RS: What do you think has kept the Clarke/Bell musical partnership going so strong for twenty years?
Vince Clarke: I think we've been together for so long because we have a really good working relationship, and when it comes to writing songs, neither of us are very precious about ideas. So if I come up with an idea of a melody or a lyric and Andy doesn't really like it, then the song is dropped immediately and we just move on to the next thing, you know, we're not fighting from each other's corners. There's always the next song to do anyway, so I think that that really helps the relationship.
Andy Bell: I think we're both kind of kindred spirits and, it's like Vince said, we're common songwriters and care about the music and we're not really pop stars, and we just kind of take it slowly and carry on.
RS: You've been in the UK your whole career…
Andy Bell: Yes.
RS: And you've always been signed to Mute records…
Vince Clarke: Yes.
RS: How has that continuity helped?
Vince Clarke: I think it's always been great, I mean we've got a very supportive record company, you know, the person who signed us (Daniel Miller) is still the person running the record company, and at the end of the day I think he's more interested in being a music fan as opposed to be someone that makes money out of music. So, it's been a great relationship over the years and it's not one that I would choose to finish or end, and we were very lucky to have found the right person.
RS: So which is your favorite album out of your catalogue?
Vince Clarke: I guess what I'm most proud of is a record that we recorded in 1998 called Cowboy. I just felt that our songwriting had really come together at that stage in time. All of those songs I'm just really, really proud of.
Andy Bell: It's a toss-up between Chorus and the self-titled Erasure album from 1995.
RS: Andy, you're DJing a lot now, how do you prepare for a DJ set?
Andy Bell: Well, I must admit, it's much more nervewracking doing a DJ set than it is playing live, to me anyway, because my records are becoming quite old-fashioned. I go back to my original electronic albums that I brought as a teenager that I kind of bought on CD. And so it's kind of like stuff by The Human League remixed, lots of Giorgio Moroder stuff, which includes Japan and Donna Summer stuff that he's done by himself like I Want to Rock You and some of the Flirts, and Madonna remixes. So it's kind of a mishmash really, bits of Miss Kittin and some modern stuff; it's a bit of a mixture.
RS: do you play on vinyl or CD or MP3?
Andy Bell: No, I'm a bit of a charlatan, it's all on CDs or CDs that I've made myself at home.
RS: That's the way to do it, that's the best way of doing it. Where do you find the music that you play out aside from your classics, where do you find your new music?
Andy Bell: The new music, well, I either get it from friends who kind of seem to know what's going on, or I just hear stuff when I'm out in bars and things, traveling around, I might hear a remix, you know, in DJ bars and things and I just say to the guy who's this, and if I can't get it I'll just ask him to give it to me. Otherwise, I mean, it's quite limited really.
