01-05-2025
Andy Bell Discusses ‘Ten Crowns' Album Tracks, Touring And Surviving
Andy Bell is on top form with 'Ten Crowns.'
Sean Black
Andy Bell, perhaps best known as one half of Erasure, is back with a new solo album, Ten Crowns. It's his first since Non-Stop in 2010 and has been 12 years in the making.
"Dave Audé, the producer, and I had been working on songs together over the past 12 years, so we had a collection. The first one we did was Don't Cha Know, and that was written on mic," Bell recalls as we chat on Zoom as he relaxes at his London home. "I sang the song through twice with the lyrics on a piece of paper, and that was it. Dave cut from the two different vocal takes for that song, and we carried on from there."
"It was an organic process. It happens often with an Erasure album, too, how the last track that you write together, Interstellar for Ten Crowns, becomes the first track on the album. It's strange because it's almost like you're working in reverse. Don't Cha Know was released as the first single, and it was the oldest song. We didn't really have a concept for the album, though."
Response to the first few singles from Ten Crowns, which lands on Friday, May 2, 2025, has been favorable even though the singer-songwriter admits it's harder to promote projects these days.
"We're living in different times, and marketing happens in a whole different way, and there aren't the pop programs on TV anymore, but it's really nice just to get that feedback," he muses as he heads out on tour. "It's my passion. I love doing it, and we had so much fun recording it. I don't look at comments very much, but when I'm looking on YouTube, they always mention the 80s, and I just thought, 'What is it about that sound that people always think that's who we are?' I suppose people like to pigeonhole things, don't they? They like to compartmentalize things, you know."'
Inspired by the Ten of Coins tarot card, Ten Crowns is among Bell's most personal work. It covers everything from his childhood and family to his time in Nashville, where Audé now lives.
"You feel that energy in Nashville because there's a church on every corner," the Love To Hate You singer enthuses. "When I was there for this, the whole thing going on with the drag queen ban was just beginning, and that made me angry, and it still does, so it came into some of the work."
Bell and his producer also drew inspiration from Erasure's third album, which gave audiences such iconic hits as A Little Respect, Ship of Fools, and Chains of Love.
"Dave's a real fan of The Innocents," Bell explains. "I wouldn't say this is The Innocents 2, but he loves that gospel-inspired twinge that we have. When you have something to say, you don't have to say it right out. I'm not a great orator, so I'll put it into the music. I'll put it into how I'm feeling; hopefully, people will feel that. I've always loved my voice because it is neither masculine nor feminine, neither black nor white, so I like that ambiguity." Bell and the other half of Erasure, Vince Clark, continue to collaborate.
Ten Crowns is a consistent album, but there are jewels in the crown that deserve highlighting, and each of them has a story behind it. The first is Heart's A Liar, the second single to be released, which features a much-heralded collaboration with Blondie's Debbie Harry.
"I'm a huge fan of hers, and in 1990, Erasure recorded Too Darn Hot by Cole Porter for the Red, Hot, and Blue project, and we were making the video directed by Adelle Lutz, the wife of David Byrne from Talking Heads," Bell recalls. "We were in New York, and she said, 'Oh, somebody's come to see you on the set.' I looked around, and it was Debbie Harry. I could not believe my greatest hero had walked into the room. We went out and had drinks, then we ended up touring together with Cyndi Lauper, and she's come to our shows a few times in New York. She has always been really kind."
"Luciana Caporaso and her husband originally wrote Hearts A Liar. It was a great song, but their version was up-tempo, so I thought, 'Well, I'll do a rewrite of the verses and the bridge and do it as a duet that would suit Miss Harry.' I sent her manager a couple of songs she might like, hoping she'd pick Hearts A Liar, and she picked it. We were waiting for the vocals to come back, and when they did, it happened to be on Gay Pride in New York. It was perfect."
Dance For Mercy is one of the tracks on Ten Crowns that was inspired by Bell's childhood in Peterborough, England, and his relationship with his grandmother.
"The lyrics go, 'I went to heaven for the second time, and my feet didn't touch the ground,' and that came out of phrases that my Nan used to say to me," he explains. "She'd playfully say that I was too wicked for this world and other things like, 'Oh, don't do that. You'll get me shot.' As a child, I was thinking like somebody was really going to take her out in the back garden and shoot her."
"It also got me thinking about the chances I've had already, firstly, with being HIV+ and having had double pneumonia, and then secondly with having three stents after a heart attack, and I was thinking, 'My goodness, how many lives have I had already on this planet?' When I was in the hospital, I never saw any of these things that you're supposed to see, like tunnels or angels or whatever, so I wanted to write this song about going to Heaven's gates, and they're just telling you, 'No, you can't come in because you're not ready yet. You've got more things to do.'"
The seventh track on Ten Crowns, Dawn Of Heavens Gate, is particularly notable for a brief nod to Dame Shirley Bassey's iconic Bond theme, Diamonds Are Forever.
"Honestly, it wasn't put in on purpose; it just came up in the process," Bell explains. "I envisioned this virtual reality, AI world, and this version of Heaven, or this place where we can all go to, like a transference in your mind. I was inspired by going to The Shard in London and this vision of crystals, which I really love. I collect gemstones and thought, 'If you can have quartz inside a watch, why can't you have a piece inside your heart?' We already have fake hearts that would make you live longer or forever. Hopefully it'll be okay because me singing Diamonds Are Forever, or actually 'If diamonds were forever,' only uses six of the notes, and you're allowed eight for free."
Have Bell or Erasure ever been approached for consideration for writing a Bond movie theme?
"No, but that is one of my dreams," he laments. "I would love to sing one of those songs. It's whether they would have the courage."
Bell and Audé keep it topical with a track called Empathy On Ice. The track originally came from Sisely Treasure of Shiny Toy Guns, a Los Angeles band that also happens to be Bell's husband's favorite band.
"Dave played it to me, and that was the most Erasure-sounding song on the album," the singer enthuses. "I listened to it and thought, 'Wow, yes, that's amazing, but the chorus that she had was about not stepping on a grave or something, and that reminded me of the movie I Spit on Your Grave, which I thought felt a bit too gruesome. I wanted to get that feeling over in a way that was more poetic. To be honest, I'm not sure what the song's about, but I think it's just about how we have to take these chances. We're so lucky to have them. With everything going on in the world, we have no choice but to put our empathy on ice because we would all go insane. A lot of us are sort of living on the edge."
Ten Crowns rounds out with Thank You, a track Bell and his band have been playing in recent live shows and has been getting a great response. Thank You is a tribute to Bell's mother in particular.
"She was a punk, and she and my Dad were childhood sweethearts," he reveals. "They met on the bus in Peterborough. She thought he was weird, but they married, and I was the first baby. I was the oldest grandchild on my father's side, and my Nan spoiled me, but my Mum treated every child the same."
"I have five brothers and sisters. We were all brought up on a council estate and had the most wonderful life. I don't know how she got the clothes for us or our dinner. We all took turns having a big Christmas present each year, so I have the utmost respect for her; that is a heartfelt song to all my friends and family, too. I feel like if I go tomorrow, they can listen to that song if they want to."
Andy Bell returns with 'Ten Crowns.'
Sean Black
Ten Crowns lands as Bell heads out on the road in his native UK for a series of shows before heading to the US later in the year. The singer-songwriter says audiences can expect a healthy blend of new material mixed in with a selection of hits fans already know and love and love played by a live band.
"I'm really looking forward to it," Andy Bell concludes. "It's not going to be all fireworks and all guns blazing, but we have a band. We've got Dave; we have Hailey Steele and Jerry Fuentes from Steele Fountain from Nashville doing backing vocals, and a drummer, Sarah, so they're all really accomplished musicians. Also, Dave has reprogrammed Vince's stuff, which Vince kindly sent to him for the Erasure material, so it's going to sound spectacular. As far as Vince and Erasure go, we're writing and looking forward to our 40th anniversary next year, but in the meantime, I've got this little project going on, and I really love it."
