Colin Vearncombe, the artist sometimes known as Black, was born in Liverpool on 26 May 1962, in the week that Elvis Presley’s Good Luck Charm was at number one. Like many nascent rock musicians, it was a viewing of Elvis’s movie Jailhouse Rock that fired his youthful imagination and spurred him into picking up a cricket bat (for a guitar!).
Black’s first (and poorly attended) gig happened on New Year’s Day 1981. Later, in that same year, the debut single Human Features was issued on local label Rox records. I’ve not heard that single for 20 years, says Colin. I remember recording it, though. We booked a basic four track studio for four hours, but only used two hours so they refunded us half. The single was reviewed positively and quickly sold out of its initial pressing of 1000 copies.
1981 also saw Colin introduced first to local rock and roll demi-godhead Pete Wylie, and then to Wylie’s manager, Pete Fulwell. The fruit of this meeting was the second Black single, More Than The Sun, released on the Wonderful World Of . . . label. By now, the original trio that made up the group Black had disbanded, but Colin had befriended David Dix from The Last Chant, who became his new musical partner. They attracted the interest of WEA Records (through Wylie and Fulwell’s Eternal label), but the liaison proved frustrating. The only releases were the single Hey Presto and, after a year of inactivity, a re-recording of More Than The Sun which led to the record company dropping the act during the promotion period for the single. WEA would later attempt to recover some of their meagre investment by releasing an album entitled Black without consulting or referring to Colin. The album, a compilation of the two unsuccessful singles and all of the B sides, unsurprisingly failed to set the commercial world alight but did teach Colin a lot about intellectual property rights.
After a year or two of darkness, Black issued the single Wonderful Life on the independent Ugly Man label. It got to number 72 in the charts, says Colin. We knew it would go down the next week, even though our sales were increasing, because there were some big releases coming out. So we said ‘Let’s pull it’ and keep it a secret for those who are in the know. Then, the phone started ringing. RCA and A&M both offered a two album deal, and I liked Chris Briggs at A&M, so I signed with them.
A&M left Black to his own devices and put in an experienced engineer at the end. There is something glorious about making a debut album, says Colin. You’re completely self-obsessed, in a self-contained world. Recording the first album was a blissful period, joyful. But it was also the beginning of the end.
By June 1987, Black achieved his first UK top ten hit with the single Sweetest Smile, to be followed up by a slightly reworked version of Wonderful Life, also entering the top ten. Wonderful Life applied the domino theory to the singles charts of Europe and beyond, each country falling for its subtle melancholic charms. The only territory to release the record that didn’t have significant commercial success was the USA. Once you’ve had a hit, if you can write another song without having that in the back of your mind, you’re not crazy. It’s taken some time to be able to do that. For a long time, I would find myself hearing ‘I like it, but it’s not Wonderful Life’, says Colin.
It was surprising how little of the pop star life was as I might have imagined it, he says. I was frustrated by how few of the people that I ran into in the music world I respected. Maybe I just didn’t go to the right clubs. I’ve never been a great schmoozer or networker and the idea of setting out to meet a certain type of people is anathema to me. I just wasn’t turned on by running into Sam Fox and Rick Astley everywhere. The highlight was meeting Roddy Frame, and he looked as pissed off as I was. It was two years of disappointment, not at all what I expected. I didn’t have any wild sex, I’m not a druggie, so I was just digging a hole for myself.
Wonderful Life, the debut album, eventually sold well over 1.5 million copies and was followed by the sardonically entitled Comedy.
Comedy is my most lyrical album, and the melodies strike me as quite European, says Colin. I was turned on more by Jacques Brel and European folk music than by US rock and roll at that time. I’m a mental butterfly and tend to flit around the latest things. People are often surprised at what starts me off on a song. I Grew Tired was written because I heard Take My Breath Away by Berlin. I Can Laugh About It Now was sparked by the Grace Jones single I’ve Seen That Face Before. But being me, it comes out different. And the starting point is just the starting point.
Comedy was critically acclaimed, but failed to repeat Wonderful Life’s commercial success. Colin says: The problem is that when you have a hit, people’s expectations build up. Commercial expectations are a particular kind of matrix of possibility and impossibility. You need to be clear of what you’re doing and why and be ready to defend your corner. A&M thought they had something as strong as the first album in Comedy, but when the first single from the album wasn’t a hit, there were shockwaves in Europe. People panicked like crazy.
Despite the radio-friendly hits, Black had trouble forging an identity with the public at large. When it came to touring, we struggled to put bums on seats, says Colin. A&M didn’t want to do a generic Black campaign even though people didn’t know if it was a band or an artist. All they saw was a guy with a big nose who kept popping up. I didn’t have a great deal of indie history and didn’t know how to guide interviews with the serious mags to the subjects I was interested in talking about. Being courteous and respectful often equals boring in the eyes of a hard-bitten music journalist.
Relations with the label started to become strained. A change of personnel at A&M before work began on the third album didn’t help, and there was a difference of opinion over which single should be released. They wanted one track and the response we were getting was that Feel Like Change’ should be the single, says Colin. They let us have it, but they pulled it at the point when it was beginning to work. They probably let it fail to prove that they were right, which is a human response in conflict. The need to be right overrides everything. And I AM aware of the irony! After a critically praised third album called Black failed to sell, Black and A&M parted company.
The fourth Black album, Are We Having Fun Yet?, was released on Colin’s own Nero Schwarz label in 1993 and licensed to record companies in 19 countries. Once again, it was a critical success, and, although it sold well in continental Europe, it was virtually ignored in the UK. It would have been a very good album if I had used a band, says Colin. I was getting tired of musicians and wanted to see how far I could take it myself. There are some good songs on there that lack focus and put people off, but it took me to the next step. It got a really good review in Q, which we ran as an advert. That was revolutionary at the time. We were generating enough sales to pay for the ad and make a return on it, but it didn’t do well enough to stop me falling below the radar.
It was around the time of this album that the press started to refer to Colin as Europe’s finest singer-songwriter.
The marketing behind Are We Having Fun Yet? was inspired: a library of video was commissioned which could be used to accompany any track. Labels were given the flexibility to choose singles that they felt would be most successful in their territories, all using the approximate same video to accompany the song.
There then followed a long hiatus, in which Colin took time out to think long and hard about what exactly it was that he wanted to do with his musical career. Colin’s passion for songwriting was rejuvenated by a weekend workshop in Devon hosted by Squeeze’s Chris Difford in 1998. The result was album number five: The Accused, Colin Vearncombe’s first release under his own name. It came out on his own Nero Schwarz label (via East Central One) in September 1999. I started that album without intending to, says Colin. I spent six years without releasing a record or working on one. I was depressed without realising I was. I had started recording some solo demos and then realised I was half way through a record. I had finally stopped thinking about Wonderful Life and so I completed the album and it found a home!
By now, the internet was starting to make significant inroads to the way music could be marketed and delivered directly to consumers. Although iTunes and other authorised downloads systems were still a long way off, it was becoming clear that artists who could not easily be classified as mainstream pop were going to benefit hugely by hanging on to their copyrights.
Late 1999 saw the release of album six: Abbey Road Live – a collection of songs performed acoustically and recorded live at the famous studio. The selection included Wonderful Life and Sweetest Smile, along with new interpretations of landmark tracks from past albums including Ave Lolita and The Way She Was Before. The album marked the beginning of a new way for Colin to tour and perform his music. We didn’t have the budget to do a band tour, and I realised the thing I was most scared of was doing solo shows, says Colin. I thought I really should try it. Once I started, I was surprised at what could be done. Songs like Roses I even found a way to perform by myself. I would ask myself how Neil Young might do it as a starting point.
The audience response was overwhelmingly positive. The audience said it was nice to hear the words for a change, and to clearly hear the voice, says Colin. I’ve stayed on that path for the last five years, doing more stripped down shows and trying out more and more of the back catalogue. I keep myself on the edge of fear. When I step on stage, I know I can do what I’m there to do but that doesn’t stop the adrenaline!
Water on Snow, Colin’s seventh studio album, was released exclusively via the website for Christmas 2000. A special limited edition of 2000 numbered and signed copies of the CD were sold to fans – an instant collectors item. In September 2001, came his first Live album, recorded in Bassline in Johannesburg with South African musicians and Lady Black on backing vocals. The same musicians would guest again on some of Colin’s later recordings.
Early in 2002, Colin set himself a goal to write and record thirty songs in three months – and to record them in as simple a way as possible: one take, no overdubs, bare songs, solo performances. Once this had been completed, two things became obvious: firstly the result was a single piece of work that deserved to be heard as it was and, secondly, once recorded, the idea of spending another three years re-recording and re-working the songs and subsequently releasing them on three separate albums was a non-starter. If I had been around in the 60s or 70s I would have spent my career working with producers and arrangers, says Colin. They wouldn’t dream of putting a record together the way everybody does since the arrival of the 4 track. The multitrack approach is more layered, considered and clinical than working spontaneously with a band. It takes a lot longer and it’s hard to maintain your interest in the thing over months of recording.
There was only one thing to do: Release all thirty songs on one double CD. The debate among the loyal fan base is still reverberating. Love it or hate it, Smoke Up Close, released at the end of 2002 stands up as a classic example of a real songwriter getting down to the basics of what making music is all about. Very few contemporary artists in the popular genre ever get this close to the bones of their trade.
There followed a touring period while Colin experimented with different line-ups and instrumentations, often taking everything down to a solo level, alone with a guitar (and occasional harmonica) on a stage, close up to his audience. During this time, two ‘Blackleg’ albums of recordings from the gigs were made available, and sold only at the venues. Over the years, A&M Records, which became Polygram and then Universal have released various compilation albums.
The next studio album, Colin’s tenth was recorded in Johannesburg and London during 2004. Producer Calum MacColl worked together with Colin and a group of highly talented musicians to create Between two Churches. Once the album was finished it became obvious that this was a Black record. More than a solo work, it reflects the journey of a performer and songwriter who has travelled a long way over a career that already spans almost twenty five years, only to return to his roots, to start again.
With Between Two Churches, I feel like I’m back at the beginning again, but with all this experience, says Colin. I’m writing for myself and find I’m more inspired by the conversations I hear and take part in than I am by the songs I hear on radio or TV. I can come up with melodies forever, so the big question is whether i’ve got something to say or not. That’s the difference between just another song and something I can really stand behind and be proud of. The only way to demonstrate respect for your audience is not to consider them at all . You’d be chasing your arse in circles if you tried to amuse people all the time.
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