Act one take one
ACT ONE TAKE ONE
New ZTT signing Act are bringing sharp satire to pop with their single Snobbery and Decay. A fascinating digital ditty, it both celebrates and simultaneously jeers at the media’s invasion of pop music.
Act comprises Claudia Brucke (right), from ZTT’s now defunct Propaganda, and experienced soloist Thomas Leer. According to Thomas: “We’ve tried to merge pop, rock, jazz and showbiz music.”
Claudia, who writes the lyrics, can straight from school in Germany to Britain in 1982, as lead singer with Propaganda. She met and married English journalist and ZTT supreme Paul Morley and has remained in this country since.”
“It’s been quite a problem in communicating,” she says, “and I still run around with a dictionary to express myself, but writing the lyrics is quite exciting because they wouldn’t let me in Propaganda. I get most of my words from magazines, TV and books and when I write I start in English, so they’re often written in an analytical way that’s different to most English phrasing.”
Her resettlement has, however, meant more than just breaking down the language barrier.
“The standard of living is so much lower here than in Germany,” she says, “which has affected my lifestyle.”
Meanwhile, Scotsman Thomas Leer has swapped his musical roots in the indie scene for playing computers and accompanying Claudia’s gothic vocals. He says: “It was always my intention to work with a female vocalist. I’d know Claudia for sometime and decided to ring her when she left Propaganda.
Act’s music is dance-oriented, says Thomas: “for today’s market, ZTT are one of the few labels that allow experimentation. It’s near impossible to shake up the music industry now but we may cause a few ripples, it could even cause a splash.”
Martin Sh??