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 Click for music events Familiar Situation Yaz reunites, 25 years later, for one tour
“I haven’t listened to these songs in 25 years… I’ve got all the multi-tracks back and I was really pleased at the way that they sounded. And I was quite surprised, just because they sounded very stark, and still quite powerful.”
Vince Clark pauses thoughtfully as he explains his feelings on returning to one of techno-pop’s most beloved and short-lived acts, Yaz. Calling from Glasgow, Scotland on just the fourth day of the reunion tour in support of “In Your Room” (the recently released 4-disc box set which includes re-mastered versions of “Upstairs at Eric’s,” “You and Me Both,” as well as B-sides and new remixes), Clark sounds excited, but a little cautious.
“We did quite extensive rehearsals for this tour, and we haven’t actually performed together in 25 years. Everything’s changed since then… the technology and everything.”
Clark brings up the quarter-century mark again, but it was a significant point in his life. His previous band Depeche Mode had become a success, propelled by Clark’s slick pop-tunefulness on songs like “Just Can’t Get Enough.” But his departure allowed Martin Gore’s moodier side to flourish as principal songwriter. Clark, meanwhile, joined up with a fresh female vocalist for a new project.
“What happened was that I had a [demo] of “Only You,” which I had written. And I’d heard Alison [Moyet] sing in a few bands—a couple of R&B bands and a punk band—and I knew she had a brilliant voice. This particular song I felt needed a certain depth of emotion and compassion and feeling, and I knew she could deliver that with the sound of her voice… She has an incredibly emotional voice.”
The juxtaposition of Moyet’s dynamic, bluesy voice and Clark’s synth-laden compositions became Yaz’s most compelling attribute, winning them places in the heart of almost every electronic recording artist working today. But for all their success and latter-day position of reverence among current producers (like Hercules and Love Affair, DFA’s new hotshit act and admitted Yaz freaks whose remix of “Situation” appears in the box set), Moyet and Clark parted ways after just two years and two albums—the former went on to record a few well-received solo albums and collaborations with the likes of Tricky, The Lightning Seeds and King Britt, while the latter found a new partner in Andy Bell and began a 20-year-and-counting partnership as Erasure.
When asked to compare or contrast working with such icons as Moyet, Gore and Gahan and Bell, Clark really views Bell and Erasure as his only true artistic relationship.
“The difference between my relationship with Depeche and my relationship with Alison all those years ago, and working with Andy is the fact that it’s a very close relationship with Andy. We both write songs together, we both work together, and we both trust each other implicitly, and we both support each other. Our relationship is like a very steady marriage I suppose, you know? All the other projects that I was involved with were very short lived, so there was never the chance to really develop any relationship. In all the time that I worked with Alison, we never went out for a drink or anything together. We just worked on my music, but didn’t get to know each other.”
The record company planned on the box set release, and with Erasure on a temporary break, it would seem like a natural decision to revisit Yaz’s now hallowed ground. But Clark did have some reservations.
“I wouldn’t have been comfortable doing this unless Andy said this was OK—which he did. Also, when [Alison and I] stopped working together 25 years ago, we didn’t part on the best of terms… She says it’s like being married to someone, and then saying ‘you know what, I’m going to hook up with an ex-girlfriend for a bit.’”
Clark even talks of using time on the tour to write some songs together, saying that they’ve “never really done that properly before.” But before any questions of new recordings can surface, Clark continues. "We both know a lot more about songwriting [now] than when we did when we first started. And we know a lot more about collaboration, and the idea of not being so precious… but we have no plans to record.” When asked to expound on what it means to be precious, Clark explains with the maturity of a working artist. “You write a tune, and if your partner isn’t really into it, then what you do is drop it, because there’s always another song to write. That’s something I didn’t know when I was 25!”
And so it is—a wiser and more seasoned Clark joins his estranged and most revered vocalist on the road for their first performances in 25 years. So what should Chicago fans expect from the show?
“Well, its not an Erasure show,” he states before pausing for thought. “I think the songs are a bit more serious than the songs that I’ve written since then. Alison has an amazing stage presence, and it’s a little bit hard and harsh, I think in some ways, and I think the audience will get the sense and depth of the songs…I don’t know, I like it!”
But have they updated are changed any of the favorites to be performed?
“It was very tempting to update it all, but I decided…I’ve really tried to stick to the originals as much as possible. Had we been performing these songs for twenty years or so, I probably would’ve changed them around a bit. I’ve updated a little bit, but I’ve tried to stay true to the sound of the original albums, just because these songs have never been heard before.”
Yaz at the Chicago Theatre, 175 N. State, (312)462-6300, on July 14, 8pm. $45-72.
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