Erasure • Features • Interviews

Vince Clarke (2001)

This interview with Vince Clarke was conducted via email in late 2001 and used for a musicology paper written by Austin Kaiser. Austin (who was studying music history and theory at the University of Oregon) argued in his paper that Vince Clarke "is one of the major songwriters of the late 20th century, and that his work bears comparison to such songwriting luminaries as Richard Rodgers, Noel Coward, Jerome Kern, etc".

I would like to extend my thanks to Austin in allowing the EIS to publish this interview.

1 - How extensive was your training in music theory? (Did you learn to read music? Learn scales, modes, relative majors/minors, harmony, etc., formally or did you learn it on your own?)

Vince: … i studied violin and music theory at a saturday morning music school for about 2 years and and can read music at a world breaking slow pace).

2 - At what age did you start writing songs? Were you thinking about what constituted a "great pop song" or did you just come up with a melody, words, etc.?

Vince: … started writing songs at the age of 15 and am still not sure what constitutes a great pop song (but I know what I like).

3 - What is the earliest song you wrote that ended up being recorded?

Vince: … demo-wise, a song called "reason man"… mute-wise, "dreaming of me".

4 - Has the song writing process been made easier through collaboration or is it the same as when you were doing both music and lyrics yourself? Alison Moyet, on her web site, claims that friction arose between the two of you over her getting "anal" (her term) over lyrics while you were less interested in them. Do you think this was true?

Vince: … .collaboration is no longer painful (or precious).

5 - Your song writing has seemed from the beginning to be focused primarily on melody, with sometimes sparse harmonic accompaniment. Does the song writing begin usually with melody or with chord progressions?

Vince: … ..melody and chord progression happen at the same time..(love and marriage , horse and carriage etc.)

6 - When you're writing, do you think about arrangements or does that come later? With the early DM and Yazoo records, the arrangements were generally less intricate than they eventually became with Erasure. Do you usually come up the arrangements or does the producer play a part?

Vince: … .the arrangements come later, but I am more aware of their importance. They are now a part of the song write.(not of production).

7 - This is a rather teeny bopper question, but could add some interesting insight. What songs, from "Speak and Spell" to "Loveboat," are you most proud of having written and why?

Vince: … ice machine (futuristic)… oh l'amour (glory)… weight of the world (pathos-istic??)… chorus (macho)… always (god… .I'm so hard done by)… rock me gently (arhhh)… .all of cowboy (pure)… .alien (yes!)

8 - What songwriters influenced you and why? (My paper attempts to establish you in the long line of writers beginning with Jerome Kern and Noel Coward who wrote popular music with sophistication and heavy doses of melody. I also compare you heavily to the French composer Francis Poulenc.)

Vince: … I'm flattered (and bladdered)… paul simon.

9 - Is the writing itself what is most important for you? (This is seems like a rather simple question, but what I mean is "Is song writing a vital part of life for you and do you look forward to it and enjoy it immensely" or something like that.)

Vince: … completing a song is the proudest, bestest most fulfilling moment.

10 - I think your best work has been since "Chorus." Do you think that you've gotten better as you've gone along and is this due to having more mastery of the actual craft of writing or due to your collaboration with Andy Bell or both or none, etc.?

Vince: … not better… .just different. Working with AB is a dream.

11 - Do you think in terms of scales when writing, i.e., "This is in C, so I'll need an F and a G7 chord, too," or do you just find the chords that fit with the melody on top? Any scales you prefer over others?

Vince: … .I kinda' know what might work, but if AB comes up with an unexpected top line, then I'll find the chord. I like C! (can't play?)

12 - Alan Jay Lerner said that there are two types of composers: the type who write in their heads and those who write with their fingers. Do you come up with songs in your head or do they come when you are actually in physical contact with an instrument?

Vince: ..AB in his head… me when I touch the instrument.

13 - There is a "Vince Clarke Sound" that is identifiable from "S & S" through "Loveboat." In the part of my paper on Erasure that I have already written, I compare the accessibility of Erasure's singles to what made ABBA so successful: equal parts melody and melodrama. What do you think has made the songs that you have written so consistently a feature on the charts and, more importantly, so successful as well written songs (rather than "hits")?

Vince:..err??

… .loads'a luck

..cheers

Vincent