ABC - Interview with Martin Fry

  by Andrew Twambley

published: 26 / 5 / 2023

When anyone thinks of Martin Fry of ABC what are the main subjects that spring to mind? ….. A gold suit and 1982’s ‘The Lexicon of Love’, undoubtably one of the greatest and most durable pop albums of all time. ABC burst onto the scene when punk rock had died off and the New Romantics were no longer amorous. They fused the music of the dance floor with modern electronica and blended it with the newly emerging power of MTV, and with a little sprinkle of funk soul and orchestration thrown in for good measure. They created a masterwork in ‘The Lexicon of Love’ that still sounds fresh to this day. Martin Fry and ABC are just about to release a 40th anniversary version of ‘The Lexicon of Love’, which was recorded in his adopted home city of Sheffield. We spoke to Martin about it, meeting Andy Warhol…and why he had me chucked out of one of his gigs… PB: Hi Martin. Greetings from a cold and wet Manchester. MARTIN FRY: Where are you in Manchester? PB: Didsbury. MF: Oh, yeah, I know it. PB: Whereabouts are you? MF: I am in Orlando at The Hard Rock Hotel, overlooking Universal. I can see Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory and Forrest Gump’s Shrimp Shack PB: Well, I can see Kentucky Fried Chicken and a bus stop. MF: Don’t hate me. I am sure Didsbury is great! It’s quite posh there, isn’t it? PB: Yes, it’s very nice but I am not sure about posh. MF: I was born in Stretford, which is quite near by, and all people there used to talk about was the Munich Air Disaster. Whatever I was doing back then, people always used to talk about that team. It cast a shadow over the area PB: We are here to talk about ‘The Lexicon of Love’, the gift that keeps on giving. Your PR sent me a copy of the forthcoming live album and it’s like ‘The Lexicon of Love’ on speed. MF: On steroids (Laughs). We recorded it in Sheffield, four decades to the day after it was released. Someone said, “Come to Sheffield City Hall“ so I took the orchestra, The Southbank Symphonia, Anne Dudley and my tux, and we did ‘Lexicon’ and a whole bunch of other songs. It is, as you say, the gift that keeps on giving. People tell me it’s a classic album. PB: That is undoubtably true. Everyone bought a copy back then. Did you realise at the time the legacy you were creating? Forty years later we are talking about it as if it’s a new release! MF: No, we were all in Sheffield at the time, dancing to Earth Wind and Fire, Chic and Sister Sledge, great disco tunes, and then we came back home and were listening to Joy Division and The Cure, The Pop Group, Magazine, and I was trying to fuse those two worlds. I remember saying to Trevor Horn who produced it, “I don’t think we have enough songs.” He said, “No, we are done. It is good.” But when I heard the pressing I remember wishing I had sneaked a couple more songs on. The answer your question is, however, no. We knew we had something\ but not what it turned into! We had had a hit with ‘Tears Are Not Enough’, and ‘Poison Arrow’ was a hit while we were making the album. We saw that the 1970s were over and we were looking at the future. Music was going through a change and we felt part of it, We thought that we were the future, the kind of thing you think when you are young and stupid. PB: It is an outstanding album, one of the very few without a bad track, every one a potential single. MF: We wanted an international record that would compete all around the world. A lot of people were thinking that way. We wanted it funky, polished and a bit spiky. But, no, we never realised its actual impact. There is a song, ‘I‘m Gonna Write A Classic’…I always wince at that ! But our timing was great. When I get upon stage and play those songs, they sound kind of contemporary. I love Iggy Pop, but sometimes when I play his stuff it sounds as if it's from a different era, whereas ‘Lexicon’ has a life of its own. PB: Before you left Manchester and hit Sheffield, what whew you listening to? MF: Well, I went to The Lesser Free Trade Hall for the second Sex Pistols gig, the July ‘76 gig with Slaughter and The Dogs and Buzzcocks. Pete Shelley had like half a guitar...then The Pistols came on. Back in those days I went to The Free Trade Hall religiously and saw the likes of Tangerine Dream, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Dr Feelgood, Queen, all brilliant but then, the punk thing happened I really got into that. I remember going to The Factory to see Joy Division and The Clash at some Manchester club. I remember seeing Blondie, The Clash, The Ramones and others at a club in North Manchester PB: The Electric Circus? MF: Yeah. that’s it. It was just a great time to grow up, get a train into town and see all these amazing bands. PB. What made you migrate over The Pennines? MF: I didn’t know where Sheffield was but got into university there and arrived in the late ‘70s. It had a totally different scene to Manchester, very post punk and experimental. You could see Def Leppard on a Tuesday night, and on the next few nights Cabaret Voltaire or The Human League. I just could not have asked for a better apprenticeship. The streets were on fire. PB: What were you wearing in those days? I ask, because you look like a man with a season ticket at Stolen From Ivor. MF: Yes, Stolen From Ivor, I remember the bags. I was a kind of suedehead. I had the crombie and the green brogues, a dangerous look in Manchester. Later on, I was into stay press trousers and Brutus and Ben Sherman shirts or whatever we could buy in a jumble sale…mainly old men’s clothes. PB: By complete co-incidence I saw you on TV a week or so ago featuring in a BBC documentary about The Blitz called ‘The New Romantics : A Fine Romance’. It mainly featured Boy George, Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran, but you were interviewed in several parts in it. I never had you down as a New Romantic or a Blitz kid. MF: No, I wasn’t a New Romantic and didn’t go to The Blitz. I don’t think I have seen that. ‘The Lexicon of Love’ was post New Romantic and our view of the world was very different. With titles like ‘The Lexicon of Love’ and ‘The Look of Love’, some people identified us a new romantic but really we were the next generation. We were about working the dance floor PB: Martyn Ware from Heaven 17 has referred to you as ‘The King of Cool’. Now that’s one hell of a handle. Are you happy with that? MF: That’s not bad actually. He would never say that to my face but I like it. PB: Now, talking of cool, I believe you once met Andy Warhol. How did that happen? MF: Well, we were signing on the dole in Sheffield then ‘Tears Are Not Enough’ was a hit and the record company said we could go to America. So we just went with the idea of breaking The USA. We were in New York, and one of The Factory crew was at the show and said “Would you like to come down to The Factory on Tuesday morning and meet Andy?” Now I had been talking art and stuff for years so we went to The Factory. Glenn O'Brien, who was a famous art writer and one of Warhol’s crew, was there and he said, “ Come and meet Andy,” and, yes, it was brilliant and surreal. We sat down, had a cup of tea with him and we started chatting about a million and one things, whilst at the same time people would come in asking him to sign stuff. He signed a doodle for me, and he was really interested in our videos and the new genre of pop videos and MTV. He totally got the art behind the pop. I mean look at the ‘Sticky Fingers’ cover and The Velvet Underground stuff. To be honest, he was interested in everything. He was cool. PB: Of all the writers who have interviewed you, I bet I am the only one you have chucked out of one of your gigs! MF: Eh? Which gig was that? PB: Tatton Park in Cheshire, 2nd August 2009. It was you, The Human League and Belinda Carlisle. I had a photo pass to shoot the gig, but the pass only had The Human League written on it, and when ABC hit the stage I was asked for my pass. Security were having none of it, and when I kicked off I was escorted out of the park. I have always blamed you for that! MF: Ha, you should blame The Human League. They are known for that. We once did a gig with them ,and we were standing on the stairs at The Hammersmith Odeon and they tried to clear us out. You should have told them to “fuck off” (Laughs). PB: There were four of them and I had all my gear…and they were big! When are you next on tour? MF: We have a show here tonight and we are planning to tour the orchestral show later in the year. PB: Great to speak to you, Martin, and see you later on the year. MF: Yeah, see you then. Make sure you don’t get thrown out! PB: Thank you. ABC release ‘Lexicon of Love Live in Sheffield’ on 28th April 2023.. Photis by Andrew Twambley www,twambey,com

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