Don't call us a nostalgia band

OMD’s Andy McCluskey on why they’re still writing new songs 40 years after Enola Gay

- RICK FULTON

ORCHESTRAL Manoeveres in the Dark are one of the pillars of 80s synth pop.

But while most of the contemporaries’ Yahama DX7’s are gathering dust in their attics, Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys are able to look forward and back.

Next Friday they celebrate the 40th anniversary of their anthem Enola Gay with a Hot Chip remix, while lockdown has seen Andy writing music for their 14th studio album, a followup to 2017’s The Punishment of Luxury which reached No4 in the UK charts.

Here Andy, 61, tells us about the past and the future of OMD.

Have you always been fascinated by history?

I’m a failed archaeologist. My career teacher took great delight it telling me I couldn’t do an archeology degree because I’d dropped Latin in the second year and, at the time, you needed a classical language. He’d been my Latin teacher, so this was a great revenge. Paul and I were a right pair of teen geeks. He had a model railway set and I collected Airfix aeroplanes and had them hanging from the ceiling in my bedroom. Being interested in World War II aeroplanes and the mortality of warfare brought me to Enola Gay. It’s inevitable.