RS: So how's the tour going?
Vince Clarke: We've done about ten or twelve dates so far in the UK and the response has been very good. The show is a mixture of the old and new and so far no one's asked for their money back.
RS: Are you excited about brining the tour to the US?
Vince Clarke: Yes, especially these multiple dates. We're doing like ten nights in New York and three or four in Chicago and San Francisco. The costumes are great for the show and we've got a really good interesting set. I've programmed-up more songs than we really need so it gives us the chance to change the set around and make each
night a little bit different.
RS: Well, that brings me to the official live recordings I see you're offering. What was the inspiration to offer your fans live recordings ten minutes after the show?
Vince Clarke: I think the whole process or the system started in the States, and there's a couple of companies that are taking it up in the UK. The record company looked in to the idea and it seems to be going really well. It's an amazing thing because they've got like a hundred and fifty CD burners in a truck outside the gig, so they record the
whole show live on to CD and then ten minutes after the show these things are available for sale. It's really incredible and I think people are really enjoying it because it's almost like a postcard of the night and them being there at that particular place and time. People seem to really love it.
RS: Do you choose your opening acts?
Vince Clarke: We try to take advice a little bit. Obviously when you've got a stage production, you're a little bit limited. You can't necessarily have a ten-piece orchestra happening before start, so we take a little bit of advice from the promoter and from the tour agent.
RS: I notice Piney Gir is opening for you in the UK and she also remixed your next single. How did you meet up with her?
Vince Clarke: She actually supported us on a tour that we did before. It's quite an easy setup for them, they've only got like a couple of keyboards and stuff and a computer. It was very practical and I think the kind of music that they were doing, song-based and electronic, suited the kind of thing we're doing as well.
RS: I see in the US you've got Elkand on tour with you. How did you find them?
Vince Clarke: That was based on advice from the US promoters and the US agents. I'm never sure about who's going to go down well. It's very tough being a support act for any band, but if someone's got the courage to do it and they've got the determination, I think it's a world of good.
RS: This is twenty years of Erasure and I've been a fan since the beginning. What's your take on the state of musical artistry these days?
Vince Clarke: I think that there's two things going on really. There's still lots of interesting and progressive, almost avant-garde, music happening in the electronic music scene. There always will be and I think that that's good and healthy. I think the downside of the scene at the moment today, is this whole obsession with showbiz and with being famous without necessarily knowing anything or contributing actually to music as an art form. I think that's quite sad and it's the same in the UK as it is in the States really, with all these showbiz shows. I think that that's a shame.
RS: Are you into the dance rock fusion thing happening, like the Killers, Zutons, Bravery?
Vince Clarke: I try and kind of keep up with a lot of what's happening. I've been listening to bands like Mylo, M83, and stuff like that. I don't think that these new electronic bands are that influenced from our 80s electronic music, I think actually a lot of people are coming from the dance scene. I think that there's a lot of very forward-looking DJ dance music and a lot of people are really pushing the limits of electronic music. I get the impression that a lot of these people now are like, 'OK we've done the dance music scene, now we're interested in songs and in melodies and in songwriting.' They're going down that path now which is great because I'm a lover of songs.
