Zeniths of true love, nadirs of self-loathing, tear-streaked mascara pouring down his face! This is the abiding eternal image of S&M popster Marc Almond. For 20 years, Almond has sowed the seeds of passion in listeners hearts; he certainly left an indelible mark on my youthful imagination, hence I m over la luna to be talking to him.
I had a very busy year, he recaps effortlessly. I spent most of it organising and co-producing an album for 60s singer PJ Proby. It was a really interesting project to do, but now I ve put that out of the way and I m concentrating on doing my own stuff.
I ve got an album coming out late spring sometime, and I ve got a book of poems, lyrics and some little stories called A Beautiful Twisted Night, which is coming out on Creation Books in April or May. It s my second book, and it s stuff that s represented from the various albums that I ve done but it s mainly on the theme of the night and characters of the night red-light themes, faded stars and some of the recurrent obsessions that ve gone through my music over the past 20 years.
Every new year I m always very excited about what the year s gonna bring, the surprises it s gonna hold for me. This year I have a lot of projects planned; apart from doing my own record and my own book I ve got an extensive tour planned, and I m hopefully producing another album by Agnes Bernelle around February. Producing is something that I ve really gotten more into; I enjoy being on that side of the desk for a change, for me it s another creative side that I ve really been exploring.
The dark underbelly of life certainly seems to be another area which Almond loves to explore . . .
I find all the more interesting stories on the street and in the gutter, concurs the chanteur.
And what of love, another favourite theme?
Oh, I m always in love, breathes the gentle-voiced singer. I ve had a long-term relationship a soul-mate, you could probably say for many, many years. It s nice to be in love and when you re in love you re inspired and you feel good about the world and you feel good about yourself, so love is always a really nice feeling.
No wonder, then, that romantic French culture exerts such a strong appeal for him.
I love French singers and chansons. When you explore the lyrics of French songwriters, I think they do the most beautiful songs about all aspects of life.
So what new musical influences has Almond taken on board recently?
I don t know if I ve taken on any new musical influences, really, he considers. I think more and more these days I tend to go back and listen to the older things in my record collection.
What I like about the 90s is that anything goes in music and style. People are rediscovering, going back to their mums records with, like, the whole easy-listening and exotica and lounge thing, and listening to bands of the 60s and 70s. It s all being rediscovered and recycled. So instead of listening to the new bands that are making music, I tend to go back to listen to the roots of that music, and I suppose to the times that music really excited me a lot, like ballads of the 50s and 60s, but also 70s disco and glam-rock and punk, which was the golden era of music for me.
I think it s good to look back, to look forward, he avers. I think you have to be aware of musical history to use that musical history for something you re doing in the present. Then you take it on to the future. I think at the moment people are so much into nostalgia in music because it helps them cope with the present. At the end of the day I ll always go back to listening to a great ballad singer or a great torch singer, the passionate, burning songs that really set me on fire.
It s never good to be content with the way you are; you can always do better and sing better. I think my voice has got better all the time. When I listen to songs from the beginning of the 80s to now, I m a completely different singer and that s how it should be, your voice should be developing. Obviously there comes a time when you reach a plateau and you continue on that plateau, there s probably no further you can get; your voice reaches a maturity and a peak. But I still feel that I ve got a long way to go with using my voice, and the songs that I like to sing, I think I m fitting into better now. Because they re worldly songs about love and life and experience, and as you get old it becomes easier to sing those songs.
No-one should know that better than Marc Almond. n