Doublespeak is the new collaboration project featuring three of the biggest names in electronic music. Featuring Vince Clarke, Benge and Blancmange's Neil Arthur, this is the ultimate electronic covers band and their new, self-titled album is out this month, a fascinating and eclectic mix of tracks covering everyone from ABBA to David Essex, Fad Gadget to Thomas Leer.
We chatted to all three members over two interviews – all three have yet to meet in person – to discuss how this trio of 'synthusiasts' locked horns and made the album, but first, let's introduce each Doublespeaker.
Benge is an electronic artist, with nearly 30 albums to his name, plus a producer and current member of the Cabaret Voltaire live band. He has worked with Arthur before, producing most of Blancmange's recent albums and also John Foxx, The Magnetic North, Hannah Peel and Gazelle Twin.
Benge's MemeTune Studios, where the Doublespeak album was produced and which is currently being relocated from Cornwall to London, features some of the most iconic pieces of studio equipment ever built, including legendary synths he sometimes recovered from skips. “I'm not a proper musician,” he admits. “I studied painting, but I've always been into electronic instruments and music. I'm into '60s and '70s and '80s stuff, and not just synths and effects, but houses and cars. I like to create an environment for the studio, so it's more than just a room to record in. I love immersing myself in all these amazing old instruments and recording gear that people, once upon a time, were just throwing away.”
Next up we have Neil Arthur who – along with Stephen Luscombe, who sadly passed away last year – formed Blancmange and scored multiple hits in the 1980s with tracks like Living on the Ceiling, Blind Vision and Don't Tell Me.
After a lengthy hiatus, the duo got back together in 2011. Health problems meant that Stephen had to eventually leave Arthur with the Blancmange name, but he has released over a dozen albums since, and collaborated with many artists, including Finlay Shakespeare and I Speak Machine.
Vince Clarke needs no introduction – just join the dots between Depeche Mode, Yazoo, The Assembly and Erasure yourself. Vince and Neil have a long history, and first crossed paths when Blancmange and Depeche Mode played live together and had early tracks on a now seminal compilation album.
“It was around 1981 when we supported Depeche Mode,” Arthur recalls, “and then before that, because of the Stevo [Some Bizarre label owner] connection and his sample album.”
This legendary album had the first releases from some of the most iconic names in synth-pop and new wave, including Depeche Mode, The The, Blancmange and Soft Cell.
“It's a great album and we were lucky enough to get a track on there,” says Neil. “And Stevo organised some gigs, and one of them was at the Hope and Anchor in Islington. Depeche Mode were headlining and we were supporting.
“We set up and Daniel Miller [Mute Records founder] came up and said, 'do you mind going on after the lads [Depeche Mode]'. We were flattered, but asked why and he said, 'well, they've got to leave early and get the train back to Basildon!' And after the set was finished they tootled off with a synth each under their arms!
“Then, of course, Vince left [the band] and we kept in touch. I used to go to see him in Basildon and then go down to Blackwing Studios [where Depeche recorded early tracks], which is where we also worked once we got signed.”
Vince also recalls their first meeting: “Even then I was blown away by Neil's stage presence and his giant voice, and the fact that it was electronic music, because that's what we were all into. I moved to London, got to know them and we used to socialise quite a bit. Then we all went on a jolly holiday!”
Someone needs to make a drama about this holiday: Blancmange and Vince Clarke lying in the sun in Tenerife has 'surreal BBC sitcom' or 'synthcom' writ large on it.
During this break, both acts discovered a joint love of ABBA which would result in two hits: Blancmange with The Day Before You Came in 1982 and Erasure with the Abba-esque EP a decade later. Fast forward a couple more decades and their paths would cross again, resulting in another ABBA cover, The Visitors, on the Doublespeak album.
“A few years ago we got back in touch, just asking how each other were,” says Neil on the birth of this latest project, “and we decided to try a couple of covers. It wasn't with a view to anything happening, it was just like, 'we know each other, we've had some good times, and we could have a really good time doing this'. We started working very sporadically, and it built from there.”
“Yeah it wasn't really a set-in-stone project,” Vince adds, “but Neil sent me a version of Rock On, the David Essex song. It sounded really good and really interesting, and I love the song, and it just went from there. But it was very on and off – it's been a long, long time!”
Cover story
Vince details where the rest of the song choices came from: “It was mostly suggestions from Neil, which I'm really glad of, because a lot of the songs, artists and bands I didn't know, so working on them was much more interesting, because you could do whatever you liked.
“If you were covering, I don't know, David Bowie's Heroes,” he suggests, “where'd you go? A lot of the originals on this were very simple arrangements, very broad sounding, so already there's this massive space that you could hopefully fill with something interesting.”
“I didn't start off with a list,” Neil admits. “It was more like, 'that might be a good one to do'. One time we had decided to do a Fad Gadget track [Back to Nature] and that triggered the Robert Rental and Thomas Leer one [Day Breaks, Night Heals]. These were songs that I've grown up with and were an important part of my creative development. Like being at art college and going out to see these bands: the Young Marble Giants, This Heat, Gang of Four, Pere Ubu and people like that.
“The important thing is that we all agreed on a list, the fact that Vince said yes, and Ben said yes. And that they're not 'copies'; it's not a tribute. We're not attempting to recreate the songs in their original likeness; hopefully you get us coming out in there as well.”
And of the process itself, it was a case of virtual creation: “Neil would send me a file, maybe a demo with a rough vocal,” says Vince, “and then I would start embellishing it, maybe re-recording some of the synth parts. Some of the sounds are still Neil's, but I saw it as my role to finesse the sounds a little, and maybe add textures.
“Obviously with the synths I have, the sound of what I do is slightly different from soft synths, just because of the nature of what it is. I think it makes it more… I'm not gonna say granular, but it makes it more gritty. It would then go to Neil, he would maybe re-record some of his vocals, and then Benge got involved with his mixing skills and his own sounds.”
“Yeah, eventually we got a pile of songs together and then we asked Benge to get involved and sort out the bloody mess!” Neil laughs.
Bringing it all together
The album was recorded in Benge's studio in Cornwall: “I have this amazing Neve console, their flagship mixer that was built about 20 years ago, that we mixed the album on,” he says.
“My role was to make it sound like an album rather than a collection of random songs and styles,” he adds. “The first one I did was Rock On. We went for this really edgy, stripped back, minimal sound. That was the most interesting template, so we worked on the more post punk/new wave types of tracks.
“I ended up putting on some extra drum parts and synth sequences, but not really that many. A lot of it was done – the arrangements, all the vocals, pretty much, and Vince's amazing parts – so it fitted together like a weird jigsaw puzzle, and mine was more of a galvanising role.”
Benge's vast synth collection was used to fill in some gaps but one thing completely absent on the album was… the software plugin.
“There's a 'no plugin' rule in the studio,” he explains, “just because I have access to these amazing old '80s and '90s reverbs, delays, flanges, and phasers. I love using all that old gear and, to me, that's the finishing touch, and it also gives it a unique sound. It doesn't sound like everyone else's track sounds because everyone's basically using the same plugins on everything.”
Benge has a similar rule when it comes to modern synths: “I don't really use anything post 1998. OK there is the Cric, which is amazing, made by Finlay Shakespeare and Future Sound Systems. It's basically like a crazy VCS3. But my rule is I don't go down the modern path because there's so much; every bit of equipment I buy means less time with something I've already got. And I've got a lot of stuff; I was saying to someone, I think Neil, that between me and Vince, we've got all the synths!”
Synth chat, of course
Which raises the most important question: who's got the best synth collection out of Benge and Vince? Let's leave this for neutral Neil to answer: “Vince said he reckons that Ben has,” Neil laughs, “but only because Vince has got rid of some of his stuff.”
Vince agrees: “Yeah it's Benge! He just has. I've gotten rid of lots. I used to have a big collection, but over the years I've looked at various bits and I'm thinking, 'do I have that because I use it, or because it's good to have?' It's like having a car collection: do you use it? It's quality over quantity. It's easy to say that, though, isn't it!”
“Yeah I don't get rid of stuff, I'll just pile it up,” Benge admits. “Plus I think we've got slightly different tastes, because I have a lot of polysynths – I don't think Vince has many as he just doesn't work like that. I've also got a lot of early 90s polysynths that I love and you can still get cheap.”
Sadly, neither collector/band member has had the chance to see the other's collection in person as the recording and mixing of the album was done remotely – in fact the three of them have never been in the same room.
“We were meant to get together to mix it, all together,” Neil explains, “but that didn't happen, so it ended up with just Benge and me. Well, Benge mixed it, and I was just annoying him!”
With that in mind, any live dates to support the album will also be difficult (Vince lives on the West coast of the US), which is probably just as well as each of the three Doublespeak members each have day jobs to return to.
“I'm off to South Africa to play some festivals with the Human League,” says Neil “And then I'm doing some more festivals. In fact, I'm doing another one with the Human League; I did a lot with them last year, actually, and then I'm off with Tom Bailey and Thompson Twins in September.”
Benge is even busier, working with Cabaret Voltaire on their final tour, as he explains: “Richard Kirk is no longer with us, unfortunately, but Chris [Watson] and Mal [Stephen Mallinder] are the two founder members of the band and decided to take it out and do some final gigs. They hadn't done gigs as Cabaret Voltaire for 20 years or something. I've been working with Mal – on a project called Wrangler and his two solo albums – for years now.
“A lot of the original Cabs tapes are lost or damaged, so we re-engineered everything, all the backing stems for live, all redone in my studio on the original equipment, because I've got a lot of the gear that they would have had – LinnDrums, 909s and all that stuff. I'm in the live band as well, playing. It's a really amazing thing to be doing, and for people to be able to hear the old tracks again.”
And finally Vince? Well he's returning to Erasure… “Andy [Bell]'s recording vocals for the next Erasure record, then that'll be mixed,” he says before adding secretively, “and I'm just 'tinkering the ivories' for another project which, well, we'll see!”
However, he is also up for continuing the Doublespeak project but in a new direction: “I'd be very interested in working with Neil and Benge again, maybe on some original material. We did a couple of extra tracks for this record, which were two original songs, and the way that the songwriting went just worked really well. This is a nice way of doing something, so, you know, hopefully, possibly, maybe, there'll be some new material coming out.”
Either way, surely it is time for Doublespeak to speak in person, right? “I'm really hoping that Neil and Benge will travel to California. Number one, it's sunny, and number two – I'm here. What more could you want?”
