Suppose you were to ask Andrew McCluskey of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark the inspiration behind 2023’s “Bauhaus Staircase,” OMD’s most recent and likely final studio album.
In that case, it’s safe to say ennui was the rocket fuel for this exemplary studio effort. For McCluskey, who is one-half of the band alongside childhood friend Paul Humphreys, the forced downtime triggered by a global pandemic was a major ingredient behind OMD hitting the studio for one more full-blown project, which will be a centerpiece of the duo’s upcoming July 6 show at The Paramount.
“We weren’t allowed to go out, so I equated it to when I was a teenager and we only had one TV in the house with three channels and my mother was probably watching ‘Kojak,’ so I’d end up going to my room to paint a picture or write a song,” he said with a laugh. “There was nothing else to do and it was a bit like those days. But you know what, the power of boredom can be very creative.”
With the current tour set to have a heavy dose of “Bauhaus Staircase,” McCluskey admits audiences have been responding positively to how well the newer material fits in alongside OMD’s deeper canon.
“We’re blessed to have a lot of songs people love to hear live,” he said. “We would be stupid not to play our hits and all the things people love to hear. There will be a slice of ‘Bauhaus Staircase,’ but I don’t want people to be worried about it. What we’ve found over the recent years is that the new songs slot in really well to the set. You play a new song and you don’t see half the audience go to the bathroom, so that’s a good thing.”
When you ask McCluskey about OMD’s early roots, it is a case of a square peg fitting in a round hole. With prog-rock and the nascent punk scene bubbling up, McCluskey was a self-described “…pretentious young teenager, which is the best way to be.” His muses were “…Kraftwerk and Neu! from Germany, David Bowie, Brian Eno-era Roxy Music, The Velvet Underground and everything else was shite…” To that end, McCluskey was more than happy to share what he felt were three seminal albums in his life.
Kraftwerk – “Radio-Aktivität” (1975)
“This was the blueprint for ‘Dazzle Ships.'”
David Bowie – “Heroes” (1977)
“I remember listening to that in my friend’s apartment when he had no heating, no electricity and no gas. He lifted the floorboards to the apartment and hotwired into their lightbulb so we could hear the record. Hearing ‘Heroes’ in the freezing cold was mind-blowing.”
The Velvet Underground – “The Velvet Underground & Nico” (1967)
“The Velvet Underground sounded like they couldn’t play and I loved them for that. They were playing conventional instruments unconventionally. Moe Tucker was playing just a kit—not using the cymbals and the hi-hat was all over the place.
Roxy Music – “Roxy Music” (1972)
“’Roxy’ was so weird. The album was melodic, but they were trying to break the rules in their own way and that’s what I love about it.”
While McCluskey and Humphreys’ earliest musical foray was being part of a prog-rock band of classmates, the duo found they had more in common with each other and were soon making strange music on devices the latter was building from scratch. An acquired keyboard and the chance to play at Liverpool New Wave space, Eric’s Club in 1978, opened the door for the duo to be “…two guys with a tape recorder playing songs that even our best friends think are weird.”
Eric’s Club had a reciprocal relationship with Manchester club Hacienda, where OMD crossed paths with Tony Wilson, who signed them to his label Factory Records, declaring OMD was “…the future of pop music.” It was a bold statement, Humphreys and McCluskey didn’t necessarily believe.
“The bottom line is we couldn’t believe he was talking about pop music because we thought we weren’t,” McCluskey said. “You look back now and listen to ‘Electricity’ and ‘Messages’ off the first album and of course it was electronic pop music. But there wasn’t such a thing at the time. It was only a year later that Gary Numan came along and people like us and The Human League were like, ‘Where did he come from? We’ve been going before he started. How is he allowed to have a number one?’ Our crazy idea—18 months later—was the new big pop sensation. Who knew? We didn’t.”
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark will be performing on July 6 at The Paramount, 370 New York Ave., Huntington. For more information, visit www.theparamountny.com or call 631-673-7300.
