Chords for Vince Clarke Interview about Depeche Mode, Yazoo, The Assembly and Erasure on Night Network

[G] _ _ _ _ _ Good evening.
This evening I have with [C] me Vince Clark, the quiet, talented [Abm] man behind
the keyboards of [Ab] Depeche Mode, Yazoo, The Assembly and most currently Erasure.
Now Vince,
that's quite a lot of bands to be involved in in ten years.
You're quite a restless chap.
Well I was restless, you know.
I was born under the sign of cancer, which makes me indecisive.
Alright.
But now I think I've mellowed out, you know.
I'm quite settled in the band I'm
in.
So you started off with Depeche Mode in Basildon and you wrote three hits for them.
You had an album that went into the top ten.
And then you left the band.
When it was riding
on a sort of tide of success, why did you peel off? _
_ Well at the time I just felt that
the band wasn't going in the direction that I'd have chosen to go in, you know.
And [G] we
had our arguments [C] and our problems and everything.
And also everything was really new to us.
[Dbm] So I think the pressure was much [Abm] greater then.
Do you think you're very much one voice as
far as music is concerned?
_ _ Well I tend to be sort of pretty dogmatic, you know.
Especially
in the studio.
[G] But, you know, I think it's because when we first started and we were
first in the studio, you know, everybody wanted to do everything, you know.
Because we were
so kind of excited about it.
[Ab] And it tempered you.
I mean, you personally didn't want to
be sort of outnumbered in that way by so many members of the group.
Well, yeah, I mean,
and everybody felt the same.
Hence the friction.
Right.
Would you have at that time, I mean,
did you see a great band in Depeche Mode?
Even when you left, did you see something
that was going to go on to the great heights that they have done? _ _
I felt that it was a
really kind of strong basis, you know.
Because, you know, everybody was pretty determined,
you know, even when I left, you know, to kind of continue and do well.
_ So I think all the
characters were really strong.
Yeah.
Would you go and see them play again if you had
the opportunity?
If I had the opportunity, I would, certainly, yeah.
I mean, I prefer
to see them in a, I mean, they tend to play massive, you know, kind of arena.
Yeah.
And
I prefer to see them in a club, you know.
Do you think their sound is now tailored more
to a massive spectrum?
Well, definitely, yeah.
I mean, because, like, you know, I know that
they have kind of a lot of special effects and a big kind of production on stage.
Yeah.
You couldn't see yourself still on that stage with them now?
[Db] Well, no, I mean, I'm not,
I don't regret, you know, leaving the band.
I don't, I mean, I'm very happy, you know,
now.
Yeah.
You went on to form a collaboration with Alison Moyet, started the band called
Yazoo.
Did you, at the start of it, having left Depeche Mode, have a definite idea of
what, musically, you wanted to get out of this?
[Abm] No, not at all.
We had no idea at all.
I mean, it was just, I was just grateful for a record deal, you know.
I presumed that when
I left the band, that the record [G] company would no longer be interested.
It's strange, because
this is another, another alliance that goes to great success, and yet again, you know,
it falls apart, well, it doesn't actually fall apart, but you leave it at the end, you
split.
How did that come about?
Well, I think that was more due to the fact that we were
both interested in two different, [Ab] completely different types of music.
How did the name
Yazoo come about? _ _
Well, it's a town in America, and it's a river, and it's a blues label,
and it's another American band that sued us.
I see, I see.
[B] Well, we're now going to take
a look at one of the songs that you had a hit with from Yazoo.
It's a track called
Nobody's Diary.
_ _ [C] Welcome _ _ _ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _
_ _ back.
I'm talking to Vince Clark.
This is the band History.
Now, Vince, you're not like one of the most sort of sparky, chattiest people I've ever
met.
How do you cope with the sort of, all the publicity and interviewing that being
a musician has to put on you?
Well, I've just got stuck answers for every question.
Really?
Yeah, I mean, I've been doing it for eight years, so.
So you're not going to get
any spontaneity tonight?
No.
Oh, damn.
Got any fireworks? _
Now, Alice and Moya was the
first of a string of one-on-one collaborations that you started up, and then from that, you
went on to do The Assembly.
Now, what was the idea behind this?
[G] [Ab] Well, that was really
intended as a project, you know, that wasn't a group or anything, you know.
We were [C] just,
_ [Abm] I'd written a song, and I think in one of the pop magazines, there was a rumour in the
gossip column saying that Fergal Sharkey was going to work with me in the future.
So the
record company thought, that'll be a good idea.
And we phoned him up, and he said, oh,
all right then.
And that's how we did it.
[C] But it wasn't just sort of a platform so you
could work with lots of different artists?
That was the idea, but it just proved impractical,
you know.
I mean, because there were so many egos to deal with.
Yeah, it's always a big
problem, isn't it?
Well, anyway, now we're going to take a look at the track you did
get together with Fergal Sharkey.
It's a number called Never Never.
That was the one hit for
you.
[Gm] _ [Am] _ [Bb]
Well, Vince, after Fergal [F] Sharkey and Never Never, you went on to do a single [Ab] with
Paul Quinn, and then The Assembly sort of petered out.
Why?
_ _ Well, we had problems with
getting the right producer, and the whole thing was just taking too long, and we were
just spending our time messing about in the studio, you know.
And by that time, I got
really, really fed up with the whole thing, you know.
So I went home and started decorating
instead.
What had you been looking for in The Assembly?
Have you been looking for someone
to team up with, or?
_ Just a kind of, an easy kind of situation, you know, where I wouldn't
have to deal with any problems or anything like that, you know, or with other people,
you know.
It's weird, because you'd have thought you'd have been able to link up with lots
of other musicians who were, you know, currently working and stuff.
Well, I think that most
people assume that when you're a musician, you know, you just join this big club and
everybody knows each other, but I mean, that's not true at all, you know.
Nobody knows anybody.
I mean, everybody says hello, you know, on the pop shows and stuff, but that's as far
as it goes.
You took your quest elsewhere, back into advertising in Melody Maker, and
you came across young Andy Bell.
Now, how did things start out between the two of you?
Well, what we did, we held auditions for people, you know, and we had like [G] 40 applicants for
these auditions, and gave each person 30 minutes each to learn two songs, and recorded
everybody, and kind of Andy won.
Andy won.
Yeah.
Now, Vince, a lot of rock stars go into
the music industry because they want money and fame and the ability to throw TV sets
out of hotel bedroom windows and stuff like that.
That doesn't strike me as you.
Are you
in it for love or for money?
What would you say?
Well, I love doing it, and I love _ the money.
Well, there's a bit of both in that one, then.
Well, Andy Bell's quite a different performer,
isn't he, from most of the other people you've been linked with.
He's quite sort of charismatic
and energetic.
Do you find his stage performance is changing you in any way?
Not really.
I
think it makes me more and more introvert, you know, because I think on stage, you know,
there's only [Ab] really room for one person to really be boisterous and go mad, you know.
Really?
Yeah, I mean, I think it's important for the audience.
How do you think bands like
Trouble Funk get on, then?
Well, I think that's a different kind of situation, you know.
When
we play live, I think it's more of a personal kind of thing with people, and, you know,
Andy tends to talk between the songs with everybody, you know, and talk as much as he
can, you know.
So we're not going to see you, you know, giving us a hoedown on the front
of the stage or anything?
There could be an electric guitar solo on the next tour, somewhere
along the line.
Wow, look out for that one, look out for that one.
You've become quite
keen on physical fitness and health.
When did that start up?
Well, that started off,
we did a [G] tour supporting another band in America for seven weeks, and we got so bored,
you know, because, like, we were playing one night and off the next.
So we all started
doing, going to the gym and that, working out.
You're in your cello doing the old press-ups.
Yeah.
Well, Vince Clark, thanks very much for coming in and having a chat with us.
Now
we're going to take a look at the most recent number that came out of Eurasia.
It's called
The Circus.
All the best, [Am] mate.
Thank you.
Thank you.