One of the most adaptable of our synth-pop icons, Marc Almond is equally at home on daytime TV or acting as part of an industrial music art-noise project. He’s equally flexible as an interviewee. Classic Pop has interviewed Marc no less than four times; unfailingly polite, Almond engages fully with any questions put to him, often at his own expense.
Over the six years we’ve been speaking, Marc began by sounding uncertain about his future – his 2010 album Varieté looked, for a while, like it might be his final pop album, as he was battling with writers’ block. All that was needed, it transpired, was meeting the right writing partner. Ever since Chris Braide – who progressed from being Soft Cell’s backing singer to producing Beyoncé – volunteered to write songs for Marc, he’s been flying, and this new collaboration helped spark the confidence to reunite Soft Cell for their 40th anniversary in 2018.
Throughout our conversations Marc has shared his wisdom on everything from the state of modern pop to climate change while revealing what his life is like in the rare moments when he’s not on stage or in the studio. As someone who admits he plans his activities two years in advance, Marc is already plotting a new Soft Cell album to follow his recent eclectic classic, Chaos And A Dancing Star. Classic Pop will be with Marc all the way.