“I think that’s always been our mantra, and this album explores that,” says vocalist / bassist McCluskey, who formed OMD with school-friend Humphreys (keyboards, vocals) in 1978. It’s a record that could be defined by one of its lyrics: “what does the future sound like?” Three decades on, it is therefore a joy to find these once-solemn young men from the Wirral as ebullient and quick to laugh, equally happy to discuss their early days on Factory Records, the parallels between OMD and Atomic Kitten (the pop group McCluskey assembled in the late 90s), and the aesthetics, themes and pop appeal of their twelfth album, English Electric.
They infamously lost three million fans with the “commercial suicide” of their audacious fourth album, Dazzle Ships, and at the height of their fame, co-founders Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys grumbled to Smash Hits magazine that they were “eternal pessimists.”
They wanted to merge Stockhausen and Abba. The British electro architects’ legacy suggests otherwise – iconoclastic hits like Enola Gay and Souvenir millions of albums sold over 35 years the likes of Robyn, The xx and LCD Soundsystem citing them as a critical influence – but OMD were a product of post-punk: they wanted to change the world with their art. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark never intended to be pop stars. This interview originally ran as the cover feature of The Herald Arts supplement on Saturday April 6, 2013, under the heading, ELECTRIC COMPANY.