HELLO GOODBYE
Ian Burden on the warm-up and the freeze-out of his seven years in The Human League.
It began as a three-week gig. Seven years later, the freeze set in with Minneapolis R&B and ennui. “THEY HAD A WEEK TO GET IT TOGETHER, OR THEY’D GET SUED.”
HELLO OCTOBER 1980
I was living in Sheffield. The original line-up of The Human League – a band I really did like – had split up. Philip Oakey [voice] and Adrian Wright [stage visuals, keyboards] had taken the name and the contractual obligations that went with that, the first one being a European tour. They only had a week to get it together, or they’d get sued, so I suspect they had quite a lot of anxiety. At the time, a girlfriend of mine lived in the same house as Philip, so he asked me if I knew any replacement keyboardists. No one I thought of was available, but I told him, “Look, I can programme analogue synths and the keyboard parts of Human League songs are well within my capability” – I mean, you could effectively play all of them with one finger – so I could do it. He said he’d wanted to ask me in the first place but he’d been too nervous. I had no long-term thoughts. They just needed a hand for three weeks, and I was looking forward to the travelling. The first gig was at Doncaster Rotters and the response seemed to be good. Philip and Adrian stood on top of a tower and did Judas Priest’s Take On The World as the opening number. I mean, I was so focused on all these switches and knobs and sliders that I didn’t really pay much attention really. On that tour there were people who expected a different band, not [new vocalists Susan Sulley and Joanne Catherall] dancing about and stuff, but I guess that’s what happens with bands. You have a change of direction, you’re going to lose some audience and gain some audience. Later, bit by bit I drifted into the writing and recording of [mega-selling October ’81 LP] Dare. Philip had programmed a really peculiar rhythm, and I started adding parts to it. It became [April ‘81 breakthrough hit] The Sound Of The Crowd. There was the decision to release it as a single, and Adrian took photos for the artwork at their grotty little studio in Sheffield, which was a former veterinary practice. They told me to have my photo taken too – this was the point when Philip told me I was in the band.
GOODBYE SUMMER 1987
I was not happy making the Crash album [beginning in February 1986]. We were in Minneapolis for the recording, which took about six weeks, two months. It was minus 14 degrees. All I remember is sitting in the studio waiting to be summoned to go and do something. [Producers] Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, they’re really brilliant at what they do, but what they do is make Jam and Lewis records that are fronted by whatever artist the record company wished them to attach to the project. There were songs I was involved with on the record but I didn’t play anything at all. Occasionally I had to stand in front of a microphone with headphones on and sing some part. I remember a song called I Need Your Loving coming down the headphones. It wasn’t a Human League song, and it didn’t do anything for me. I was very bored. I had the thought, constantly, that I would have preferred to be back at Genetic Studios in Berkshire with [Dare co-producer] Martin Rushent making a Human League record. After the tour to promote it, I wanted to get on and start writing new material – I was holding on to the hope that Crash would become part of the history and we could somehow get back to where we ought to be. Philip didn’t seem to have a great deal of enthusiasm for getting together with me. So, I thought, This is an opportune moment [to leave]. Our last meeting was at Philip’s house in Sheffield. Both Susan and Joanne were there. We talked standing up, in his kitchen. I outlined my reasons – that I didn’t feel required enough creatively, and it felt a bit like when you go round the Monopoly board and pick up £200 every time, but you’re not putting anything down. Joanne suggested I took a few months off, I said, “I don’t think so.” Philip didn’t say a lot, but Philip never does. Why we split with Martin Rushent is still a mystery to me. We could have had another album out within a year of Dare, with hit singles on it. As it was, [1984 LP] Hysteria dragged on – a representation of us floundering, with a three-year gap. It must have been very disappointing, for anyone waiting. As told to Ian Harrison
Ian Burden’s debut solo album, Hey Hey Ho Hum, is out now on Rutland Artspace Limited.