Alison Moyet

Exclusive interview with the British legend as she releases her first artist album since 2007

Interview : Dan Prince

Welcome to DMCWORLD Alison, returning with your new album ‘the minutes’ – a record you claim “has easily been my happiest studio experience”. What made it such a rewarding experience?

“It was that very quickly I realised I could communicate, in my predictably truncated English, concepts to Guy and he understood me. We are similar in that neither of us are easy in a social forum but are very secure at the core of ourselves. Guy has in equal measures a supreme musicality and a lust for invention. We were both far more motivated by the experience of working together than any concern of the commercial outcome. He is incredibly smart and entirely unsmug.”

The youngest child of a working class printer and his English wife, you grew up listening to your father’s collection of Gallic chansons in Basildon. What are your early musical memories from your childhood?

“I remember getting our first Dansette record player and my mother’s first buy was Cilla Black’s ‘Anyone Who Had A Heart’. To my mind still the best version of that song. Soon added to that was Bill Haley’s ‘Rock Around The Clock’, an e.p of Mahalia Jackson and ’16 Tons’ by Tennessee Ernie Ford. These were all we had for a number of years and I learnt them word for word. Both sides.”

You have said in the past that school wasn’t for you academically. What id did though provide you with the opportunity to befriend two musicians who were in a little known band called Depeche Mode…when did you realise you wanted to have a career in music?

“Our school wasn’t for many academically. We felt like we were a nursery for the many factories that our families worked in. High flyers became clerks. I started playing in bands before the Depeche boys, who had left school before they formed. We weren’t friends. We were nodding classmates. It was Perry, who later joined The Cure that was my friend. We had been pretty tight since junior school and ran with the same crowd as punks. I never thought of music as being a potential career. It happened to me. I always thought I would have to get a day job.”

Your powerful voice is your trademark. Is that what you think got you through those early gigs aged 15 in your band the Vandals with Rubber on guitar and a succession of stand in drummers? Do you know whatever happened to any of those school day chums?

“I was the one that could shout the loudest, wrote the songs if they could be described as such and had the most front. So I became the lead singer. Sue Paget, Kim Forey and I were best friends at school and Robert (Marlow) in the year below us, Vince Clarke’s best friend, made up that first band. I see Robert and Sue occasionally and have a lot of love for them. Kim Forey remained my best friend and we have shared all the stages of our lives together.”

What is the creative process work for you when you are making music? Do you shut your ears to everything else musically?

“Yes. I avoided listening to anything throughout, bar a couple of staples. I didn’t want to think about what was happening or be influenced by what people had to say about who I should be. Obviously Guy is in touch, but he is a composer of his own making.”

The album is your first since 2007 and is produced by Guy Sigsworth who is known for his work with Robyn, Bjork and Madonna. You claim you have been waiting for him…was he worth the wait?!? What are his great qualities?

“I was unaware of his previous work but knew that many of the acts he had worked with were interesting. I agreed to be introduced by a member of my management company who understood the area I wanted to work in. I was skeptical because writing is a very intimate thing for me and I have become dubious about my ability to connect with anyone in what might have been a pro writing session, like so many on the conveyor belt. He turned out to be the one. We got one another immediately and each allowed the other, space. He astounds me with his artistry. His delight in the act of creating. I am in awe of his quick mind and clarity of thought. He never tried to shape me but weaves his own brilliant tapestries.”

You are one of England’s true treasures. The whole Vince Clarke working relationship though is one of the strangest in pop history…”suddenly we were in a really successful band but we hadn’t even ever gone for a pint together. It was really weird – almost like an arranged marriage.” – what are your thoughts on the relationship after all these years?

“I don’t think on it anymore. It is a long time gone like a brief, bad tempered love affair. Arranged, no. It was two musicians looking for the part they lacked. He, a voice. Me, a sound. Not all partnerships need be social. At that age we just didn’t understand one another. Our Reconnection in 2008 put all the sorrows to bed.”

You said in an interview a few years back…”The recording industry is unraveling. I would have no idea how to break into it these days.” Surely it’s easier than ever to get a song noticed with t’internet and shows like the X-Factor?

“And the playing field is uneven. If you want to noodle and hand wave you can wank away to your heart’s content. There is no artist development or the time to grow. Stencils. What do I know how it is for burgeoning artists. I’m out of the loop and not at all sad to be.”

You are an avid Southend FC fan – did you make the journey to Wembley for the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy against Crewe Alexandra in April?

“I did!”

Around the age of 11 you got to know Vince Clarke’s brothers – all blonde and you thought they looked like a family of ducks. You’ve had hens all your life – did you call any of them after the Clarke’s?

“No. That would be disturbing.”

We come back to yours after the gig. What’s on the playlist?

“No one comes back to mine. It’s a dressing room free-for-all and we are debriefing noisily over some brown booze.”

You are one of the UK’s most successful artists, you were once asked what your put your longevity down to – you replied “it is never outstaying your welcome and not going to the opening of a paper bag.” Well with over 20 million records sold to date, you seem to be doing okay…?

“I am a singer-song writer by profession. I’m still working. I judged something right.”

Do you have a song of yours that you refuse to sing live these days?

“Yes. I haven’t done Invisible for many, many years. (I wasn’t the author of it but I recorded it) It’s a song I can’t connect with now and have no energy for anymore. I have outgrown the sentiment.”

A great quote from you when someone asked you what your perfect night out would be…”A bottle of cognac and a game of cards.” That still the case?

“I grew tired of Cognac and have fewer partners for cards. I have also tried to make more of an effort to go out but not yet frequently enough to know how I prefer it.”

Looking back at a stunning career – do you have a stand out live performance you will always cherish?

“When it comes to my work I tend to think very much in the now. I love playing live and immerse myself entirely in the minute. When it is over, it is over.”

‘the minutes’ is out now on Cooking Vinyl

Alison Moyet:
‘Changeling’ and ‘When I Was Your Girl’ Remixes
Released July 1st on Cooking Vinyl

Changeling                      Guy Sigsworth remix
Changeling                      Severino’s Does It Work? remix
Changeling                      youngTEE remix
Changeling                      Photonz Eivissa Mix
Changeling                      Ali Renault dub
When I Was Your Girl    Brassica’s Video Nightmare Mix

To mark the release of the minutes – Alison Moyet’s critically-acclaimed new album Cooking Vinyl present a set of specially-commissioned remixes, released on July 1st.

The first mix comes courtesy of Guy Sigsworth – Alison’s co-writer and producer of the minutes. With a production CV that includes Goldie, Robyn and Bjork, it’s no surprise that Guy has turned-in a killer version; it channels the spirit of Inner City’s ‘Good Life’ and melds it to Alison’s powerful vocals, resulting in a future house anthem.

Horse Meat Disco stalwart Severino’s Does It Work? Remix places Alison in the middle of the dancefloor at a dark and sweaty basement party, for a slice of raw, analogue body music, complete with an unexpected tangent, in the form of a sparkling piano breakdown.

Rising talent youngTEE delivers a bouncy, modern house bubbler, with a healthy dose of both classic US and UK garage thrown in for good measure.

Portuguese duo Photonz’ Eivissa remix is, in their own words, “a bit of a hybrid between deep house, late 80’s Chicago, African kizomba and Brian Ferry’s ‘Slave To Love’, but we think it works.” It does indeed.

Ali Renault’s epic dub takes Alison on a cinematic, slo-mo-synth-night-ride whilst Brassica’s Video Nightmare Mix is by far the most out-there interpretation; the up-beat and accessible original of ‘When I Was Your Girl’ is transformed into a ghoulish, idiosyncratic leftfield gem.

the minutes is out now and will be the focus of her 2013 tour, accompanied by programmed material from Yazoo and her solo back catalogue…

30 Sep Ireland Cork Opera House

Tickets: www.ticketmaster.ie / www.ticketmaster.co.uk / www.mcd.ie / 0818 719300

01 Oct Northern Ireland Belfast Waterfront Hall

www.ticketmaster.ie / www.ticketmaster.co.uk / www.mcd.ie / 0818 719300

02 Oct Ireland Dublin Olympia Theatre

Tickets: www.ticketmaster.ie / www.ticketmaster.co.uk / www.mcd.ie / 0818 719300

04 Oct Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

Tickets: www.ticketmaster.co.uk / 0141 353 8000

05 Oct Edinburgh Usher Hall

Tickets: www.ticketmaster.co.uk / 0131 228 1155

06 Oct Gateshead The Sage