction, in Honey If You Love Him. Perry, it turns out, is a huge fan of Andy's voice. When the pair eventually hooked up in Los Angeles, he presented Andy with a song he had written for a friend who was a fashion designer.
"He's a really lovely man," Andy enthuses. "He was telling me how to sing and mean all the words, rather than my histrionic Erasure way."
Aside from music, the past few years have had their ups and downs for Andy. In 2004 he publicly admitted he was HIV+, then in 2007 he underwent a double hip replacement after avascular necrosis dried the blood supply to his bones.
Of HIV, he says, "it's a bit of a drag", but, he adds firmly, "I won't have anybody slag the NHS down".
Before he can tour Andy has to undergo a medical and he travels with "my stockpile of pills". He's never had problems at Customs and only missed a handful of shows because he'd picked up a cold from one of the roadcrew.
After being trussed up in a corset at one stage, the hip replacements have given him his freedom again. "If it's good enough for Liza Minelli, it's good enough for me," he quips.
This year is Andy's 25th in the music business. He feels "really grateful and really privileged to be doing something (he] loves doing", "amazed at how far we have come with gay rights" and proud that "we've managed to maintain our integrity throughout the whole thing – also that's there still some interest there; we sell out shows in America even though we don't get on mainstream radio".
On the downside, he says, the business itself has become too commercial.
"After the first Greatest Hits the record label said did we mind if we had a scratch-card with the single. We said we did.
"Since the Spice Girls the industry has changed irrevocably. I'm glad I'm not starting out now."
Andy will be promoting the new album with DJ sets, PAs and radio appearances, after which it'll be back to Erasure.
"We are writing at the moment," he says. "We've got about 19 tracks on the go. I'm way behind with the lyrics, as usual. I've got to get my finger out."
Non-Stop is released on June 7. Call On Me is out on May 31.
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