This post was submitted by Zack Rosen

Since 1986, English synth duo Pet Shop Boys have been putting out dance music that puts the current crop of synth revivalists to shame. Tempering their grand sound with gay vocalists Neil Tennant’s reedy voice, and an overall theatrical sensibility that is often present in the groups’ stories live shows, PSB has continued their streak with their latest album “Yes.” Though it was released in March, the duo will be playing DC’s DAR Constitution Hall Tomorrow, Sept. 4th as an early stop in an extensive US tour.

Neil Tennant (on the right in the above photo) was nice enough to give me 15 minutes to talk about irony, the current state of Synthpop, La Roux and contemporary gay culture. Below the interview, you can check out the video for PSB’s newest single.

The New Gay: The first thing I need to ask you is about your album title. With all that has been going on in the world recently, why name your album something as affirming as “Yes?”

Neil Tennant: It just felt like a good description of the music on the record. A lot of is really upbeat. We felt really confident about it, it’s a confident testament for the Pet Shop Boys. And it seemed like a good title.

TNG: So this is a more sincere album? It’s funny, because many critics see you as a band who traffics solely in irony.

NT: If you go back to our very first album, “Please,” in 1986, it’s full of amazingly sincere songs like “Love Comes Quickly” and “West End Girls.” It’s only got one ironic song on it, “Opportunities,” so I think people always underestimate the kind of sincerity and romanticism in the Pet Shop Boys, even with our wit. We do the irony thing occasionally, when the mood strikes.

TNG: Do you think this underestimation has anything to do with the gay male reputation for irony?

NT: I think it’s because we’ve made some very successful ironic statements, so that’s how people render [us.] Like “I’ve got the brains, you’ve got the looks.” People remember that. No one thinks Erasure is ironic, for instance. I often think people confuse humor for irony. We have a lot of songs with a humorous edge and not may people do that. Also, people try to be ironic when they’re not, we just have to live with that.

TNG: How do you keep finding things to write about after 15 25 years?

NT: There’s always something happening in the world or in my life or friends’ lives or in the streets or the news. Or a phrase I suddenly think of or see in the newspaper. On my iPhone i have a list of 42 ideas and songs, most are crap but you never know. So I don’t have difficulty with that.

TNG: : Is there less pressure to keep synthpop fresh, as it is a sound that really traffics in the retro?

NT: We do feel pressure, you have to in pop. We don’t set out to make retro records, the reason we’re still around is because our approach has shifted with each album. There is “the Pet Shop Boys sound” that people recognize, yet if you play the first one and this one back to back they are completely different. We spend a lot of time on the records. We worked with [production team] Xenomania, they made us think about the structure of the song, with every album we learn something new and that’s important. This album sounds very fresh.

TNG: Synthpop seems to have become the sound of today, and it’s long been the sound of many gay bars. Do you ever feel like your baby has become all grown up and popular?

NT: I don’t think it’s our baby. We were influenced by music that is still influencing people, like Kraftwerk and David Bowie. Hip hop was a big influence. All those things. Gay disco, as we used to call it, that influenced us. Disco music itself. All of those things still exist. In Britain there are a lot of new retro acts. La Roux sounds early ’80s. There’s Frankmusik and Little Boots. We’re [not] electronic purists. There are more electronic sounds than we are. We have always used the technology to create orchestral sounds. The Human League were purists, Depeche Mode too, to an extent. The Pet Shop Boys sound is electronic, but it has orchestras and guitars and stuff as well.

So at the moment, in the climate of what is popular, we feel more at home in in it. We’re not so much in a guitar culture.

TNG: I feel that La Roux and the like aren’t as good as you or some of the earlier bands. I think they follow the letter of synthpop, and not the spirit…

NT: What I think is missing, and I won’t name any names, is exuberance. I like exuberance, and I don’t hear a lot of that at the moment.

TNG: I think it goes back to that irony culture…

NT: I don’t think it’s irony culture, I think it’s cool culture. The idea of cool is a stifling one. It’s much more refreshing to be uncool. That’s where the fun starts, and sometimes that can then be cool. You don’t want to be tragically retro, either. I hate that. Funnily enough, I don’t like camp. People always assume we would, but I think camp can be lazy.

TNG: What kind of changes have you seen in the gay scene over the last 25 years?

NT: The main change is that it has become an overpowering market. It’s become something that is marketed to. This is a sign of respect, but it’s more homogenized. The fringes interest me more than the mainstream, the mainstream bores me. The gay scene is so strong its stifling. I don’t think it’s particularly interesting. What is interesting is how much gay culture has become mainstream, but with the sex taken out of it. It’s been like this for ten years or so, There aren’t many of the weird, edgy clubs left, and there used to be loads of them.

TNG: Then how do we get back to something better than what we have now?

NT: I worry that when someone realizes that they’re gay it becomes a lifestyle choice. A lifestyle choice means a party and bars and clubs, and where you go on holiday, and what gym you’re a member of. I never liked fitting in, and i think that’s the thing with Pet Shop Boys, we’ve never totally fitted in. We’ve tried to do our own thing, we create our own little culture and world and ideas of our own, and part of that comes from not totally fitting in. Having links with lots of things, having a very broad attitude and different interests, I think that’s what we all need. We need to keep a very broad mind and not just become ironically cloistered, or be in a big closet of the same bars and clubs. When people talk about the gay community, I don’t like all this talk of separate community. I think we all live in one community. I don’t like being separate. I think that’s how we all feel, rather than being a member of the gay community or a race community or whatever.

TNG: Ok, since we’re almost out of time: If I could offer our readers one piece of life advice, or words of wisdom, from Neil Tennant, what would it be?

NT: I don’t really give people advice. My advice would be to follow your own instincts. That’s what I’ve done. TNG

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