Everything Changes

It’s Just Our Little Tribute To The Pet Shop Boys, Darling!

Brian Wood and John Kryzton for Cruise Magazine

The Pet Shop Boys bring a certain amount of class to pop music. They have worked with people like directors Derek Jarman and David Fielding, recorded songs by theater greats Stephen Sondheim, Noel Coward, and Kurt Weill Their videos and artwork for their cd and vinyl releases have always pushed the edge of the art form. In addition, the success of 1987’s What Have I Done To Deserve This?, convinced Dusty Springfield to return to a recording career, after an absence of several years. They have written/produced hits for Liza Minnelli, Eighth Wonder (Patsy Kensit), Kylie Minogue, and Tina Turner. Their hits include West End Girls, Always On My Mind, Go West, What Have I Done To Deserve This?, and It’s A Sin.

Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant, collectively known as the Pet Shop Boys, will be appearing live in the Motor City supporting their new self-produced album Release, on Sanctuary/BMG Records.

Cruise Magazine caught with Neil in Miami in the midst of tour rehearsals and asked him a few questions…

Cruise: Hi Neil!
Neil: Hi!
Cruise: What’s the one thing you’ve always wished you’d been asked in an interview, but no interviewer has ever asked you about?
Neil: There isn’t anything really.
Cruise: In all the songs you’ve written over the past 18 years what song would you like to remembered for?
Neil: “Being Boring” (from Behavior, titled after a quote by Zelda Fitzgerald, dealing with the death of a friend of Neil’s from AIDS).
Cruise: The first single from the album, Home and Dry is brilliant. Will there be a second single, and what will you be using for b-sides. Perhaps some more demos from Closer to Heaven?
Neil: The next single is I Get Along the video was shot in New York last week by Bruce Weber . The b-sides will be from our sessions in Germany with Chris Zippel, and we still have to release A Positive Role Model.
Cruise: Considering your love for New York, how did you react to the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center?
Neil: Well, horror, obviously. We were in the studio when it happened. In fact, we were recording percussion on a few new songs, and I went out of the building because I had to speak to the director of Closer to Heaven (their musical was running in London at the time) and my mobile phone didn’t work in the studio. When I came back everyone was watching the TV while the second plane was going into the World Trade Center, and it was a sense of disbelief and a sort of fear. I even thought something might happen in London – I really felt that strongly for a short while, for about a half an hour.
Cruise: (John interjects) I had to DJ at the Detroit Eagle that weekend and I was trying to play an uplifting set for the people, and when I played New York City Boy everyone cheered!
Neil: Yeah, that’s the one thing about New York City Boy in the wake of September 11th. But you know it’s a celebration of New York and what (we like about) New York, and we’re playing it on this tour.
Cruise: Have you been following the controversy (regarding Catholic) priests and the (sexual misconduct)?
Neil: Sort of, a bit.
Cruise: We were just curious what your reaction was, because it kind of refers back to your 1991 Performance Tour which had some scenes depicting disciplinary acts with mildly erotic overtones between Catholic Priests and schoolboys. People are dealing with this as a uniquely American problem, and we think it’s more widespread than that.
Neil: I think it’s a problem of the denial of sexuality. In fact, we wrote a song about it, called It’s A Sin (a #9 hit from 1987’s Actually) sort of satirizing the attitude toward sex when I was in a Catholic school. I now feel sorry for everyone concerned.
Cruise: On a lighter note, did you have anything to do with Kylie Minogue getting signed to Parlophone (the Pet Shop Boys’ UK Label?
Neil: What? Oh no! We did the duet (In Denial from 1999’s Nightlife and included in Closer to Heaven musical) before she was signed to Parlophone. I think she was without a deal at that point. I have to say, I thought it was a really bad idea Kylie signed (with) Parlophone, laughs, ‘cause I thought the Parlophone A&R people were so rock bent, like Radiohead.
Cruise: Well, it’s great that they just kind of let her do her thing with Light Years (her breakthrough 2000 album) and everything, its kinda cool!
Neil: Yeah! No, its brilliant what they’ve done. They’ve done a fantastic job, Parlophone. I mean Kylie is Parlophone’s most successful act since The Beatles at the moment. They’ve done a fantastic job, and I must say I wasn’t predicting it!
Cruise: I don’t think anyone was. I don’t even think she was expecting it.
Neil: She’s great though, she’s a real star, Kylie.
Cruise: Getting back to the album we’d like to ask about inspirations for some of the songs. The next single, I Get Along reminds us of a 1971 song called Toast and Marmalade for Tea – have you ever heard of it?
Neil: (laughs) No! Toast and marmalade?
Cruise: …For Tea”– it was a group from Australia called Tin Tin produced by Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gee’s.
Neil: No, I never hard it! (laughs again). It’s that descending cord thing change in the chorus?
Cruise: Well, the melody sounds VERY much like your song! We played it for a couple of friends that go ‘Oh My God’ It’s like the same song! (And then there’s the) Bobby Orlando influence in Here which (we) love. The synth line reminds us of Passion by The Flirts.
Neil: Yeah, it is. That’s more of an old-school thing. Here was written for the musical, actually. Closer to Heaven is set in a nightclub in two parts, and in the second half it all goes wrong. And this was meant to the positive statement at clubbing. And the director took it out, so we said ‘Oh good, we can put that on our album.”
Cruise: What can your fans expect from this concert, knowing that your previous concerts have been very theatrical. In the University Tour you did, in the beginning of this year, the reviews said it was very stripped down, and very different to what the Pet Shop Boys have done before.
Neil: Well, it will be a very stripped-down performance, focusing more on us as a band. In this tour, we have a percussionist and two guitarists, with staging designed by Ian MacNeil, who designed the wigs for the Nightlife Tour.

And on that note, Neil had to run, The phones in the room started ringing and the band was waiting for him downstairs to begin rehearsal. We thanked him for his time and he said he was looking forward to being in Detroit again.

I think I liked the working title of that song better, it was previously titled "Home", it's one of the songs the PSB wrote for their musical Closer to Heaven.

Beautiful score, and the new cd "Release" has grown on me, though I admit it was the first cd of theirs I didn't love immediately upon hearing.