Interviewer: Was there a concept for the album?
Vince: Well only the fact that we'd make the songs longer. We never saw a concept particularly for the album, for any album. We just write the songs and this time we wrote more than we needed, which is a first for us. So we can ditch a couple that we didn't like, which was good. When we write like three minute songs, it's not like we write them to be three minutes, it's just the way they turn out...that's what comes naturally. We just thought we'd stretch them a bit more and make them more cinematic.
Andy: One of the ideas, as well, was to not rely so much on re-mixes and extended versions, so we thought we'd make our own extended versions before anybody else.
Vince: Well, we've experimented more with this record, I think. We decided to develop long instrumental tracks on this album, rather than the normal three minute songs.
Andy: I think it's funny when people say "Oh yeah, it's really good, it doesn't sound like Erasure."
Interviewer: What method did you follow?
Andy: Well, when we write the songs, which is on the guitar or piano, the melody is already sorted, and I always write some rough lyrics. Sometimes it's very difficult to escape those words and then, when the music comes back, it can sound like a new song because of the interpretation and that's really inspiring for the words.
Vince: I recorded at home this time. I do some rough arrangements and then we demo them to play to people we know or are gonna work with, you know, producers and the like. Then once we've got the rough arrangements done, then we record in earnest. And Andy did the singing this time in London, but we both work separately for the recording.
Andy: I think because we both take so long to do each part that there's not possibly enough time for us both to be in the studio at once. And when we recorded the last album, Vince made a CD called "Lucky Bastard" with lots of original sounds on it for people to sample and the idea this time was for me to do a vocal sample CD, which didn't get done in the end because it took so long doing all the backing vocals and everything.
Interviewer: How do you choose the producers?
Vince: Well, Andy has worked with Gareth Jones before on the Wild! album, so they know each other well, so they know how each other work, and I chose to work with a guy called Thomas Fehlmann, who has worked with Bjork. They need a sense of humour for a start. I dunno, just people we get on with. You can't always tell...as I say, Andy's worked with Gareth already but I like to work with someone who'll point me in a different direction, and do things that perhaps I wouldn't normally do.
Interviewer: Tell us about the Super 8 you filmed in the studio.
Vince: We just left the cameras running in the studios all the time, pretty much. In the studio we didn't notice it...I mean they just stuck it on a tripod and it's just clicking all the way through. I think it, some of it, brings out and shows people that we're humorous.
Andy: I think...I think it's very honest and shows how mundane it can be as well in the studio. It's not all glamour. I think we should us it for our videos.
Interviewer: What about videos?
Andy: I despair sometimes at the way that artists are sold, and particularly video artists, because there is a difference between musicians and video artists, and their shelf life is shorter, I think. It gets more and more difficult to sell music as a medium without film.
Vince: I'd like not to be in a video again, I'd like not to make one ever again, I don't like the medium. I don't think it's creative or...
Andy: We think we should just have a naked woman on a pedestal going around...that's what MTV seem to want.
Interviewer: Did you consider that Erasure would still be a project which you would still be happy making records in eight/nine years after it began?
Vince: I don't know. I mean, we had no long term plans. The first thing we wanted to do was make a single, then we wanted to make an album, then we wanted to make a tour and it just went on from there. It feels very natural though. It's like, it feels as though we've always been doing it.
Interviewer: And if it all ended?
Andy: I would like to think that I could still make music and enjoy singing without thinking whether you're going to sell this record.
Vince: I'd retire to a holiday home in Southend.
Interviewer: Which are your favourite tracks on the record?
Vince: Mine is Sono Luminus.
Andy: My favourite tracks on the album are Grace, Rock Me Gently.
Vince: Yeah. I mean on the record there's a couple of intros that are really quite dark and then it goes into really happy little words. I think that's quite good though.
Andy: Vince is like Mr. Opposite. Once he's done one thing, it's back the other way. But I think it's good for people to realise how sensuous and sexual Erasure are.
Notes
Interview reproduced from Erasure Interactive Press Kit (1995). Copyright Mute Records.