Along with Depeche Mode, Bronski Beat, Heaven 17, The Communards and other keyboard-based acts, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) was one of the standout synth-centric bands to emerge from the New Wave and New Romantic scene of the early-to-mid-’80s. While many of those classic acts left their legacies on stages years ago, OMD has produced a steady stream of frankly hip-sounding music since forming in Merseyside, England, 40 years ago.
OMD consists of Andy McCluskey on bass and vocals, keyboardist/vocalist Paul Humphreys, Martin Cooper on keys and sax, and Stuart Kershaw on drums. McCluskey has been the only steady member since OMD was founded. The band gets front and center once again on Friday, bringing the second-to-last stop in its 2018 Punishment of Luxury tour to the State Theatre on April 13. Released last year, Punishment of Luxury is the 13th OMD studio album since its self-titled album was released in 1980 — 20 to 25 years before many of today’s young concertgoers were even conceived.
“If you had told the 20-year-old Andy McCluskey that I’d still be doing this at 58, I would’ve been horrified because I thought it was a young man’s game and old people couldn’t do good music,” said McCluskey. “And of course, the phrase ‘postmodern’ hadn’t been coined when I was 20 years old. It’s a different world now.”
McCluskey, known for his distinctive onstage dancing, said he’s surprised by the band’s longevity, but “without sounding egotistical,” he’s not surprised OMD “can still make good records.” He said the band always has the intention of doing just that, adding, “We would not release a record unless we really felt like we poured our hearts and souls into it and we’ve made the best thing we could do.”
Keeping hip and groovy with the contemporary clubgoers gyrating to synth-pop and futurepop acts such as VNV Nation, Seabound and Covenant is important, too, and OMD embraces the new while paying homage to the old. McCluskey cites references to German electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk that permeate songs on Punishment of Luxury. He said, “Somebody has to fly the flag for intelligent minimal electronic music with melodies and we’ll carry that flag.”
As for what fans can expect at the St. Petersburg stop on OMD’s tour supporting Punishment of Luxury, which debuted at No. 4 on the U.K. album charts, McCluskey said the band strives to keep new music and shows fresh and that the set contains about 21 songs, with six or seven new songs, around 13 hit singles and one or two “really fucking weird things for the hardcore intelligentsia.”
“It’s a balancing act. People recognize that we are contemporary; we’re doing things that still have a value and a strength and a quality, but when we play live, we also recognize we have a catalogue and a history,” he said. “In this postmodern era, everything’s accessible that’s been considered cool and we seem to be considered fairly cool these days.”