GrooveOut by Gregg Shapiro RINGING TRUE An interview with Andy Bell

Andy Bell of Erasure can belt like nobody's business.

At one time or another, you've probably found yourself dancing to a song performed by one of the most recognizable voices in modern music-"Oh L'Amour," "Sometimes," "Blue Savannah," "Love to Hate You," or Erasure's best known song "Chains of Love." No strangers to the occasional cover tune, Erasure (Bell and Vince Clarke, along with Gareth Jones) puts their distinctive synth-pop mark on a broad range of songs on their aptly titled tenth album, Other People's Songs (Mute). When you hear their rendition of Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill," you'll wonder why they didn't cover him sooner. I spoke to Bell while he was stateside with Erasure to tape a hosting gig on VH1 Classic's "All Star Jams" show.

Gregg Shapiro: Erasure has a history of doing cover tunes, most notably "River Deep, Mountain High" from The Innocents, and, of course, the Abba songs on the Abba-Esque EP. What's the best thing about performing, as the new album is called, Other People's Songs?

Andy Bell: I hadn't realized that when we did the cover version of "River Deep, Mountain High," that it was a Phil Spector song. Other People's Songs was going to be a solo project of all Phil Spector songs. Vince came over to see me in Spain and he said, "Andy, this is a really good idea. Could we do it as an Erasure project? We can all choose which songs we want to do." It was me and Gareth Jones and Vince [working] together. When you're doing cover versions, it's very personal. You sing them because you want to sing them. I thought with Other People's Songs I wanted to be seen more as a singer, and not just as a member of Erasure. It sounds quite egotistical [laughs], but that was the thing, really.

GS: With a voice like that, why wouldn't you want people to hear you singing?

AB: [Laughs] I was thinking, Well, Dusty's gone and Freddie's gone, so somebody's got to carry the torch.

GS: Some of the songs, including "Everyday," "Ebb Tide," "Walking In The Rain," and "True Love Ways" are from the early days of rock and roll. Is there something in particular about that era that speaks to you?

AB: Doing the album was like saying a thank you to my parents for my pop education. My mom was a huge Elvis fan, and my dad was a Buddy Holly fan. Apart from that, they had lots of early country-and-western music, in which rock and roll has its roots. I feel like I was born in the wrong era. My voice is much more suited towards 1930s and 1940s.

[At this point, loud music fills the room in which Andy is sitting in the Mute offices in New York.]

AB: I'm really sorry. The jukebox has just gone on. Do you mind if I try to turn it off?

GS: Sure.

[With the music still blaring, there is some background discussion about the jukebox having a mind of its own. Bell asks, "Is it haunted?" It turns out that the jukebox was made for a bar. Unless fed quarters every 40 or so minutes, it automatically plays.]

AB: I'm back.

GS: A little bit of the Mute industrial sound, right?

AB: [Laughs]

GS: The cover of "Can't Help Falling In Love" made me think of the JXL remix of the Elvis Presley track "A Little Less Conversation," which first became popular in Europe. What do you think of the ongoing fascination with Elvis?

AB: To me, there's never been anybody that has matched him. Not that I'm a rock and roll singer, but I feel like I have the same intonation and feeling and blues-tinged thing to my voice that Elvis had.

GS: Yes, lots of emotion.

AB: I also love dancing around while I'm performing and singing. Whenever I see Elvis, I can't take my eyes off of him. There hasn't been anybody else like him.

GS: Another benefit of having Erasure cover a song is that less well-known songwriters and bands have a chance to be exposed to a whole new audience. I'm thinking specifically of Cliff Eberhardt's "Goodnight" and "Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime" by the Korgis. What does it mean to you to have the opportunity to introduce some of your favorite songs to your fans?

AB: To me, that's really beautiful. That was part of the reason that we did it as well. There are so many [TV] programs now in the UK that are all about "fame," [such as] the Pop Idols program. They always do these really cheesy versions of the most obvious songs that are going to be hits. I felt like this isn't about the songs or the people that wrote the songs or the spirit in which the songs were written. [Other People's Songs] is a bit like a songbook. We really care about the songs. I heard the song "Goodnight" on Buffy Sainte-Marie's greatest hits. She's incredible. There's this one song called "God Is Alive/Magic Is Afoot" that she [co-]wrote [with Leonard Cohen] that is like an incantation, and it's really spiritual. Then [there is also] this song "Goodnight," which is really devastating. It reminded me of when I was really young, I would sing myself to sleep in bed. They [my parents] used to shout up the stairs, "Andy! Go to sleep!" It invokes that time for me.

GS: Your version could become a standard lullaby, it's so beautiful.

AB: Yeah. I did a phoner [interview] for a German paper a couple of weeks ago. The singer from this German heavy rock band, who is really famous but I can't remember his name, said that he's going to have that played at his funeral. That is so perfect.

GS: "When Will I See You Again" is a chestnut from the early disco era, originally sung by The Three Degrees. What can you tell me about your connection to that song and to the music of that time?

AB: That was one of the last songs that we came upon. We did want to do a disco classic song. I was thinking about doing "Ring My Bell," but because my last name is Bell it's a bit too corny. You can't do "I Will Survive" because it's been so many times before. We were thinking about doing "Hot Stuff" by Donna Summer because I thought the riff would be really good for Vince, that [sings] "doodoo doodoo doodoo / doodoo doodoo doodoo" with the synthesizer. Then I was listening to The Three Degrees greatest hits, like "The Runner"Š

GS: It's interesting that you should mention that song because Giorgio Moroder, who worked with Donna Summer, also worked with The Three Degrees.

AB: And they're fantastic! I love Giorgio Moroder's early stuff with Donna Summer on Casablanca. The Three Degrees were like the UK version of The Supremes.

GS: You performed a duet with k.d. lang on "(No More Tears) Enough Is Enough" about 10 years ago. Do you have favorite songs from the heyday of the disco era that you could imagine recording in the future?

AB: This is our tenth album, and Vince and I have written more than 150 original songs. When you do cover versions, it's so easy to get labeled as a covers band, and you can't do your own stuff. We have to be quite careful. Obviously there are loads and loads of songs like that that I would love to do. I'll tell you one song which I dare not touch, and that's "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going."

GS: Yes, Jennifer Holliday.

AB: That is just incredible that song.

GS: You could do it. You could totally pull it off.

AB: And also Blue Mink. [Sings] "Take a pinch of white man/wrap him up in black skinŠ" It's called "Melting Pot."

GS: You are in New York in mid-January for a taping of VH1's "All Star Jams" program. How did that go?

AB: It was really good. They were very nice. They were very pleased to see us and meet us. What's great about it is that now there are so many gay people in the industry. There always have been, but they were invisible before. I've always been out. But then you'd go around doing all these radio shows, and they'd be in the closet. If you met them again over a 10-year period, they would slowly come out to you. Now, because it's much more of a given thing, it's so upfront. All the press that we've gotten has been through the gay media. None of the straight lifestyle magazines are interested in us, which I think is a shame.

GS: You know you'll always have a place with the gay press.

Pop culture journalist Gregg Shapiro is also a published fiction writer and poet. He has a poem in the new collection, Sweet Jesus (Anthology Press).

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