ly alone, and that's quite a strange thing
to do. I realized I wouldn't be using a lot
of other musicians. I wouldn't do it in a
traditional way where you rehearse a
band, getting the tunes arranged, and
then go and record. I started with a very
simple idea, and then you start putting
the idea on guitar, or a keyboard, or
whatever. It's kind of like making a
painting, you have to start with one
stroke first. You get the picture in your
head, but before you finish, it takes an
awful a lot of strokes and an awful a lot
MU: I had never met Moby, but we come
from the same background, I suppose.
He's much younger than I am, he came
much later than Ultravox, but he's obviously influenced by Ultravox and a bit of
Visage, that early '80s electronica. He got
in touch with me through the Internet.
He sent me an e-mail, and of course I was
very flattered that Moby was approaching me to possibly write something
together. He sent me a couple of pieces of
music that he's been working on, just
some sketches. So I put them in my sys-
09•2014
of fine touches. It took a long time to get
this record done, and when you're doing
the bass parts to complement the keyboards, which I wanted to complement
the guitar parts. So each section was like
a jigsaw puzzle, whereas with the band
you leave their parts up to them. Here I
was being everyone in the band, and that
takes a long time to do. But you end up
analyzing the parts, in a sense that you
want them to complement the rest of the
parts that you got on there. This is the
type of album that takes a lifetime of
working in the industry to figure out
how to do it. I wanted to do something
that expressed emotions, and hopefully
that's exactly what I've done.
tem, and started cutting them and adding
to them. It was a very interesting thing
for me to do because it's very different
how I work with Ultravox or how I work
on my own. But I was very slow making
this record, it took a long time, and by the
time I created something I was happy
with, it was too late to put on his album.
So I carried on working on it, and asked
Moby if he wouldn't mind me putting it
on my album. The idea became so close
to me and it fitted perfectly with the rest
of the record. It's not an odd track; it's
absolutely part of the album. He was
very gracious about it, and I'm hoping to
meet him in person very soon when I
visit the United States.
IE: One other person involved here was
Moby, who is credited on Dark Dark
Night. How did he get involved?
IE: Keeping in mind how different the
music business is nowadays, What challenges will an artist like Midge Ure be
10 illinoisentertainer.com september 2014
September 2
The Call – Live Tribute
Counting Crows – Somewhere Under Wonderland
Coves – Soft Friday
Dark Sky - Imagin
Jeezy – Seen It All: The Autobiography
Maroon 5 - V
The Vines – Wicked Nature
Johnny Winter – Step Back
September 9
Ryan Adams – Ryan Adams
Banks – Goddess
Better Than Ezra – All Together Now
Lupe Fiasco
Interpol – El Pintor
Karen O – Crush Songs
The Kooks – Listen
Robert Plant – Lullaby and…The Ceaseless Roar
The Young Presidents – Coalition
September 16
Dark Horses – Hail Lucid State
Lupe Fiasco – Tetsuo & Youth
The Madden Brothers – Greetings From California
New Model Army – Between Wine And Blood
Sir Sly – You Haunt Me
Slash – World On Fire
White Arrows – In Bardo
September 23
Alt-J – This Is All Yours
Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga – Cheek To Cheek
Big & Rich – Gravity
Leonard Cohen – Popular Problems
Erasure – The Violet Flame
Jeff Tweedy – Sukierae
Young Rebel Set - Crocodile
Alt-J