The Artwork Of Falling Aside
The Comfortable Cell story is one among wild, hedonistic success. Right here, Marc Almond and Dave Ball confess all – about controversial efficiency artwork, New York’s wicked membership scene, the perils of getting hit information and their very own eventual downfall. One bystander claims: “It was intercourse, medicine and digital rock’n’roll!”
Initially revealed in Uncut 257 (October 2018).
“There was at all times a darkness round Comfortable Cell,” says Marc Almond, warming to the story of his band’s relentlessly perverse progress by the Nineteen Eighties. “And that fuelled Dave’s darkness, and it fuelled my darknesses… Our entire profession, actually, the entire Comfortable Cell story, was only a miasma of darkness!”
However not as we speak. It’s been fairly a yr for the person christened Peter Mark Sinclair Almond in Southport, 1957, and on this sunny midsummer morning in Mayfair he’s positively beaming. First, he was made one of many nice unlikely OBEs of contemporary instances within the New Yr’s honours. Then, one of many badgers on Springwatch was named after him (“After all, that’s the factor I’m proudest of,” he smiles), confirming his standing as nationwide treasure.
And now, 40 years after he first met Dave Ball at Leeds Poly, Comfortable Cell have introduced a 10-disc profession defining boxset – Keychains & Snowstorms – and a sold-out gig on the O2 on the finish of September.
“We talked about doing the boxset after which I stated, ‘Lets do a one-off present?’” he explains, dressed as at all times, from dyed hair to pointed boots, in immaculate black. “I can’t do a tour. So let’s do one large present – however the place? Somebody steered the Albert corridor, however I stated, ‘If we’re going to do it, let’s do it massively. So I stated, ‘What concerning the O2?’ It bought out in a weekend! I don’t assume we ever had that a lot religion in ourselves, to be very trustworthy. I at all times imagined our followers had been about 200 individuals in bedsits.”
Nursing a mid-afternoon whisky in a venerable Soho boozer, Dave Ball remains to be shocked. “I imply, bloody Nora!” he cackles, nonetheless a Blackpool boy in spite of everything these years of metropolis life. “The final time I went to the O2 I noticed U2! It’s such a large place. It’s going to be terrifying! However I hear there’s an entire backstage leisure space they constructed for Michael Jackson in 2009 and it’s nonetheless there. I’m decided to have look spherical there.”
“We dealt in extremities”
In any case this time, Comfortable Cell nonetheless really feel like trespassers, an odd couple of arty, insecure, northern outsiders who walked by the unsuitable door someday in 1981 and wound up in Twentieth-century pop artwork legend. of all of the schemers and dreamers who outlined the golden age of British pop 1979 – 1982, Almond and Ball appear to exemplify greater than anybody else the absurd, exhilarating potentialities of the instances. “We dealt in extremities, actually,” says Ball. “It was both extremely pop or very darkish. It was a bit bipolar. We lined the entire vary of human feeling… from a really twisted vantage level.”
The brand new boxset, which Ball has labored on for the previous two years, and which diligently charts the profession from Leeds Poly efficiency artwork, by sensational, unintended pop success, catastrophic hangover and on to the abortive early ’00s comeback, is subtitled The Comfortable Cell Story, as if it had been some classically melodramatic MGM biopic. Who might probably do justice to such a manufacturing? You think about Fassbinder at his most lurid, working from a devilish script by Joe Orton, with help from Alan Bennett for the odd dollop of northern sauce.
“A movie could possibly be attention-grabbing,” admits Almond “however I don’t know who might do it. It’s such a mad story. We didn’t do something the traditional approach. The minute we acquired a giant hit report with ‘Tainted Love’ was the start of the top of the band, actually. That’s simply the way it was: it actually was the artwork of falling aside.”
“It was the artwork of falling aside”
Even in the beginning, Comfortable Cell’s story was knowledgeable by a level of drama. This was 1977, and Dave Ball, resplendent in Doc Martins and Levi’s, enrolled at Leeds Polytechnic. “It was my first day,” he remembers. “I used to be wandering round, searching for the artwork division. I noticed this man with quick dyed-black hair, leopard pores and skin high, gold lamé denims and winklepickers. He was so clearly the proper frontman.”
Initially, they got here collectively when Almond heard the bleeps of Ball’s new Korg synth and fancied he’d discovered the soundtrack to his newest efficiency artwork piece (bare, smeared in cat meals, draped in a swastika: the standard). They quickly started writing songs and performing round Leeds, simply as new romanticism hit the north. “We acquired lumped in with that, however we got here out of extra of a punk ethos,” says Ball. “Punk with synths.” relatively than the Blitz children, the nascent Comfortable Cell aspired to a few of the Ballardian stylish of the Sheffield scene – Clock DVA, Cabaret Voltaire, authentic human League, together with the economic thrum of Throbbing Gristle, Pere Ubu and Suicide. “I used to be extra into supermarkets and automotive crashes than bloody yachts within the Bahamas,” says Ball. “You’ll be able to’t think about Comfortable Cell doing a video on a yacht, are you able to? Possibly a sinking yacht.”
The Futurama 2 pageant, which befell in Leeds in September 1980, was a turning level. on a invoice that included Siouxsie & The Banshees, echo And The Bunnymen, The Psychedelic Furs and – naturally – Gary Glitter, the band performed to over 2,000 individuals and earned an encore. Anni Hogan, who had simply arrived in Leeds as pupil, and would go on to carry out in Marc & The Mambas, was impressed. “There have been plenty of bands taking part in, nevertheless it was Comfortable Cell who made the largest affect on me,” she says.
“It was intercourse, medicine and digital rock’n’roll!”
“I had seen them round city earlier than – in my head I known as them The Males In Black – however seeing them stay… I assumed the songs had been unbelievable. The look was unbelievable. Finally they’d a room going of their home and I moved in. It was intercourse, medicine and digital rock’n’roll!
“It was a really vibrant time in Leeds. Terrible instances within the nation politically, however there was a tremendous cultural backlash to that. I noticed all of it by Comfortable Cell’s eyes. I acquired a job working on the Amnesia membership and finally I used to be requested to e book the bands. So in fact I booked Comfortable Cell they usually did ‘Tainted Love’ for the primary time. I bear in mind Stevo was there.”
A lot of Comfortable Cell’s chaotic profession path may be attributed to their alternative of Stevo as a supervisor. In an period of magnificent mavericks, he would possibly simply have been essentially the most wayward. “There was simply one thing about him,” remembers Almond. “I bear in mind assembly him for the primary time: he had this grown-out human League haircut with all of the roots displaying and the remnants of two-day-old blusher on his face. I didn’t consider him as being like a 17-year-old. he was a barrow boy in a approach, with the reward of the gab. he requested us to ship him some music. So Dave borrowed some cash from his mum and we made a bit vinyl report, ‘Mutant Moments’.”
“We had been getting cash chucked at us by Spandau Ballet and Visage”
Stevo included “The Woman With The Patent Leather-based Face” on a sampler for his fledgling label, the Some Bizzare Album, alongside tracks by The The, Blancmange and Depeche Mode. The duo had been notably impressed by the latter.
“We performed with them in 1980 at Croc’s in Rayleigh,” remembers Almond. “That they had all these superbly ready tracks, they usually all seemed incredible. We, then again, sounded terrible.”
“We had been getting cash chucked at us by Spandau Ballet and Visage,” laughs Ball. “They had been shouting, ‘Get again up north!’ Rusty Egan instructed Stevo to not signal us. However you already know, we had been shit. It was a little bit of a turning level for us. We knew we needed to get it sounding higher.”
The wheeling-dealing Stevo not solely persuaded Phonogram to signal the pair as a part of job lot with Nottingham new-wavers B-Film – he additionally acquired Mute label boss Daniel Miller to provide “Memorabilia”. launched in March 1981, the one turned across the band’s popularity.
“I didn’t take into consideration attempting to create a success single”
It grew to become a membership hit – making an impression as far afield as New York – nevertheless it did not chart. hoping to recoup a few of their advance, Phonogram put the band within the studio with home producer Mike Thorne and, trying to find one thing extra business, struck on a canopy model the pair had began performing stay.
“We determined that we wished to get a pop edge or relatively a dance edge into our songs,” says Almond. “I used to be at all times DJing and Dave cherished ’60s soul music. So we thought what about if we strive a few cowl variations in our set? The Human League had simply executed ‘You’ve Misplaced That Loving Feeling’, so Dave stated, ‘Why don’t we do a northern Soul track?’ he performed me ‘The evening’ by Frankie Valli. I assumed that could possibly be good. After which he performed me a track by Gloria Jones that simply appeared excellent…”
Mike Thorne, a former tape operator for Deep Purple whose manufacturing credit included Wire’s first three albums, remembers the primary time he labored with Almond and Ball. “Phonogram known as me and stated, ‘Now we have a few attention-grabbing initiatives for you, however there’s no cash,’” he laughs. “They wished me to do each B-Film and Comfortable Cell’s second singles. I assumed, ‘I can do two singles in a short time, one after one other. However they’re simply going to really feel rushed.’ So I despatched up the 2 singles in parallel. That may have made them really feel like they had been on a manufacturing line, however I used to be attempting to present them house and perspective. It was exhausting for me – ultimately we completed ‘Tainted Love’ at 2am.
“I didn’t take into consideration attempting to create a success single, it doesn’t matter what Phonogram wished,” he insists. “I by no means consider any undertaking with a short. I had the conceitedness to assume I knew what labored. I’d been around the block a number of instances.”
“All hell broke unfastened”
“When the white labels of ‘Tainted Love’ went out to DJs, the vibe within the golf equipment was good, nevertheless it simply stored getting larger,” remembers Ball. “After which when the report was truly launched it went straight into the charts. We went to Phonogram’s workplace on Bond Road and there was this extremely glamorous girl in an open-top Rolls Royce driving spherical taking part in ‘Tainted Love’ at full quantity. It was a reasonably good gimmick.”
The one entered the charts at No 62 in August 1981 and stored climbing. Finally they had been requested to seem on Prime Of The Pops. It’s honest to say that neither the BBC nor Phonogram had been fairly ready for Comfortable Cell’s debut on early-evening TV.
Impressed by a mix of Nineteen Twenties socialite Nancy Cunard, existential pin-up Juliet Gréco and Siouxsie Sioux, Almond appeared draped in bracelets, blind with mascara, head to toe in black. “The report firm simply stated, ‘You’ll be able to’t go on dressed like that!’ It grew to become a battle, actually. ‘OK I’ll placed on the largest false eyelashes I probably can’… ‘I’ll carry out ‘Bedsitter’ in a leather-based cap I purchased in a New York homosexual bar…’ It was gender-fluid taking part in earlier than that was modern.” It was to go down as one among all-time nice Prime Of The Pops debuts.
“All hell broke unfastened,” laughs Almond. “Folks both wished to homicide me, mom me or fuck me. Or all three on the identical time! It was scary however I felt actually excited. It’s about making a second, like that David Bowie and Mick Ronson second, or the primary time you noticed Alice Cooper. I assumed, ‘Properly yeah, that’s what I wished to do at artwork faculty: create a second.’”
“Hey have this, do this, do that…”
The second led all of them the best way to New York to report their debut album, Non-Cease Erotic Cabaret.
“I actually assume the worst factor the report firm might have executed to us at that time was sending us to New York,” says Almond matter-of-factly. “We had been taken over first-class. I had rarely flown earlier than, not to mention been on a first-class flight. It was unbelievable. We acquired fairly drunk. After which we had a limousine to take us into the town. And as we had been driving, the very first thing we heard on the radio was there’s this new illness been found, it didn’t have a reputation. But it surely had been affecting Haitians and homosexual males…
“The primary evening we had been there, we had been taken to what was left of Studio 54,” he continues. “Somebody put downers in my drink. There have been half-naked individuals gyrating on the bar: boys, ladies. Folks had been coming as much as me and saying, ‘Hey have this, do this, do that…’
“I used to be out of it with jetlag, tradition shock… The entire time there’s actually fireplace within the streets, you already know, bins on fireplace. It was similar to Taxi Driver! I sat on the curb and I simply cried my eyes out. A stripper known as Janet sat down with me and stated, ‘Oh include me, Marc, I’ll take care of you.’ And so we went to an after-hours membership, and that’s how it began: the start of the top of Comfortable Cell! We hadn’t even recorded a notice of Non-Cease Erotic Cabaret but!”
“There was a decadence”
“I don’t assume it was fairly the start of the top,” demurs Ball. “However there was a decadence. You possibly can get any drug you wished and any type of sexual factor… all the things was out there. Within the drug division we excelled. It was like a giant model of Soho. I cherished it! We used to rent a limo ’cos it was cheaper than getting cabs. We’d discover a number of of our girl pals and we had a stack of tablets and cocaine and bottles of champagne. We’d drive spherical from membership to membership and we’d get in without cost in all places. It was truly fairly an inexpensive evening out!”
One of many vibrant faces they met in New York was Cindy Ecstasy – the band’s someday vendor who ended up singing on a few of their best singles. “I feel Marc and Stevo discovered her,” remembers Ball. “I bear in mind them coming again to the residence one evening and saying, ‘We’ve acquired these capsules from Cindy, would you like one? It’s known as ecstasy and it’s fucking superb!’ It was truly authorized then. So we went out and I took one and I had essentially the most superb evening ever. They had been solely $6 every. I stated, ‘Can I get 10?!’”
“We had two days to acclimatise earlier than going into the studio,” remembers Almond. “And it was simply all an excessive amount of, you already know? I bear in mind Dave saying, ‘Oh nice, this gear is incredible!’ I stated, ‘You simply get on with making the report and I’ll get on with having time. Simply name me when you’ll want to do must the vocals!”
“You’ll be able to’t make information on medicine”
“I didn’t anticipate how New York would have an effect on them,” says Mike Thorne. “I knew they had been eager to go there. I simply wished to make the report in the suitable circumstances, they usually had been delighted with the prospect. The one factor that may have stopped me taking them was in the event that they hadn’t wished to go.”
Fuelled by relentless hedonism and art-school impudence, the group launched into one of many best singles runs of the early ’80s, from the kitchen-sink psychosis of “Bedsitter” to the pink-flamingo romance of “Say Hi there Wave Goodbye” and the magnificent melancholy of “Torch”.
“The primary observe we did in New York was ‘Bedsitter’, as a result of the label wanted a follow-up to ‘Tainted Love’,” remembers Ball. “In these days, you needed to put the tapes on a airplane to ship again to the label. We acquired a telephone name from London from [A&R] Roger Ames and he simply stated, ‘I don’t prefer it!’ We stated, ‘Oh piss off!’ But it surely acquired to No 4! Then we launched ‘Torch’, most likely our greatest track, however we didn’t embody it on an album. I suppose you possibly can say it was a wierd profession path. However there have been some amusing moments…”
It was an unbelievable, imperial interval of sustained work by a band supposedly mainlining all the things New York needed to provide.
“You’ll be able to’t make information on medicine”
“You’ll be able to’t make information on medicine,” laughs Ball. “I’ve tried many, many instances and failed miserably! After all, we might occasion exhausting. We did plenty of ecstasy, however we additionally did plenty of acid. And plenty of coke… and pace. However coke was the one drug I did within the studio, if I used to be flagging. However we didn’t work lengthy hours anyway. Begin at 11 and end at 6, which was good. It gave us extra time to occasion.”
Non-Cease Erotic Cabaret peaked at No 5 within the UK charts – alas, they had been stored from rising increased by fellow synth champions The Human league (Dare) and Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Darkish (Structure And Morality). The Artwork Of Falling Aside – the follow-up to Non-Cease Erotic Cabaret – was recorded within the autumn of 1982, with Mike Thorne once more producing in New York. Relations with Phonogram – which had begun to deteriorate – quickly got here to breaking level when the label insisted on selling the one “Numbers” with a free copy of “Tainted Love”. The transfer so incensed Almond that he and Stevo raced to the Phonogram workplace, handcuffed a secretary to a radiator, threw a hearth extinguisher by a plate glass door and smashed Standing Quo’s gold discs.
“I can perceive the label had been a bit distressed,” admits Ball with wry understatement. “‘Numbers’ is just not everybody’s concept of a pop single. A track a couple of e book a couple of homosexual man having a number of companions. Particularly at first of the Aids epidemic. Most likely not the perfect timing.” The promotional treadmill grew to become insupportable, culminating in an absurd look on Tiswas, the Saturday-morning kids’s TV present. There, Almond virtually drowned in a paddling pool, sat upon by a number of members of the Welsh rugby workforce, surrounded by cheering college children.
“We had been each going by breakdowns”
“We had been each going by psychological breakdowns right now,” admits Almond. “It was an excessive amount of too quickly, you already know, doing two, then three albums in New York. Dave hated doing stay stuff at the moment. I used to be bored stiff within the studio. And we sat down, after we had been recording The Final Evening In Sodom, and I stated, ‘I don’t actually wish to do that any extra,’ and he stated, ‘I don’t actually wish to do that any extra both.’ I feel we had a tour to do in America and all the things, so we had been simply as anarchic as doable and it was only a shambles, as most Comfortable Cell stay issues ended up being.
“However we should always have simply taken a break, we should always haven’t made it so dramatically The Finish. I ought to have executed Marc & The Mambas, he might have executed some issues that he was doing. And we might have come again.”
Now, regardless of all the things, 40 years on, essentially the most completely perverse pop act of the Nineteen Eighties is shaping up for essentially the most unlikely of blissful endings. “With Comfortable Cell, all the things simply appeared to go unsuitable, even after we got here again in 2000, 2001,” displays Almond. “However I feel what we’ve executed now could be we’ve lastly removed the poison. It simply needed to be me and Dave, collectively. I’m 60, heading on 61 now. I do know I don’t have the identical depth, however I didn’t need Comfortable Cell to decrease. I wished it exit in a giant blaze of vivid gentle. We get to do an amazing celebratory live performance, perhaps a few new tracks and only a new single to go along with it and an amazing boxset. I feel it’s a good way to maintain the identify burning vivid.”
“It was like ‘Tainted Love’ being No 1 another time!”
For Report Retailer Day this yr, Comfortable Cell launched new prolonged variations of “Say Hi there Wave Goodbye” b/w “Youth”. Created by Ball utilizing the unique studio recordings, these ‘reimaginings’, had been basically Comfortable Cell’s first signal of renewed exercise for a decade. The O2 present, in the meantime, introduced a higher threat: “I like going out on these harmful challenges,” laughs Almond. “Both it’s simply 3,000 individuals down the entrance all having a good time, nevertheless it’s an absolute monetary catastrophe. Or all of the sudden individuals who haven’t seen us in 17 years realise that is the final probability they’ll ever get to see Comfortable Cell on stage collectively.”
He likens the pace at which the present bought out as a “shock… It was like ‘Tainted Love’ being No 1 another time!”
“You’ll be able to look again in any respect these unsuitable choices, however we nonetheless made one thing that labored out,” concludes Ball. “That’s what makes attention-grabbing bands, isn’t it? have a look at the good bands – not that I’m evaluating us – just like the Stones, what number of fuck-ups have they’d? The Comfortable Cell story is fairly basic. It’s virtually Shakespearean, isn’t it?”
A variety of Shakespeare performs find yourself with everybody stabbing one another, piles of useless our bodies and the stage awash with blood.
“Properly,” he cackles, with that attribute, darkly hilarious, northern Comfortable Cell giggle, “there’s nonetheless time for that.”