Apologies to all if this has been posted before but I just came across this interview today... (and no I did not find it by doing a Google search for "80's revival").
New Order By Stephen Fortner | September 05
Do a Google search for “80s revival” and the sheer number of results is evidence enough that one is indeed underway. Musically, the style being revived isn’t the studio-production extravagance of Madonna or Toto. It’s all about New Wave, a term that’s been applied to so many bands since it was new that some confusion is natural. Initially a British phenomenon, it was either an evolution of punk or a move away from it, depending on who you ask. Production values, not to mention hair and makeup, were proudly slicker. In particular, keyboards provided bass lines, pads, and counterpoints to guitar, something unheard-of in punk. But the raw energy, sense of rebellion, and sometimes dark and emotional themes remained, albeit with a temper that was more brood and less brawl. With their hard rocking sound infiltrated by pulsing synths, mod heroes like The Bravery and The Killers can be seen as heading up a similar response to grunge and “alternative,” but all the music-mag genre-babble in the world pales compared to a good listen back at the source.
Even better is when the source kicks in the door and shows you how it’s done. Case in point: Waiting for the Sirens’ Call (Warner/Reprise), the new studio release from New Order, which is soon to be joined by Item, a career-spanning 2-DVD set. This band knows a thing or two about staying power: Originally Joy Division, the most seminal post-punk group in the world and a major reason we still talk about the “Manchester sound,” they reformed as New Order in 1980 after the suicide of mercurial frontman Ian Curtis. Bandmate Bernard Sumner became the face and voice, and still heads the current lineup along with founders Peter Hook on bass and Stephen Morris on drums. Though longtime keyboardist Gillian Gilbert is absent, Morris shares keyboard duties with relative newcomer Phil Cunningham. From the pumping, classics-evoking straight-eighth synth bass on “Krafty” to the pop gem “Jetstream,” graced by the guest vocals of Scissor Sisters chanteuse Ana Matronic (see Keyboard, Feb. ’05), Sirens finds the icons in top form.
We caught a quick chat with Phil and Stephen in the frenetic green room of Jimmy Kimmel Live in Hollywood, where New Order rocked the bandstand for a good half an hour after cameras stopped rolling, delighting the studio audience and vexing TV execs (easy to spot by their unique failure to dance). Before the interview, the Order’s publicist surprised us by confiding they were “actually a little nervous” appearing in Keyboard. “I think they have the idea you need to be Yes or Chick Corea,” he said. As if blazing a trail for the synthesizer’s acceptance in danceable rock isn’t enough.
Tell me about the songwriting process on Sirens. Is there a story about getting a song together that stands out? Stephen Morris: There’s no one way we do it . . . you’d be just amazed at how many little bits of stuff there are that anyone comes up with, then we try to glue them together. Sometimes, Hooky [Peter Hook] will add a melody to it that works. Bernard usually takes it in the clearest direction, takes it home and adds electronics and other tracks there. That’s probably why a lot of our songs have that hybrid quality.
You mean that perfect balance between guitars and synths? SM: If you say so. [Laughs.] But then, we sometimes get together, sit down, and commit to writing a song from scratch. Phil Cunningham: Sometimes it just gels and it’s wonderful; others it’s a bitch to get anything happening. “Jetstream,” which we’re really happy with, of course, took a lot of time, for example.
So how did you each come up with those little bits? SM: We all used [Propellerhead] Reason on our laptops quite a bit, and Phil and I tend to like [Steinberg] Cubase VST for writing. Gone it is, though, and one must change with the times, so we’ve only just moved to SX. PC: We also used [Steinberg] The Grand when we needed piano simulation.
Is that what’s in the piano intro on the new song “Dracula’s Castle”? SM: Actually that’s the real thing . . . if you listen closely you can hear the stool creaking! PC: It’s the creaking that was a plug-in. “Steinberg Stool,” in fact. [Everyone laughs.]
How about some of the more textural stuff, as well as the staccato, rhythmic synth parts you’re so well known for? They all sound very analog. SM: For the studio sessions, we bought some Doepfer modules — just a couple of oscillators and filters. Then we went back and got some more . . . . PC: . . . and then some more. Modular synths have a way of doing that to you.
How about those beautiful, Mellotron-like strings on the title track? SM: I believe [Pauses.] that was the [GForce] M-Tron plug-in.
Without someone exclusively on the keyboards live, how do you handle synth-heavy tunes, say, the classics “Blue Monday” or “Bizarre Love Triangle”? SM: Whatever we developed the sounds on, we tend to go back to the [Roland] XV-5080s live, because they’re reliable, easy to use, and you can get a rental just about anywhere, so we copy things over to them as samples and play them from the XP-80s we have onstage. PC: I’m not sure why we have that particular keyboard, but we do. Two are downstage, one by Bernard and one by my station over at the right. They’re older, but very solid. SM: I have a combination of acoustic and electronic drums, as well. On songs like those, I also have some of the drum parts programmed so I can stand up and play my Kurzweils. There’s a K2500 and K2000 on a stand next to my kit.
Those two songs are perhaps the most “electro” or “synth pop” songs in your repertoire and the ones casual listeners know you by. The Sirens tech aesthetic is more subtle, but undeniable. You even have a lyric that goes “You had a brilliant future / writing songs on your computer.” Any comment on how things have changed since the ’80s, and whether it’s made your creative process easier or harder? SM: When we did “Bizarre Love Triangle,” we hired a Fairlight, I remember. The most expensive, prestigious keyboard you could own at the time, and nowadays, you can barely give them away, right? It was very finicky, but all we had otherwise was a [Oberheim] DMX drum machine, the [Sequential] Prophet-5, and the Poly Sequencer that went with it. Trying to program the Poly Sequencer was like tapping Morse code. All of it was unreliable, but considered expensive and state-of-the-art. It was also very primitive by today’s standards, but far more complicated to use. You could certainly do a lot with it, but creatively, you had to approach it with a really developed idea of what you wanted song-wise.
It’s not like sitting down at that setup would be what inspired you to create. PC: Right. Nowadays, something like Reason is just the opposite. It’s so simple almost anyone can write a song on the plane or wherever. SM: The technology has finally caught up to what we’ve always wanted. It actually helped us end up with maybe twice as many good songs as we needed for this record.
So we won’t have to wait as long for another record, then?
“Five minutes to airtime,” shouts a stage manager to no one in particular. Saved by the bell, Phil and Stephen grin slyly at me. A visit to www.neworderonline.com, an unofficial but thorough fan site, shows a blank CD image with a 2006 release date and the not-so-cryptic note: “7 tracks ready.”
