One-man retro-futurist electronic project Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan aka Gordon Chapman-Fox has released his new single, A Shared Sense Of Purpose, along with a Vince Clarke remix. We asked him the BIG questions . . .
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The track is from his fifth album, Your Community Hub, and is released as a limited edition 7" and 12" vinyl formats, all of which include a remix by Depeche Mode, Yazoo and Erasure legend Clarke, who himself grew up in the remarkably similar new town of Basildon in Essex.
"He's been a delight to work with," says Gordon. "As the original new town synthesist, I hope he gets it musically and conceptually."
Your Community Hub follows last year’s The Nation’s Most Central Location, which charted at No. 6 in the UK Independent Albums Chart, topped Electronic Sound magazine’s Albums of the Year, and was high in other end of year lists by Rough Trade and other labels.
Tell us three things about yourself . . .
I may have a double-barrelled surname but I’m not posh. My wife and I combined our names when we married as a romantic gesture.
I’m not actually from Warrington or Runcorn. I grew up nearby around Chorley and Wigan and just remember there were lots of adverts for Warrington-Runcorn.
It's been an absolute honour in the last year to gig with Wolfgang Flür and get a remix from Vince Clarke. Two absolute legends and heroes of mine and I’m still utterly starstruck.
How would you describe your music?
I’m the worst person to talk about my own music, I’m too close to it. But to me, it’s highly emotional instrumental electronic music inspired by the sounds and memories of the late 70s. It’s evocative, epic, angry, sad, bittersweet, joyous and mournful.
Who are your musical inspirations?
I love the vintage synth sounds of Jean Michel Jarre, Harmonia, OMD and the like. But I’m every bit as influenced by more contemporary electronic acts like Craven Faults, Swans, Arushi Jain. And the influence goes beyond the world of electronica and into people like Mike Oldfield, Fela Kuti or Public Enemy.
What was the first gig you ever went to?
I’d like to say it was something cool, but it was the version of ELO without Jeff Lynne in the late 80s. Probably the least cool thing a teenage lad in late 80s Britain could go and watch!
What was the first record you ever bought?
The first single I ever bought was Cliff Richard and The Young Ones’ Comic Relief version of Living Doll. I still have it, and still adore it.
What’s your favourite song right now?
The World’s Biggest Paving Slab by English Teacher.
Favourite lyric of all time?
"I was so upset that I cried all the way to the chip shop" from Jilted John by Jilted John. This line is just perfection. The height of teenage emotional angst in the most poetically prosaic form.
If you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life, what would it be?
A Day In The Life by The Beatles. The absolute acme of pop music.
Where can people find your music/more information?
Thank you! My website and you can find links to my albums and social media on there. Come and say hello, I won’t bite.
Alan Corr
