Ultra Cool

Is James "Midge" Ure a forgotten godfather of techno? Recently DJ Mag listed Visage's B-side Frequency 7, which Ure co-composed along with the later avant-pop Fade To Grey, at No. 2 in its chronological Top 100 Most Important Techno Records – following Kraftwerk's Trans Europe Express.

The New Romantic icon is best known for his involvement in another outfit, Ultravox, of Vienna fame. In 2012 Ultravox's classic line-up – Ure, Billy Currie, Chris Cross and Warren Cann – unleashed the warrior electro Brilliant, their first album since 1984. However, this month Ure, last in Australia as a Live Aid co-organiser nearly three decades ago, is touring with his solo band. "Ultravox is a very expensive toy to cart around," Ure acknowledges. He'll perform songs from his catalogue plus covers. "I think I'd be hung, drawn and quartered if I came down there and I didn't play some Ultravox tunes." The Scot is speaking from wintry Germany, where, like Australia's Icehouse, Ultravox are huge even now. "The German audience seems to be incredibly loyal, they stick with you through everything, so I'm very grateful for that." 

Ure, a product of working class Glasgow, initially tasted fame in Slik, a teen pop group, before joining ex-Sex Pistol Glen Matlock's The Rich Kids in London. (He had a stint, too, as guitarist in Thin Lizzy.) Ure teamed with Rich Kid drummer (and club DJ) Rusty Egan, Ultravox keyboardist/violinist Currie, and Magazine bassist Barry Adamson to develop Visage as a studio project fronted by London nightclub identity Steve Strange. Ure was "really excited" by German electronic innovators Kraftwerk. 

After John Foxx split from Ultravox – which had floundered in various incarnations from the mid-'70s, in spite of recording with Brian Eno – Ure stepped in as frontman. He turned Ultravox's fortunes around with 1980's Vienna album, retaining the synths and rock guitars but heightening the Bowie-esque theatrical pop and Roxy Music-derived glamour. (Russell Mulcahy directed a noirish video for the hit Vienna.) Ultravox consolidated their success with Rage In Eden, Quartet (guided by 'fifth Beatle' Sir George Martin) and the rockier Lament. Along the way, Ure and Bob Geldof orchestrated Band Aid's landmark fundraising single Do They Know It's Christmas? and, yes, Live Aid. (Ure received an OBE in the 2000s.) Yet, like many New Wave acts referenced today, Ultravox were disparaged by the UK critics, often disgruntled punks. "They hated us!," Ure quips. Luckily, there was camaraderie in the scene. "I remember having a conversation with Kate Bush, who was gonna give up music about 20 years ago. I said, 'You can't – because if you gave up, then I give up, and then someone else gives up and mediocrity wins.'" Still, Ure, who'd already launched a solo career with his soulful rendition of No Regrets, bowed out of Ultravox with 1986's U-Vox, which he now considers their most underrated LP. "The hardcore Ultravox fans absolutely hated the last album," he says. "In fact, they don't even call it U-Vox – they call it The Pink Thing, 'cause it was a pink sleeve." It had decent songs, one All Fall Down with The Chieftains, but sounded convoluted. "We were a bit lost. We weren't the electronic rock band that they thought we were. We were a bit confused about what we actually were at the time."

Nevertheless, Ultravox's synth-pop found an appreciative audience in black America, especially in Chicago and Detroit, thanks to DJ Ron Hardy and radio legend The Electrifying Mojo, at a time when mainstream airwaves were dominated by what Ure terms "corporate rock". The future Detroit techno pioneers – Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson – were intrigued. "Without knowing it at the time, we were creating the first European white dance music with Visage and Ultravox. [But] these guys took it and they turned it inside out and turned it into something their own – and that's what music should do! You should be excited by what other people do and be influenced by it and be able to adapt it and turn it into your own thing."

In the late '90s New Wave nostalgia boomed, fuelling an electro-pop revival. There's been a significant revaluation of New Romanticism. In 2004 Ure published an opportune autobiography, If I Was... "It was a weird time, when we started doing it," he reveals. "I was in a really strange place." Ure was chuffed to be approached. "Your ego instantly kicks in and thinks, Wow, how important am I?" But, while recollecting his early days was fun, recalling life post-fame (and music biz collapse) wasn't. "I wanted to make something that was absolutely clear, that was absolutely honest. It might not be the most eloquent book in the world, but it's absolutely truthful. I don't pull any punches." Ure entered rehab. "I got myself into trouble with alcohol," he admits. "I took it right to the edge, as you do, thinking, It won't affect me – but it does. It's the most dangerous drug out there, alcohol." Ure then lived in the Canadian wilderness for a year. "I was trying to rebuild my life again with my family," he says. "In a way, it was a healing process. It was a way of kind of rebonding with my family and re-establishing the fact that I'm dependable – and that was really important to me... It was something much more than just some walls and a bit of land on a lake. It was something that we needed to have."

It was at Ure's Quebec retreat where Ultravox, having reunited for 2009's live shows, began sessions for Brilliant. They subsequently hired producer Steve Lipson, an old Trevor Horn acolyte whose credits include Propaganda's cult A Secret Wish. Anthems such as Live and Lie rival vintage Ultravox with their colossal choruses, transcendental melodies, full production, and Ure's sonorous voice. "I like the miserable, morbid ones," Ure says, citing the restrained final song Contact. "It's a very interesting arrangement and it is what Ultravox excel at – all the atmospherics and the cinematic elements of the music." Alas, Ure discovered that British rock reviewers remained prejudiced against them. "They still thought us pompous and ridiculous and whatever." Ironically, the same press praised Paul Weller for 2012's Krautrock-inspired Sonik Kicks. Ure isn't overly perturbed. "[Brilliant] wasn't made for them. It was made for us. We wanted to do something that, if we were gonna come back and make a record, any new recordings, we wanted to do it to our standard. So we spent a year-and-a-half, nearly two years, writing and recording that record. I wanted it to sound like classic Ultravox, but contemporary at the same time – and so I think we pulled it off."

In the interim, Swedish electro-popster Robyn has proclaimed Dancing With Tears In My Eyes a favourite song, and Ultravox's impact can be heard in the music of Muse and White Lies. Coincidentally, Ure has just seen the latter on TV. "They all look about 12! They look incredibly young. But I thought they were really interesting... I didn't immediately see any kind of Ultravox influence in it – I do see it with Muse... Muse are a great band, they're fantastic, but there is a bit of a nod of recognition in there somewhere." Ure's songs have been covered – or remixed – by dance types. Aussie rapper 360's dubsteppy Killer samples Ultravox's Alles Klar. "I don't think I ever heard it!," says Ure. "I'd love to hear it." He doesn't actively engage with contemporary music, despite his oldest daughter Molly McQueen being in The Faders (and now solo). "Unfortunately, these days you tend to lean over and turn the radio down when you hear something, rather than turn it up," Ure jokes. He loves Sigur Rós.

Just as Ultravox are back, Strange, who's had his own lows with heroin addiction and mental illness, is rebooting Visage. Ure originally quit Visage because, under Strange's control, it became a "circus". He's not participating in the comeback Hearts And Knives, as reported. "Rusty and Steve recently were trying to work together and it just all went horribly wrong," Ure says wryly. 

Ultravox isn't losing momentum, announcing a UK stadium tour with Simple Minds. Ure hopes to complete solo material he's had in the can for six years. "In fact, it's been lying around so long, I'm probably getting fed up with it. I'll have to start again."

Midge Ure will be playing the following dates:

Thursday 18 April - Kedron-Wavell Services, Brisbane QLD
Friday 19 April - Billboard The Venue, Melbourne VIC
Saturday 20 April - Factory Theatre, Sydney NSW
Wednesday 24 April - Shoppingtown Hotel, Melbourne VIC
Friday 26 April - The Gov, Adelaide SA
Saturday 27 April - The Charles Hotel, Perth WA