W INTERVIEW
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AN INTERVIEW WITH
OMD'S ANDY McCLUSKEY
Seriously is it really 40 years since OMD’s first single ‘Electricity’
came out? Thanks to songs like Enola Gay, Souvenir and Joan Of
Arc, Wirral’s own Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark clocked up six
top 10 albums and made 29 appearances on Top of the Pops. Wirral
Life spoke to Andy McCluskey to look back on his career.
Where did it all start?
Well I was born in Heswall and grew up in Meols and I was lucky
enough to meet Paul Humphreys at Great Meols Primary School. We
played in several bands including Hitlerz Underpantz, VCL XI and The
Id. We loved the idea of electro pop and anything hi-tech and sci-fi.
Was a music career always your plan?
I ended up as a musician by accident. It was never a dream nor an
aspiration. It was my hobby. I had a place to do a BA fine art degree in
Leeds but took a gap year, and never went back!
So, if things hadn’t have taken off where would you be now?
For some time after the band became successful, I imagined that I
would eventually return to do my degree and probably would have been
an art teacher. I was never very good as a salesman, so I doubt that I
could have been as successful as people like Damian Hirst.
Your 2017 album “The Punishment of Luxury” was your third
highest charting album in the UK, considering your first album was
released in 1980, that’s amazing. Will we be seeing a new album
soon?
Thank you. It gets more difficult to find new inspiration as one gets
older. It will probably be at least a couple of years until there is a new
album. We seem to be in a very good place at present with audiences
respecting our past but also loving the new albums because we really
put a lot of effort into making them strong. We would rather take our
time and sustain the quality.
You played 100 concerts last year, how do you cope with that pace?
I sleep a lot when I'm not on stage. And I stay fit and eat properly. Very
simple really.
Do you feel like ringing in sick some days?
Not a chance, I had to continue gigging last year through sinus
infections, damaged knee cartilage and septic tonsillitis! Not fun... But
the show goes on!!
You performed with full orchestra at the Liverpool Philharmonic in
2009 and again last year, any plans to repeat that in the near future?
We would love to do it again. It takes a very long time to plan these
things with orchestras. Strangely, I just received an email today asking
if we would work with another major orchestra. It may happen sooner
than we expected!
You have an upcoming show on the 80s Cruise in Florida, is there an
act in the line-up that you would really like to collaborate with, given
the opportunity?
Possibly Dave Wakeling from The Beat. We have done very few
collaborations over the years.
If you could choose any of your own songs, and any current artist to
release it, what would that look like?
Ed Sheeran if it was only for the money. Robyn singing anything by us
would be cool.
Is there an artist who has emerged over the past say 5 or 10 years,
whose music excites you?
Robyn, Arcade Fire, Public Service Broadcasting are all artists that I
really like and the music resonates with me.
The phone box in Meols has since become something of a legacy from
OMD and was recently saved by a public campaign (Readers, see the
story of just how that happened overleaf). How do you remember
the phone number even now?
That is one number that I have never forgotten. 632 3003. I had best
keep remembering it as the band intends to play Red Frame White
Light (the song about the telephone box) on our winter tour later this
year.
You wrote “If You Leave” in one day, was it something you’d been
kicking about for a while or did you really put it together in just one
day?
We really wrote it in one day! When we arrived in Los Angeles to mix
the song - we had originally created it for the movie Pretty in Pink - and
we were told that they had changed the end of the film and our song no
longer made sense! If we wanted to contribute something it was going
to have to be written that day as we were heading out on a three-month
tour on the next day.
So, you had to come up with the music and the lyrics asap?
Yep... Music and lyrics!
Do you think in this age of downloads & streaming that artists have
it easier or harder now than you did in the 80s?
Downloads killed the purchasing of CDs, and now streaming is killing
downloads. Sadly, the record companies and steaming services have
conspired to pay such low royalties for music that it has badly damaged
the capacity of any artist (other than the truly massive global ones) to
make any kind of living out of music sales. We are fortunate to have a
loyal audience who come to see us live. However, young bands are in
serious trouble now!
We read that you bought a red Paul Smith suit for £800 and never
wore it, keeping it hanging in your wardrobe as a reminder of your
decadence; have you ever considered donating it to raise money for
charity?
Haha! I doubt anyone would be daft enough to pay much for it even in
a charity auction. The best value is it still sitting in my closet reminding
me not to be so stupid ever again!
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