INTERVIEW: EMF is back in the United States to perform for the first time in 30+ years
Photo: EMF will play three special concerts in the United States, June 21-23. Photo courtesy of the band / Provided by Reybee Inc. with permission.
EMF, the British dance-rock quintet, is one of the most influential groups of the past few decades, but American concertgoers have not been able to catch a live show from them in quite some time. This weekend, that will all change because EMF is playing three special gigs in the United States, including Friday, June 21, at Milwaukee’s Summerfest; Saturday, June 22, at Detroit’s Magic Bag; and Sunday, June 23, at The Monarch in Brooklyn. This weekend will truly be “Unbelievable.”
“You took us to your hearts, and I feel like we neglected you,” said Ian Dench, the guitarist and one of the creative forces behind EMF. He is joined by vocalist James Atkin, bassist Stevey Marsh, drummer Aid Todd and keyboardist Derry Brownson. “So I’m so sorry we’ve been away for so long, and we’re really excited about coming back. To be fair, we weren’t doing anything for a long time. We didn’t just neglect you; we neglected the whole world, but something happened when we did the 30th anniversary shows in 2021. We walked out on stage, and the audience sang the words to everything. We were just taken aback, and we felt the love. And we felt like we needed to give love back, and so we wrote the Go Go Sapiens album. Then we kept on writing The Beauty and the Chaos album, touring and more touring, and here we are all of a sudden. We’re almost a full-time band again and having a great time with it. You may see more of us.”
The setlist for these three American concerts will be a mixture of the old and the new. Although they band is highlighting tunes off The Beauty and the Chaos — well-received songs like “Hello People,” “The Day the Music Died” and “Lookout Mountain” — they are conscious of the fact that the fans want the classics, like “Children,” “It’s You,” “Lies” and, of course, “Unbelievable.”
“I think we’ve got the mix really right,” Dench said. “I hate going to see bands where they play just the new album. You want to go see the good stuff, the stuff you love, and when we went out on tour in the UK in January, we sort of didn’t want to overdo it. But people love the new stuff, and I think we got the balance just right. We’re going to play a lot of Schubert Dip and Stigma and a healthy amount of The Beauty and the Chaos.”
Dench said that he and Atkin have always had chemistry, and even though there has been some time off, they never lost that connection on stage or in the recording studio. In other words, he is not surprised at all that EMF is back and sounding better than ever.
“I’m not surprised because James and I always had that chemistry,” he said. “In a funny way, all the pressures of the band back in the day really messed with that, and both of us are in a good place now. We’re a little more settled. We have families. I think when we got together and wrote some more songs, it was just because we wanted to do. We felt that chemistry, and we love each other. And we love making music together, and the moment we were making music together, it just felt exciting. And so it’s not a surprise to me that it’s working, and it was great on The Beauty and the Chaos because Ralph Jezzard who produced the first two albums appeared. He had been in Texas, and I sent him a message saying, ‘We’ve just written a bunch of great new songs. Maybe we can send you one and do a mix.’ He’s like, ‘Oh, I’m in London. I’m in Tottenham,’ which is right literally next to where my studio is in Finsbury Park. We were like, ‘Well, let’s do it.’ He was just on hand to make a great record, so it feels like the stars aligned. And everything is good in the EMF world. That’s why the record sounds great.”
Dench appreciates that the songs on The Beauty and the Chaos highlight an older band that is mature and looking back on their youth with more perspective. He said the audience is likely in a similar situation, having grown up over the past three decades but still loving that boundless energy of their youth.
“As a songwriter, all you can ever do is snapshot where you are,” Dench said. “All you’re doing is telling your story. Absolutely, if you see the themes of The Beauty and the Chaos, I mean the title of the record comes from the song ‘Stardust,’ which is very much like feeling very small in a great big universe, which is sort of what happens as you get older. … We’re getting older and trying to find our place in the world. … As we get older, perhaps you feel you don’t have as much to say and so much energy, but I remember that joy and that feeling of rebellion and wanting to make a mark in the world. Maybe we’re channeling that a bit. Maybe we’ve still got a bit of that in us.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
EMF will play three special concerts in the United States, June 21-23. The band’s new album is called The Beauty and the Chaos. Click here for more information and tickets.
