Noise for Art's Sake

Rip It Up, Issue 110, 1 September 1986, Page 10

Noise for Art's Sake

Visible and Voca

So who’s afraid of the Art of Noise? Not us, pop fans, so we cornered two of their crucial three, JJ Jeczalik and Anne Dudley, over lunch in a bid to probe the psyche of an outfit either hated for its intellectual pretension or hailed for its innovative brand of electronic pop. Now over three years old, the Art of Noise have scored on various charts with numbers like ‘Beat Box', ‘Moments of Love’ and ‘Close (to the Edit)’, but it was this year's re-make of the Peter Gunn theme featuring legendary guitarist Duane Eddy that saw them scale international pop charts. Its success encouraged the band to shed its "anonymous studio whizz-kids” skin, so here we find JJ and Anne willing to talk about the art behind their noise. Unfortunately, an interview transcript cannot convey the tone of their, voices — very correct English public school, laced with sarcasm and frequent condescension. That may be for the best. ■. The Art of Noise... on the English press “We’re not a critics favourite now, for sure,” says JJ. “We’ve had a couple of hit records, so that’s it as far as they’re concerned.” Anne: “They love you when you’re up and coming; but can’t bear it when you make it. That happened with Frankie Goes to Hollywood as well.”

... on Frankie JJ: “We always felt they were tarred and feathered by our brush, as we had the first release on the record label [ZTT — the controversial brainchild of Trevor Horn and Paul Morley].” ... on the split with ZTT ' Anne: “We’ve been free of the lunacy for over a year now, so it is a bit of a dead issue. We've done lots since, and they haven't done much, so we are ahead!” ... on Trevor Horn Anne: “No, we weren’t his puppets. He wants people who are capable, so he wouldn’t have put up with puppets. We had this anonymous image, and we felt it was being exploited for the wrong reasons. It made out that other people, not us, were the band.” ... on ‘Peter Gunn’ Anne: “What happened is that we were working in the studio and had this bass riff. It was ridiculously similar to ‘Peter Gunn’, but we didn't realise it. When someone told us, we decided that rather than risk being sued, we’d go for it. Our main concern is getting a country hit. We’ve been on lots of charts in the States [dance, black, club, college, pop] but not country, so we said, ‘Let’s get Duane Eddy, he lives in Nashville.' ” ■ ... on Duane Eddy JJ: “He was expensive, but very approachable, very amenable. We enjoyed working with him, but we still don’t have a country hit!” ... on other versions of the song JJ: “No, we weren’t really aware of its historical perspective [the song has charted in four decades]. Yes,

I’ve heard Grandmaster Flash’s version; it’s just a backdrop to a rap." ... on rock nostalgia Anne: “On the English charts a little while ago, there was Sam Cooke, Diana Ross, Cliff Richard and Duane Eddy all in the Top 10. It looked like the 60s. The obsession with the past relects the paucity of good singers and songwriters.” ... on the next English musical explosion JJ: “We are it! Someone like Sigue Sigue Sputnik will come along, the scene explodes, thengoes to sleep again.” ... on a label for their music JJ: “It is all music. People are always jumping on some bandwagon about some term like ‘progressive’. They’re labelling something that defies labelling. Every track is different, we don’t know what to call it. We’ve been called ‘high-tech Weather Report', which I hate. More appealing is ‘instrumental group with voices’, but even that is nonsense.” ... on touring and playing live for the first time JJ: “We only played one show in England and that was for TV. We enjoyed it and were induced into a tour of the States. It is another thing to expose ourselves to in search of that elusive country hit! When we play live there are seven other musicians — bass, drums, percussion and four singers — all hooked up to various devices. It will be the same sounds people love and hate, but will be played. It is not sequenced, there’ll be no tapes.” ... on working with Malcolm McLaren on Duck Rock Anne: “Had it not been for our encounter with Malcolm, this probably wouldn’t have happened. We’d worked with pretty straight people up to then, and here’s this lunatic with no visible talent whatsoever, but he has a major record deal. He taught us to go for it, never take no for an answer. An engaging scallywag!”

... on film work ’ Anne: “We’re now discussing film scores in LA, which will be an interesting diversion. Our music is dramatic and emotional, so I think it could work well.” JJ: “We want people to imagine their own film as they’re listening to our music. That is part of the joy of making albums'. We want people to sit down; drink beer, get stoned or sleep to it — whatever is your penchant.” . ' Anne: " ‘Moments in Love’ was used in Pumping Iron and in Australian surf movies. Madonna and Sean Penn got married to it, and it was used in Britain for a Brylcreem ad!" ... on. videos JJ: "We have a very ambivalent view. Some videos you see are extremely ordinary. If we were to make music at a similar standard, record companies would reject it, but they seem to accept virtually anything in video.” Anne: ‘Close (to the Edit)’ is many people’s favourite video of all time; it’s a daunting standard to live up to. And we made one of the world’s worst for ‘Moments in Love’. We’ve plumbed the depths and scaled the heights!" ... on being political Anne: “We're not sure a musician has any right to say anything just because he’s had a few records. It seems strange that tax exiles come back and do benefits for Red Wedge, but they seem to be able to rationalise it.” ... on fascist orators JJ: “We used a tape of Pik Botha, but it could have been Hitler. It just happened to be an oblique reference to South Africa. lan Paisley is there as well; I just find his delivery amazing. Whether you love or hate him, that voice is extraordinary.” ... on their manifesto JJ: “When we began, we didn’t have any preconceived ideas of what we were doing. Manifestoes are always bolted on afterwards!"

Kerry Doole