Talking about the forthcoming Id EP, which I’m sure is going to surprise a lot of people because it features some of the OMD classics in their earliest forms, does The Id period feel like ancient history now?

A lot of OMD feels like ancient history now. Well, that thing at Noddy’s now is, what? 23 years old? I mean by the time I was 23 I’d made 4 albums and had loads of hits. That, to put it in perspective, is like someone who was born in 78 is now as old as I was when we were recording Junk Culture.

So you’re looking forward to seeing these Id tracks finally cleaned up and out there?

Yeah, I hope so. I mean Sebastian, our computer programmer, is going to work on them at the weekend actually. I think they’re interesting. I don’t think they’re going to be of interest to anybody other than I think OMD fans and collectors. I’m sure if we manage to put them in hand-numbered sleeves, Aggy will probably buy the entire catalogue! (laughs)

Paul Humphreys has asked you to write lyrics for some of his new material. Can you tell me how that’s all going?

There’s a song actually that Paul and Claudia have taken from an idea I had which was written in America in '94 which sounds pretty good. Paul has got a stunning song called Sister which I think with a bit of arrangement is a really strong song. So he just wants me to write a second verse really for this one that started out as a sampled loop in America in '94. So I’ll see what I can do.

So you like what you’ve heard so far?

I do actually. I tell you what was nice actually was to hear Claudia sing again. I’d forgotten how much I liked her voice and how distinctive her voice is.

Yeah, it’s good stuff. Moving on to Atomic Kitten, do you think Atomic Kitten have strayed much from the original idea?

Completely. I conceived Atomic Kitten as sort of Bananarama meets Baby Spice Girls meets Manga cartoon and they were kind of like that with the first couple of singles but they kind of got modified and grown up a bit.

The first 4 singles were fairly sort of brash and bright and breezy. We had this song Whole Again, that was recorded at the same time. You see in my mind I had no problem with a beautiful song like Whole Again or something as cheesy and in-your-face as See Ya. It worked for me. But, we had that song and all of a sudden it was like the marketing campaign shifted. It was like "OK we’re not that anymore. We’re 3 sexy, sophisticated young ladies". It wasn’t even gradual, it was just like 'turn the page - chapter 2 - Now they are sexy, sophisticated and grown-up!' (laughs) It was just like that! It worked.

The new album we’re writing is going to sound I think a bit different from the first one. Although having said that... What Right Now was 18 months ago when it was released in Japan, and what it is now on its re-release, I mean it’s a much more sophisticated and slick album. The Japanese one was pretty 'crash-bang-wallop' really which is how they were conceived.

It must have been a pretty tense time when Innocent dropped Atomic Kitten just prior to the success of Whole Again. What were your thoughts back then?

We still believed in them, maybe stupidly, but we thought 'well, we’ve had 4 hit singles here'. We hadn’t actually received the final advance so we conceived this kind of mad idea that we would say to the record company that we would waive the advance if we could get the catalogue back. Because we really believed Whole Again could be a hit single. So the girls didn’t actually know they were dropped because they were in Malaga or Marbea or somewhere on board a British Navy aircraft carrier still filming the Jim Davidson Christmas Special. We didn’t even tell them because they wouldn’t have been able to do it if they’d known. The air would have gone out of their balloon basically. So whilst we were conducting all these negotiations, they were out there blithely carrying on doing their song.

It was funny really, because as the promotion campaign started for Whole Again we started getting this feedback about what a really great song it was. I’m not sure I believed it because I just didn’t dare to believe it really. But the record company decided in the end that� maybe our attempt to get the catalogue back actually bluffed them. They possibly thought that we had another licensee lined up. Hugh Goldsmith who’s the boss of Innocent Records, he was sure that the band should be a hit and he didn’t want to let them go and it wasn’t him that wanted to drop them, it was the accounts department at the parent company Virgin. I think us saying "Alright, give us the catalogue back" just gave him the impetus one more time to go back to Virgin and just say "Please, please, please - let me have one more go at this. Please let me release this record. Give me one last chance to show you that I think this band could be huge". So they gave him a second bite of the cherry. Limited budget, I mean that’s why the video looks so simple, and yet in some respects that’s why it works. Because instead of spending a fortune on sets and choreographers and dancers and swooping cameras, they could only concentrate on what they had - a good song and 3 good looking girls. So they kept it short and sweet.

It was one of the more amazing musical history anecdotes - the rise phoenix-like from the ashes of Atomic Kitten after they’d been dropped. People find it hard to believe, they think "Ahh, you’ve just made that one up for extra publicity". If we wanted the publicity we would have told people before the record came out. It was absolutely for real. The bottom line is that I guess the record company had spent about �2 million and they’d only got back about half a million, so they were considerably out of pocket.

Can you give a little background to the Atomic Kitten songwriting method? Because some people are under the impression that you record some kind of guide vocal yourself and then give it to the girls. Can you perhaps explain what happens and how it works?

I virtually never put down a guide vocal. What usually happens actually when we write a song is that Stuart and I will write it in a key that we can get a buzz of because we’re singing it and it sounds good with our voices. The dilemma is that when it comes to the girls then, we usually have to bang it up about 3 semitones or more for them to feel comfortable in their key.

The songs come about, similar to writing OMD songs, from an idea - you hear a record or you get a sample or you find a new sound that inspires you to do something. Very seldom does it come from a lyrical idea first, which is the way it always was with OMD - the music was created first.

So Stuart and I come up with the music, try out different ideas. If we’re recording backing vocals first anyway we’ll get the backing vocalist to throw down a rough guide lead vocal. That’s what we’ve done recently because the girls really do just come flying in, record it and leave again because they’re so busy. Unlike the early days when they were hanging around all day and so we could try things out with them. We’ve really only got a few hours to nail it so these days we give them something with a guide vocal on, but sung by a session singer so they can hear the tune. So when they come in they know the tune. Whereas in the old days we’d sit with them and play it and sing the tune to them and then they’d sing it back and we’d sort of develop it: "It’s a bit louder - a bit quieter here - you’re going into the wrong note there" or whatever. I mean it’s quite incredible now, considering that Kerry and Liz used to have a flat around the corner two and a half years ago and would just wander in, sing a few songs, eat some chips, lounge around. These girls now, if we want them to sing we’ve got to book them a couple of months in advance! You know, "What are they doing on October 20th at 2 O’Clock in the afternoon? Can they sing a song for us?!" (laughs)

You’re also working with a range of other bands in a production role. Can you briefly tell us a little about those artists?

Because of the profile we have in town we get people coming to us wanting to see if we could help them out or "how do we get a deal?" or "can we do some demos?". We try to help young bands and artists and give them free studio time and such.

We have people coming through all the time who we sort of have an interest in. But basically we can�t write songs for people, we write for Atomic Kitten so we can only really help people who effectively are in a position to help themselves, you know, write their own songs. We have to balance it though, because these things can be very time-consuming and our primary concern has to be that we write songs for Atomic Kitten.

The final question - which is, of course, the most obvious question - do you ever foresee the possibility of OMD being reactivated in the future?

It could happen. I won’t say never. But right now it’s not something that I’m planning for. You know, I’m pleasantly surprised that my post-OMD career is rewarding and, so far, successful .

I mean people ask me "Do I miss being in OMD?" and I am surprised that I don’t that much. Obviously the fact that I’ve now got something that is successful again helps. I’m sure if I was sat at home walking the dog and cutting the grass all day long I’d miss it a lot more. I’m sure if I was on the dole I’d really miss it a lot more! (laughs).

I’m very, very fortunate that I don’t have to do it because I need the money. There are some people who rationalise carrying on doing things - the bottom line is they only do it because they need the money. I’m not saying you shouldn’t carry on. I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong singing songs that people want to hear and that you’re proud of that were hits ten, fifteen, twenty, how ever many years ago. I’m not saying it’s wrong but I never wanted to have to do that and I’m fortunate that for financial purposes at least that I have to do that.

Assuming you did decide to do an OMD concert again, can you forsee having Paul, Mally and Martin back on board?

They’re very frustrated that I won’t go on tour! (laughs) Because if I did, I’d ask them to come and everybody would be excited. I would look at trying to take the original line-up out on the road. And I think that two of them, maybe even three of them, would come. And Stuart said that if Martin wouldn’t come he’d play keyboards so, you know, it would be quite good but - I don’t feel the need to do it I’m sorry to say! (laughs) I just don’t.

Also I have to say, the worrying thing is that the longer time goes by, the less chance there is. Because the more terrified I would get of going on stage with such a long gap since the last time. You know, I was standing backstage at that gig on Monday (the party in the park), the more I thought about going on stage, the more I thought "God, if that was me...". I was just sat around eating hotdogs, drinking beer, having a laugh. But If knew that I had to go on stage I would be crapping myself! (laughs) I wouldn’t have enjoyed a second of it!

So that’s sad. It just strikes me that the longer time goes by, the more unable I would be to get on a stage through sheer fear factor! (laughs)