Vince Clarke: Hello?
John Marshall: Hi, is that Vince?
Vince: Yes speaking.
John: Hey Vince, it's John Marshall from Lincs FM.
Vince: Hi, how are you doing?
John: Good! Are we OK to do this now?
Vince: Yes absolutely.
John: Marvellous, marvellous. Right Vince, just to put people in the picture, you're in America right now yeah?
Vince: That's correct. I'm actually in Tampa in Florida.
John: In the middle of a series of dates. How did the True Colors tour go?
Vince: It was really good actually, I mean it was an interesting experience for us, playing with all kinds of different bands. And I think that the whole tour put forward a very positive image and there was a whole variety of different musics being played on it. It was good fun.
John: You were wearing some outrageous stage outfits I noticed, you seemed to have got yourself a wig Vince!
Vince: No, that's my own hair! It sprouted overnight!
John: It's a miracle!
Vince: It's a miracle!
John: Let's talk a little bit about the new album, 'Light At The End Of The World'. I think it's excellent - would you have favourite tracks on there Vince?
Vince: Ummmm... Well we've just finished it, so I'm a bit too close to it to be a real good judge, but I guess the track that I'm most proud of is 'I Could Fall In Love With You' which was the first single from the album.
John: Sure, and great reviews of the album in the UK, but certainly here it didn't chart particularly well. Does it frustrate you when you work hard, and you have produced I think a fantastic album, and maybe it doesn't get the recognition it deserves, does that annoy you?
Vince: No it doesn't frustrate me or annoy me. I mean at the end of the day when you sit down to write a record and produce a record, you're doing it for yourself to do the best work that you possibly can.
And the most satisfaction that I get is when myself and Andy sit in a room and come out a couple of hours later with a really good song. You can't beat that feeling, and all the good reviews in the world won't better that experience.
John: Well no, but you don't feel any frustration say when you think the amount of people that got to hear that wasn't quite as many is not as many as possibly it could have been and should have been I think.
Vince: Well you know, at the end of the day, I think that if you're a teen and listening to music, you're not going to be interested in music made by anyone over the age of 25. I mean I certainly wasn't. I think that is just the way the business is and as I said as long as we're in an opportunity, a situation where we're able to continue writing and recording then I feel very lucky that we are able to do that.
John: Well don't stop Vince, please! The next release is going to be an EP I believe, 'Sucker For Love' will be on there amongst other bits, right?
Vince: That's correct.
John: And 'Storm In A Teacup', and fans are getting a chance to remix 'Golden Heart' isn't it?
Vince: Yeah, what we've done is there's this piece of software for an Apple Mac computer called Garage Loops [Garage Band], and what it means is that you can download these segments of the song and parts of the song and musical parts of the songs, drum rhythms etc and then rearrange them to your liking, so it gives people the opportunity to do a little remix for themselves.
John: It's an interesting time. And you're using yourself 'softsynths' as they're known now, rather than the big old equipment that you once used. What major differences do you find there? Are you preferring it?
Vince: Well I wouldn't say I was preferring it, I was actually forced to start using softsynths. I moved to the States and my studio is still based in the UK. So all I had with me was the computer, so it actually... I had to sit down and start reading manuals and relearn everything again, and actually it was a very good experience for me.
I wouldn't say that I prefer one to the other, they're both different ways of working and eventually I intend to hopefully get my studio over to the States and then use both ways of working together,
John: Oh I see right, 'cause you are living in Maine now. How has that affected the writing partnership with Andy, Vince?
Vince: At the end of the day, the way that you feel inside comes out in your writing and I'm feeling very good at the moment - I've just had a baby, Andy's in a new relationship, we're both in very positive places right now. And I think that the way that it affects your record is that you then make a more positive sounding record. And we were very keen this time around to make the record very upbeat and dancy and it's a reflection on the way that we both feel.
John: It's certainly upbeat and it's certainly cheerful! I think so! You mentioned the baby, how do you cope being away from Tracy and Oscar on a long tour? I mean this is quite a long series of dates you're doing?
Vince: I find it is hard. My wife and child are able to come and visit me at certain dates, and they're actually here in Tampa for a few days so that's been really good. But you know, it is hard, it's probably the hardest thing I have to do.
John: So the 'Light At The End Of The World' tour, at the end of the 'True Colors' one, the 'Light At The End Of The World' tour is about to begin. Tell us what we can expect to see Vince.
Vince: Well it's a kind of... We're working on the set right now, and it looks a bit like a kinda 70's gamehost show..
John: Right!
Vince: ...so it's lots of glitter, there's some big diamonds, there are several wigs as you've already mentioned and lots and lots of costumes, I mean what would you expect!
John: Yeah! Any surprises in the set list this time around?
Vince: Well we're doing bits and pieces from our whole catalogue, and also obviously tracks from the new record, so there will be something there for everybody.
John: OK You're not going to give anything away then?
Vince: No! [laughs]
John: OK! I understand. Have you reprogrammed any of the tracks this time around, 'cause I know you used to do that quite a lot and maybe less so in the recent years. Has that happened this time?
Vince: There is always rearranging going on. I mean what tends to happen is that we start a tour and then we see how things work and the reaction that we get from the way that they're played. And then we tailer the tracks to suit the atmosphere that we're encountering on each venue, so it kinda changes throughout I suppose, very subtlety.
John: Sure. I guess it's quite a big major job if you're actually thinking of reprogramming things, I'm thinking of maybe like on the Chorus tour where you reprogrammed things quite heavily, the live versions differed quite a lot from the album tracks didn't they?
Vince: Yeah that was down to.... What I tend to do very foolishly is that I change the way that I do it on stage every time. I don't know why I do it you know... I don't know - I think it keeps it interesting for me just to be able to do that.
John: Already there has been talk... you two certainly work very hard, of another album possibly next year. Is there a direction and a plan for that already?
Vince: Well it's an idea that has been kicking around for ages. We're toying with making a kinda of.. now get this.. it's going to be cinematic, gothic, soundtrack, nursery rhyme record.
John: Oh well I know about this nursery rhyme thing - it's actually going to come off is it, finally?
Vince: I hope so, I'm just getting all the information I need, all the references I need as we're on tour right now, and the idea and the way that it sounds is starting to form shape in my head. So I'm hoping that next year that we'll actually do it earnest.
John: But you recorded some of the didn't you? Because they were used for the opening for the tour a couple of years ago.
Vince: Yeah we did a few demos of stuff that we thought, but it wasn't the right direction... At the end of the day I didn't think it was going in the the right direction. I really wanted to make this record a lot darker. It would be listenable to young people but also it would be interesting for adults as well, like a kind of Tim Burton soundtrack, that's the vibe.
John: So you're saying that could be the next real Erasure project rather than as a sort of side project and something that you're doing as a sort of a passion, it could be the next big Erasure release?
Vince: It could be. Obviously we're going to be writing a more standard record as well. Writing is the love of my life, and writing pop songs I just can't get enough of it. We'll be doing lots of that next year as well.
John: The other passion in you life is I think videos, and you've been putting your own stuff up on YouTube I understand.
Vince: [laughs]
John: Weird and wonderful!
Vince: Well you know, that's sitting in hotel rooms thinking 'what the hell am I doing' you know? You're looking at the room service menu thinking 'no, you know what? I just cant eat another bacon lettuce and cheese sandwich or anything', let's film the outside of my hotel room! They're very.. They're supposed to be a bit tongue in cheek.
John: Oh no, that's good! Just a few things on what I hear might possibly be happening, a 'Wild!' DVD - is that going to happen Vince?
Vince: I believe so. I believe that they are working on a series of CD's that are incorporating surround sound technology, so that the record company (Mute Records) are remixing those tracks right now.
John: And Chorus is on the list as well for 5.1 servicing, yes?
Vince: Yes I hope so. That for me would be the ideal record to put in 5.1, I think that it would be the most interesting record to hear in that way.
John: Sure. And Andy spoke recently in an interview about some tracks from the album that you've just worked on, that maybe haven't seen the light of day and make it a fan only release. Can you tell us any more about those?
Vince: Well we wrote a lot more songs than we needed for the record, and that's a shame for us as we usually right ten songs and stop. But we had about 22 ideas going for this record and there are some quite good bits and pieces still unreleased, and hopefully they will come out, at least for the fans at some point in the future.
John: Excellent. It's really nice talking to you Vince, we have met before but you won't remember that! It's been really nice talking to you and look forward to seeing you in the UK in September.
Vince: Ok Thank you very much, it was good talking to you too.
John: Take care Vince.
Vince: Take care, Bye bye!
John: Bye.