RED HOT AND DANCE 2004 (Kindly ceded by Corinna from erasure.de. Find original in German clicking here) At 13:00 o'clock we met with Andy in the hotel for Lunch, in order to lead an interview with him, where the sympathetic Backing singers Val and Ann Marie joined. Around 22:30 o'clock we arrived to the trailer with Greg and his friend Alan at the Erotic Kind museum. Wonderful thing it was that half an hour after we had entered, there was still a long queue before the entrance. Inside many well-known and few new faces from the Erasure forum had already met. It was really beautiful to meet those old Erasure friends again. After some discussions over Erasure and God, the Forumers rushed towards the stage, in order to be able to reach the sound of some, more or less, bad bands. At about 12am came their salvation. Markus Tirok, the host, announced that he had good and bad news. The bad news, Erasure could not come unfortunately, since Vince may not leave the States. Nevertheless there were the good news, Andy could. Andy, Val and Ann Marie came under a raving applause on the stage. Andy said a few welcome words, before they began the gig with Breathe. Many of the present fans could amazingly sing-along the Lyrics perfectly already, which probably speaks well about the catchy character of the songs. Then A Little Respect and Sometimes followed. In addition they played `Take a chance on me� where Andy completely missed the first verse and simply danced loosely to it. After they had said goodbye, Markus Tirok animated the public time and time again to get Andy back. And so he returned to the stage to sing Breathe over again.The feeling during the entire appearance was really fantastic and reliably a good condition for further talks of a new Red, Hot and Dance party. In the context of the Nightbird release we met Andy, including backing singers Ann Marie and Val before their appearance at Hot and Dance in Hamburg. Over lunch we managed to sneak some interesting news from Andy�s mouth. Vince did not participate unfortunately, since he was not allowed to leave the USA due to his Green card application. erasure.de: Why did you decide on Breathe as the first Nightbird single? Andy: We had 2 Songs in closer consideration. We then asked friends and acquaintances and all found that Breathe was much more suitable for the first single. erasure.de: Does the text from Breathe have a personal meaning to you? Andy: As we wrote the song after I had gone over a hard time, I was feeling relieved. The whole Nightbird album is like a large box, one opens the cover and all comes out freely. erasure.de: With regards to the video, we like it very much, whose idea was it? Andy: Vince and I were on the way and it was very cold. I asked Vince whether he had ever heard the history of the girl and the matches. We felt that it had a lot to do with the song and came up with the idea of using the story as a film script for the video. erasure.de: Vince is seen only in short passages in Breathe video anymore, shall we get used not to have his face in the videos anymore in the future? Andy: Vince does not enjoy being present, particularly. He doesn�t feel comfortable in the lime lights. His dream would be simply to be a completely normal person, without this whole stardom thing. Completely contrary to me (laughs). I accept that and so I no longer ask him in that respect. erasure.de: Nightbird is now being designated by many as the best Erasure album since years, if not even the best Erasure album ever. How do you see that? Andy: Really? We did not sit down and intend to write the best album of all times, but we were very happy and satisfied at the time. Naturally that also alleviated us and helped us to write the songs at ease. We simply sat down and wrote the songs from our chest, unlike previous albums in which we were feeling very tense. After we had promoted the `Other People Songs� album and we started touring, we realised that we had been wrong and wanted to make our own music again. Back your question, we are very happy with the result of Nightbird. erasure.de: Some people call Nightbird a kind of �back to the roots� album. Do you think it can be compared to your earlier albums? Andy: Yes, for me it is a kind of new Chorus album. Many of its aspects remind me strongly of it. erasure.de: Nightbird contains 11 songs; did you start with more than these songs at the beginning? Andy: We wrote 16 songs altogether, but not all of them were produced. We will use two of these songs as B sides. One of them will be found on the second Nightbird single. erasure.de Would you say that your work in the production of Nightbird has been any different from previous albums? Andy: We have, because of the fact that Vince lives now in New York alone. Vince produced a part in New York and I received a tape then, which I completed in about 2 weeks each part, which was incredible (he stresses proudly). We recorded them later, one half in New York and the other half in London. erasure.de: Nightbird has already been circulating illegally for approx. one month now in the Internet. Which thought crosses your mind when you know that your material is made accessible to everyone so long before release date? Andy: (looks shocked) really the entire album? That is unbelievable! I would love to know who is held responsible for it. I remember that Breathe circulated already very early in the Internet and I thought I would be to blame, since I used Limewire (one of the P2P programs).So I got Gareth Jones to examine my computer. He examined the entire transmission protocols with the utmost care, but thank God it was not my fault. erasure.de: Which are your personal favourite songs of Nightbird? Andy: NO Doubt, I bet you�re mad at me, All this time still Falling out of Love, and naturally Breathe, I love this song so much. erasure.de: Will there be any further singles from the album? Andy: Of course! We had decided over I bet you�re mad at me. But Daniel wanted a rather up-tempo number; because he believed a faster song would be more accessible and probably get more airplay. Thus we rejected the idea to use I bet you�re mad at me as a single and decided over Don't say you love me. erasure.de: This evening you will perform at Red, Hot and Dance in favour of many AIDS projects. It seems in someway as if the topic of AIDS has been left in oblivion... Andy: That is the same with us, the investigations have ceased in the last few years strongly. One has the feeling that most people know nothing at all about it. It is even very notable how it has increased in gay clubs particularly. erasure.de: Do you remember your last Red, Hot & Dance appearance exactly 10 years ago now? Andy: Only faintly, is that actually 10 years ago already? erasure.de: How long will your performance be this evening? Andy: Three Songs, Breathe and two classical Erasure Songs, I am a bit nervous, since I�ll be singing the songs by heart completely and made no rehearsals for it. erasure.de: The Tour was to be called simply Nightbird Tour, but a few days later it was renamed The Erasure Show, why? Andy: Vince didn�t like the title and really wanted another. We couldn�t think of anything special on the run so we simply called it The Erasure Show. erasure.de: So that did not imply that it would be kind of an Erasure Biography? Andy: No, we never thought about that. But actually, it would fit perfectly with reference to the set list. We selected some wonderful Songs, we look very much forwards to it. We will begin with Hideaway, followed by No doubt (one of the new songs). We will play 5 Nightbird songs, the other songs such as Drama, Brother and sister, Knocking on your door and The circus. Vince has reprogrammed the songs for the live show, they are fabulous! erasure.de: Oh it sounds fantastic; will you also take into account the desire of the fans in the EIS Website Polls and play When I needed you? Andy: (shrugs his shoulders) No, no When I Needed You. erasure.de: What can we expect from the Tour? Andy: The stage will look like a large forest; everything will be decorated with branches and leaves. And among other things we will fancy dress as Marilyn Monroe and Elvis. erasure.de: It was discussed in various forums whether Client could possibly support you on the Tour. We and some fans would be interested in seeing Client supporting you in Germany! Andy: Yes, there will be two support bands on the Tour, Client and Piney Gir. By the way Val and Ann Marie have done backing vocals on one track from Clients album City! Corinna and Ann Marie: (protesting) No, that was for the Piney Gir album. Andy: Oops, but anyway it was a very beautiful song (laughs). erasure.de: Do you enjoy the tour preparations? Andy: Very much, I love it, choosing costumes and trying them on. erasure.de: Your solo album is already finished. Are there any plans for a release in the near future? Andy: It will appear sometime after the Nightbird era. Anyway to me it is already an old shoe now... erasure.de: (reproachfully) For you perhaps, but on the other hand we are not allowed to hear anything at all from it yet. Andy laughs erasure.de: On which label will it appear? Andy: (puts the finger on the mouth) Shhhhhhh! erasure.de: What may we expect from the album (style direction)? Andy: There is usually up tempo numbers, danceable like that in the Disco, Soul Style. Claudia Br�cken from Propaganda has done two duets with me. erasure.de: Will there be any live appearances to promote your album? Andy: There will be some; I am already looking forwards to it. erasure.de: This year sees your 20th anniversary, are there any plans yet concerning this date? Andy: No, so far nothing has been planned, we haven�t thought about it yet. Perhaps we will release the acoustic album after Nightbird. But so far nothing has been planned! erasure.de: Which particular day will count as your anniversary actually? The day when you had your first audition, the day on which you got the call from Vince saying that you were taken, or the day when you did the first Song? Andy: (quickly considers) Good question, I have never thought about it, so I�ve no idea! erasure.de: On 1988 Crackers international was released. Have you got any plans to do another mini album with Christmas carols or songs? Andy: I would really love to, I love Christmas very much. But there are no plans about that at the moment erasure.de: Would you prefer to do carols or your own Christmas songs? Andy: Both. erasure.de: Andy, we thank you for this nice interview. Andy: I thank you. THE END |
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