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Marc Almond and Dave Ball return to the TOTP studios as Soft Cell for the first time in nearly twenty years. We find out what they've been up to...


It's been ages since you've been on Top Of The Pops hasn't it?

Marc: Yeah, it's been a while... Dave: Well as Soft Cell, it was probably...God, it was back in the '80s!Marc: I think the last time we appeared as Soft Cell was for 'Soul Inside' and that was back 1984.What's it like coming back then?Marc: It's really great to be back playing here again in the studio. We've both been in doing a couple of solo things, like The Grid and that, but it's always nice to be back at the Top Of The Pops studio.Does it bring back any particular memories?Marc: Well, I can remember how exciting it was when we first did Top Of The Pops.Dave: I remember when we were driving down here to appear for the first time and phoning from a transport cafe to find out what number we were in the charts. It was quite incredible really. Marc: I think the other thing is that it changes your life once you've been on TOTP. You emerge a completely different person the day after you do it. I was always surprised how small the studios was as well. I'd always imagined it being this huge place, but it's really quite intimate.So tell us about the new single, 'The Night'.Dave: It's another soul cover version really. When we did 'Tainted Love' back in 1981, it was a choice between that track and 'The Night'. We never got round to recording it at the time, as we just got back into the studio to work on the new album. We thought we'd just pick it up again and it's turned out really well.Marc: I think we thought as well that it'd been waiting for us for all these years...Dave: Yeah, I mean it's a great song and much of it is in the Soft Cell scheme of things. It's kinda dark and works really well as one of our numbers. We've been playing it live in America and it's going down fantastically over there, so it's a good choice for us. Marc: I think it's a nod back to our roots for us again isn't...It's interesting that you say it was a choice between 'The Night' and 'Tainted Love'. Are you happy that you made the right choice?Dave: Yeah I think we did!Marc: [Laughs]Dave: I think history has kinda shown that we did make the right choice. Of course it's hard to tell really, because they're equally both nice songs. They're both dark, slightly sort of bitter edge to them. They're both strong songs, so it is hard to tell.Marc: I just think there was something special and unique about 'Tainted Love' though. I mean, it's still played now and people still cover it...Dave:...I mean it was on Eastenders the other night as well! [Laughs]Marc: I know, it's been on Eastenders a few times actually. But, people still get obsessed about it after all these years, so it was the right choice really.Dave: It's just one of those songs that's got a life of it's own really. I mean it's difficult to figure out just what's so special about that track, because we never knew how successful it would be at the time. It just seems to mean a lot to a lot of people. It's a dancefloor classic, it just seems to always get played at parties...Marc: ...and on the Queen Vic dukebox!

Did it ever feel like the track was over-taking the two of you in any sense?

Dave: I think it did, yeah, at one point. A lot of people at one time hadn't heard of Soft Cell, but had heard of 'Tainted Love', and I think we got a bit fed up with it. We went through a bit of a petulant stage, when we refused to play it live. But, I think we're big enough now to play it live. I don't think either of us would go home and put that record on though. It's not something I would listen to for pleasure now. [Laughs]Marc: It's just something that has taken on a life of it's own and belongs to the public now. It doesn't feel like ours now when we perform it. We have our hardcore fans that will know every track on every album, but there's a whole other audience that just know us for that or just the biggest hits that we've had. So, I think it kinda belongs to the public in that way really.Getting back to 'The Night', it does have a very electro-clash feel. Looking back, do you see yourselves as the founders of that sort of thing?Dave: I think we were probably among some of the originals. I mean obviously there was Human League and Cabaret Voltaire. I don't know whether it's down to synchronicity or what, but there just seemed to be a new kind of wave in music at the time. There were people from Sheffield, us from Leeds, but it just seemed like a new movement at the time. Everyone was thinking up their own ideas though.Marc: Soft Cell were always very song orientated though. Strong songs and choruses have always been very important to us. Maybe that makes us a bit old fashioned in a way, I don't know ... The thing about electro-clash though is that it brings really great beats and sounds and it's very visual and theatrical, something that's missing now really. There seems to be a real lack of strong songs or anthems at the moment. Fischerspooner had 'Emerge' and Ladytron are doing things that are kinda crossing over with pop, but I think a lot of stuff at the moment is in danger of becoming another passing, underground fad, never really making it's mark as a strong musical movement. Do you think then that songs lack a certain sense of story now?Marc: I think it's about beats, sounds and effects and in a way now, you could say it's all about presentation without any of this substance. We really need some strong songs to come from the electro-clash thing, it won't make it's mark otherwise.
Do you both make a point of keeping abreast of the pop scene now?Dave: I do listen to current stuff, but when you say 'pop' music...well, no! I think it's very cheesey, kiddie-orientated, so I wouldn't say either of us would keep abreast of that. But like with the electro-clash thing, we're very aware of current, modern music. I wouldn't say I've ever really been interested in the out-and-out pop stuff.Marc: I think as older artists you don't necessarily go around chasing the new sounds so much. It's good to keep an eye on it and see what's happening, but I don't think you'd seek to go aligning yourself with it too much. It's best to stick to your own thing and be true to yourselves. Do you have particular favourites that you keep around you when writing new material?Marc: I try to avoid listening to too much stuff when writing new material, because you don't want to be too influenced by it in a way. I always do go back to listen to a lot of older music, like Roxy Music or something. I think you do naturally like to return to stuff like that. But when you're recording, you're usually so immersed in writing the lyrics or new music that you don't really want to be listening to loads of other stuff. It can be depressing if it's better! [Laughs] I just wouldn't want to be too influenced by other things.Dave: I think you can subconsciously find yourself picking up on things. You hear something and it sticks in your head.Marc: I think also you become conscious of being fashionable and of pandering to something... Dave: Yeah, you kinda want to avoid being wilfully fashionable. It's worth listening out for current production values and stuff, so you know that your song doesn't sound like it's been made 15 years ago or something. I think we were both very conscious of that this time, we didn't want it to sound like it was made in the '80s...Marc:...while still being true to Soft Cell.Going back to 'Tainted Love', can you define five northern soul classics?Marc: [Laughs] Dave's the one for that really, more than me. Can you think your way through the thousands in your record collection...Dave: I think the rarest one is a track by Frank Wilson called 'Do I Love You?' currently valued at around £15,000 for a 7". I've got a bootleg of it though, I think there's only about two copies of it, but that's a great track! There's so many, the list could be endless. Another one is 'Love You Baby' by Eddie Parker.Marc: We did another song that was quite a good northern soul one, didn't we? Dave: Yeah, 'I'm Gonna Make You Love Me' by Sandy Sheldon. There really are so many great tracks that to do a definitive top 20 even would just be too difficult. I mean, 'The Night' is not strictly a northern soul track, there's another track by Frankie Valli called 'Are You Ready Now' which is more of a classic northern soul track. 'The Night' came out in the 1974 or something, it's a great track but not strictly northern soul I would say. Similarly, have you got a definitive top five torch songs?Marc: Again, that's really difficult. I couldn't be put on the spot about that you know. I like listening to a lot of classic songs, I like their simplicity and structure. I also like a lot of obscure stuff, I like going to record stores and fishing out very old '50s albums, like Johnny Ray. It's great that you can track stuff down on the net as well, as I love stuff from the '30s and '40s as well, you know crackily old songs.You're both noted for your eclectic taste, but are their any surprise possessions in your collections?Marc: A lot of early progressive music, a lot of Free and Deep Purple. [Laughs]
Any that you hide when credible people come round?Dave: I think I sold all my dodgy ones!Marc: Yeah, I think I had a clear out as well. Dave: I think both of us though have always collected really weird records. I mean, I just got a Pat Boone album, 'No More Mr Nice Guy' with Pat doing heavy metal. [Laughs] It's absolutely unbelievable, especially when he does 'Paradise City' with a brass section. On the front, there's a picture of him, with a leather waistcoat and nothing on underneath, with a little twinkle in his eye...trying to look like a rocker. It's the kitschist record I've bought...Pat Boone 'No More Mr Nice Guy', in a metal mood... You've got to get it!
Dave, through your work with The Grid, do you feel in any way responsible for 'Cotton Eye Joe'?Dave:[Laughs] It was pure coincidence! I'd heard this Irish band, so it was meant to be a more gaelic thing. I blame the whole line dancing craze, because 'Cotton Eye Joe' and 'Swamp Thing' got played a lot across America at the time. It was a massive hit, but it's slightly embarrassing to be associated with it. I think it's the only time that a banjo's been played in the Ministry of Sound.
And a question for you Marc, are you all set to follow up your biography this year?Marc: Next year, maybe... I think I might do a travelogue in a way, revisiting places I've been to in the past. Cities I went to 20 years ago, returning to see how they'd influence my music now. A kind of Marc Almond's 'Pole to Pole'...Marc: [Laughs] Yeah, I'm after a TV series!