Music Editor Aimee Sargeant catches up with Soft Cell to discuss their upcoming tour and album
With the upcoming 40th anniversary tour occurring in November, Soft Cell are performing Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret in full for the first time. This iconic album included the 80s hits such as: ‘Tainted Love’, ‘Bedsitter’ and ‘Say Hello, Wave Goodbye’. Soft Cell were pioneers of the synth-pop movement that occurred within the UK, their contributions helped to play an essential part in making the 80s pop movement feel futuristic and timeless. On their tour, they will also be playing brand new songs from their first studio album in 20 years – Happiness Not Included. This is set for release on the 25th February 2022.
Can you tell us a little about the format of these November UK live shows?
MARC: We plan to do two sets in the evening. The first set will be greatest hits, some album and fan favourites as well as previewing some new songs live for the first time. The second set will be Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret in its entirety and in track order with accompanying visuals and a few extras at the end. It’ll be a full-on and exciting show.
It’ll be a full-on and exciting show
What is the major difference between staging a live show in the early 1980s to playing live now in the 21st Century?
DAVE: The main difference in the 21st Century is the technology. All our visuals, lights & sequenced synths & drum machines are run live from offstage computers as opposed to the old Kodak projectors & Revox reel to reel tape machines we used to use onstage. It makes changing around set running orders a lot easier and gives us much more control & clarity in the sound & visuals. I still play live analogue synths onstage (a Korg Prologue & an ARP Odyssey) & we certainly don’t use autotune on Marc’s or the backing singer’s voices. One thing that hasn’t changed is Gary Barnacle still plays a mean saxophone.
Can you believe Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is now 40 years old?
MARC: If I sit back and think about its hard to believe that a small collection of songs has had such a long life, that people still listen to and enjoy it. I’m amazed at how fresh and current it still sounds – and lyrically still relevant. It doesn’t feel like it’s 40 years old at all – but it scares me a bit to think that it is.
You talk at length about growing up in the north of England in your autobiography – do you think your upbringing gave you both that famous ‘northern grit’? When have you most needed it historically with Soft Cell?
DAVE: We are both originally from The North – Marc from Southport, me from Blackpool. I think our ‘northern grit’ was our sheer determination to be successful, against all odds. We probably wouldn’t have passed the audition stages of Pop Idol or X Factor nowadays (in our day that would have been Opportunity Knocks or New Faces). All the guitar bands in Leeds used to laugh at us, it was the tail-end of punk & the idea of a synth duo was unheard of back then, especially with a camp looking singer & a guy who looked like a bouncer on a funny electric organ. We remained convinced we were onto something & luckily, we were proved right; the British synth duo was born – Pet Shop Boys, Eurythmics, Yazoo etc soon followed.
I’m amazed at how fresh and current it still sounds – and lyrically still relevant
Soft Cell’s forthcoming album ‘Happiness Not Included’ will be out in spring 2022 – does the title reflect any newfound wisdom during this Covid era, maybe that we cannot rely on other people to give us happiness, that we are all ultimately responsible for our own pleasure?
MARC: Covid didn’t really have anything to do with it apart from maybe enforcing my feelings about life. The world has been going to hell in a handcart for as long as I can remember – maybe every century feels the same and maybe happiness is almost impossible to attain. It doesn’t come with the package. I’ve always been able to look on misery with humour. Life is a sh*tshow, deal with it. And survive.
DAVE: The new album ‘*Happiness Not Included’ is very reflective and melancholy in parts with some classic Marc Almond witty observations about life. Most of the music was written before the lockdown, pre-Covid, so any references to the pandemic would have been written later, after I sent the audio files to the studio where Marc was working.
How do you see things working in this new era of streaming? Is it even possible to make money from releasing new records these days?
MARC: It’s much harder to make money from records and the streaming revenue is very unfair. It needs to be remedied as the royalties even from many many streams are pitiful. I’m not a fan of it at all, but I’m too old school – I’m a CD and vinyl child. A lot of mid-placed bands bring out an album to promote a tour and make revenue from live work. People love a real live experience. Covid devastated live music and nearly finished a lot of bands off. It’s coming back, but there’s still a lot of hesitance. The music industry in its current form is dying anyway and streaming is a part of that.
Do you have further plans for Soft Cell after this UK tour and new album?
MARC: No plans at present, we’ll see after the album and dates.
DAVE: We have this short tour to complete then it will be the festive season so there will not be much Soft Cell activity until 2022 (when the new material will start surfacing plus a lot of reissues later next year). We will see how this new album performs first – if Marc & I are up for it we may well do some more shows and another album as BMG have an option. I always try to keep an open mind.
Happiness Not Included is set to be released on the 25th February 2022.
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