The Irish Mail on Sunday

OMD still have that old Electricit­y

‘We’ve always been fascinated by the interface between humans and machines’

- Andy McCluskey - OMD

Art goes in cycles and this week it’s a little bit like 1982 again. There’s a Blade Runner movie in the cinemas and OMD are in the charts with a new album. In 1982, in the week when the original Blade Runner went on release, OMD aka Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, had just spent their 33rd week in the charts with their seminal second album Architectu­re And Morality. The coincidenc­es and comparison­s don’t end there. Echoing themes in the movie, Andy McCluskey, the band’s singer, says of the Liverpool duo.

‘We have always been fascinated by the interface between machines and humans.’

Despite McCluskey’s somewhat clinical appraisal, there has always been a warmth to the duo he formed with his friend Paul Humphries.

McCluskey’s strangulat­ed vocals on tracks such as Enola Gay, Joan Of Arc and Electricit­y were emblematic of real emotion at the core of their work.

‘When we started out, there were lazy journalist­s who saw and heard us and said, “Oh, it’s synth-based, electronic, it’s cold,” and I was like, “You what? I’m singing my bleeding heart out here,”’ he says.

‘What people realised, I think, is the rigidity of our musical patterns acted as a foil to the humanity; the vocals and the melodies.’

The Punishment of Luxury like their last couple of albums, English Electric and History of Modern has been rated by fans and critics alike as standing with their best work. ‘I won’t deny that we are well-chuffed that people seem to have really liked the last few albums,’ he says.

‘Writing songs is like a musical conversati­on with yourself but you can’t deny it’s bloody glorious when people say, “Hey I understand what you’re saying. That speaks to me.”’

Formed in 1975, the band took their lead from German electronic pioneers Kraftwerk. Alongside others such as the Human League, Ultravox and the Gary Numanfront­ed Tubeway Army, they forged a sound that pointed the way to the musical future after the ground zero of punk.

‘Punk was like a sledgehamm­er, smashing up traditions and tedious self-indulgence. But then where do you go after you’ve done that?’ McCluskey asks.

‘We wanted to be creative. It sounds pretentiou­s now but Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark was a conceptual art idea with two guys and a tape recorder playing pop music.’

The ‘guys’ he describes went on to sell 40 million records up until they split in 1996, only to reform 10 years later.

In between times, McCluskey assembled Atomic Kitten. He and Stuart Kershaw, OMD’s drummer wrote and produced the songs for the band after putting Kerry Katona, Liz McClarnon and Heidi Range – later to be replaced by Natasha Hamilton – together in 1998. He still clearly has immense affection for Katona, despite her artistic limitation­s.

‘She’s a wonderful girl, full of vitality, full of energy, but can’t sing in tune,’ he says. Despite Atomic Kitten topping the charts with the single Whole Again, the record company rejected the batch of songs McCluskey and Kershaw had written for the second album and the ways parted.

Since then, McCluskey’s been enjoying the revival in OMD’s fortunes but it is all so different from the first time around.

‘We don’t go on a tour because we need the money.

‘We poured our heart and soul into The Punishment Of Luxury and the response seems to suggest we’ve done a great job.’

n The Punishment Of Luxury is on the White Noise label. OMD play Vicar Street Dublin on October 23. Tickets selling fast.

‘Kerry Katona’s a wonderful girl, full of vitality, but she can’t sing in tune’

 ??  ??
 ??  ?? OMG: The 80s duo are back
OMG: The 80s duo are back

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Ireland