In the late 70s and early 80s, British five-piece Spandau Ballet helped drive the short-lived but influential New Romantic movement, which was strongly identified with London nightclub the Blitz. A kid who hadn’t absorbed punk’s antipathy to Ziggy Stardust-style glitz and androgyny could find them flourishing among the fashion-focused crowd at the Blitz, where Spandau Ballet played chilly, melodic postpunk inspired by Kraftwerk and Frank Sinatra. In 1983 young folks who’d never set foot in the club flocked to the band thanks to the international success of the gossamer, R&B-influenced ballad “True,” the title track of their third album.
Martin Kemp: I was listening to your stuff online earlier. It’s really nice—I love it!
We all come from punk, for sure. I know you’ve got your roots in that as well—way, way back.
It affects everyone. Same with my band—when we started, we came out of a reaction against punk. Punk was always about “destroy” and “no future” and wearing black and zips and leather. Everything was like the world was coming to an end with punk. Punk was never meant to play arenas. It was always designed to stay in small clubs like the Roxy. I think what happened when Spandau came along—you react against the last thing, don’t you? So Spandau was always about “the future is bright.” Everybody was starting to wear colors, and everybody wanted to be a hero instead of an antihero. Which is kind of what the New Romantics were all about.
We’re absolutely looking forward to coming over; it’s going to be great.
It’ll be really fun. Are you guys writing new stuff or working on new stuff?
Sat 4/25, 9 PMHouse of Blues 329 N. Dearborn 312-923-2000houseofblues.com $49.50 21+
