Soft Cell press photo by Mike Owen
Last week, following the passing of key member Dave Ball, synth pop legends Soft Cell released their final album, Danceteria. Marc Almond and the live iteration of the band will be playing a handful of concerts in California and Nevada in the first half of November in support of the album, and I was fortunate enough to be able to talk to him about the band’s new album and upcoming tour.
Tyler King: The new Soft Cell album Danceteria just came out. Do you get anxious when you’re releasing something new into the world?
Marc Almond: Not anymore. I used to, but that time has gone. To be honest, I am not even a person that is interested in the chart positions. What difference does it make in the end? I get sent the reviews (only the good ones, mind), and for this time the response has been overwhelming great.
TK: Danceteria is mostly a love letter to New York City. Did you set out wanting to make it that way, or was the City of New York a lyrical theme that you unconsciously kept returning to?
MA: Dave and I sat down together and chatted about it and wanted to make the album an almost linear trip through a night in New York in 1982, to the America of those times, and the creativity we experienced, and how it shaped us, bringing it all to a full circle.
TK: What is your relationship to New York City like now?
MA: Greatly changed. Cities, like people, change. I still love New York but barely recognize what it has become. A lot of our influences came from the USA anyway — New York punk like DEVO, Suicide, Lou Reed, and the Velvet Underground.
TK: My favorite song on the record is “Times Square.” How much of that song is literal?
MA: “Times Square” is pretty much a true story about me and a friend of mine.
TK: What was the writing process for this record like? How much input did you have on Dave Ball’s instrumentals, and did he have any input on the lyrics?
MA: Dave sends me instrumental ideas that I build on and structure lyrics around. It has always worked roughly like that. I think [that’s] what makes our writing work — sorry, worked. We were, of course, so different, but our roots are firmly from the North/Northwest of England, and it is such a qualitative place. The affordable glamor and heart of Blackpool, seaside towns out of season like Southport, the darkness of Leeds in the time of the Yorkshire Ripper in the 1970s, the anger and excitement of the music scene with Northern soul, disco, punk, and electro. (And this was new to everyone, not just to one generation as it is now). I was angst [sic] and spotty and gay (and the least likely pop star), and Dave was tall, handsome, and charismatic. As Jung said, “The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.” And in many ways, we both were transformed by each other.
TK: Soft Cell is going to be hitting the road shortly in support of Danceteria very soon.
MA: That’s right. Of course, there is no Dave Ball with us on stage, but there never has been live for over 10 years. Coming to play six gigs in and around California will be special in November. San Fran especially is always really great. We played there earlier this year on the brilliant Generations tour with The Human League and the amazing Alison Moyet, but we all did shorter sets. The Soft Cell show on 11th November in San Fran at the Regency Ballroom will be great fun and a full-length set, likely our last full show in the USA.
TK: How do you select what new songs to include in the set and which older ones to retire?
MA: Old and new, and some I wouldn’t dare not sing, and fans asked me to play “Sex Dwarf,” “Martin,” and “It’s a Mug’s Game,” so I am going to try, just for this tour.
TK: I’m a writer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Do you have any links to San Francisco?
MA: I have so many amazing memories of the the city, especially my time around the Castro. Many friends, loved and lost. I was lucky to have experienced the world pre-AIDS, and then lived to see the strength and courage of a city come together to fight and spearhead change. I suppose SF taught me “there is no shame in being what you are.” You are the only one who gets to say who you are. Every generation struggles not only to find their place, but a context. I know older gay people who are still not out, unable to embrace this changing world, unfamiliar with this new openness, their closets sealed shut by decades of shame or abuse. I say to younger people, try to see the world from their point of view, too; you might learn something about your own past. San Fran taught me that.
TK: Those are amazing words, Marc. Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions. I look forward to seeing you next month.
MA: See you on November 11th!
The new Soft Cell album can be streamed on all major music platforms. Watch the music videos for the title track, “Danceteria,” “In Heaven (When I Dance With You),” “The Space Inside,” and “The Rainbow Room” by clicking on the respective song titles.
Tickets for the Soft Cell show at The Uptown Theatre in Napa on November 10th can be purchased here.
Tickets for the Soft Cell show at The Regency Ballroom in San Francisco on November 11th can be purchased here.
