A Decade Of Sound - Sound City 2017

PIONEERS OF BRITISH ELECTRONIC MUSIC
think at the time, you just get on with it, you have no choice, you
know? The diary’s booked up, and you’re lucky to have a day off,
because it’s city to city, interview after interview, country after
country; it’s not glamorous, it’s really not. At that level, sometimes
you just want to go for a wander somewhere, but you can’t because
everyone recognises you; there’s a pressure there, I guess, but we
dealt with it. We had to.”
She laughs at the sheer unrelenting madness of it all, but she
also pauses to remember the support they gave each other at the
time: “When you’re in a group, especially when you’re in a mixed
group, you all look after each other: the crew, and everybody, we all
just hung together and clung together, like a family, and that’s what
we became really…. that’s still the case, in fact.”
That was definitely then, though, and this is definitely now.
Things have changed. The pressure’s off, and people are still
keen to hear those hits live, to see the show and enjoy themselves.
Which means that now more than ever, the band can enjoy it,
too. “I have to say that touring now is far, far more enjoyable. It’s so
much easier now, because we’re not famous anymore. People still
love the group, and they still want to see us, but we’re so much
more free,” Susan enthuses. “When we’re in Liverpool, we’ll go
shopping in the town and no one will recognise us. We’re pretty
anonymous, apart from when we’re onstage. That’s what’s so
enjoyable compared to back in those days, the freedom. I mean, we
were nowhere near as famous as people are now, it’s a totally different
thing, and I don’t know how you can live your life in that bubble. I
would hate it.”
And, so, some 37 years later, post-international fame, but still
armed with a boxful of pure electronic pop class, The Human
League join us at Clarence Dock, bringing the glamour and
the sparkling spectacle to the banks of the river for this unique
appearance. It’s a show they’re looking forward to – so far from
those original days in every way – but they’re as eager as ever for it
to be a great show. “When we do festivals, and particularly special
shows like this next one in Liverpool, it’s never difficult to choose what
we’re going to play. People want to hear Mirror Man, Love Action
and Don’t You Want Me, and we want to give them what they want.
There’s no point putting Circus Of Death in there or something, with a
festival crowd. We have a festival set, and that’s what we’ll do. We’ve
always loved Liverpool. The people there have always been very kind
to us. It’s always a great show… I can’t remember playing there and it
not being fabulous.”
Susan Ann Sulley lives the life; randomly plucked from the
dancefloor that night at The Crazy Daisy to become a member of one
of the country’s greatest-ever pop acts, and then reverting back to the
relative normality of a post-fame existence, every 17-year-old’s dream.
Few bands have worked so long at it, so relentlessly, so tirelessly, and
with quite so many hits as The Human League. These are the things
that dreams are made of.
Words: Paul Fitzgerald / @nothingvillem
LIVERPOOL WATERS | 21:30
16 A DECADE OF SOUND