Andy Bell's "superstitious" nature inspired the title of his new album.
The 61-year-old musician is best known as part of synth-pop duo synth-pop duo Erasure alongside Vince Clarke but is back with his third solo album 'Ten Crows' and explained that the name came from the term's connection to Tarot reading.
He told Blitzed magazine: "I just love it because I've always been quite superstitious. My nan was really superstitious like 'don't put your new shoes on the table'. We're not from a travelling family or anything like that, but I just love things like reading tea leaves, so Tarot was a natural thing to go towards. Every time when we get stopped at the airport it's always my Tarot cards in my bag. I take them out and they say, 'Oh can you do me one?'"
The 'A Little Respect' hitmaker is currently on tour to promote the album but admitted that he "still gets nervous" to go on stage even after all his years in the industry.
He said: "It's kind of different because we haven't done this material before. Dave [Audé, producer] will be there, we've got our whole band that we've been using for a while. Vince has seen us, we played in San Diego and he was there. It's kind of tricky picking which Erasure songs to put together with the new ones. It's a bit nerve wracking, I still get nervous, I can't help it. I don't really like playing in such big, huge venues because I like to see people. I like the smaller intimate gigs. We're doing a combination of tracks, a fair amount from the new album and one or two surprises. Ten Crowns was just about finished when Vince and I started working together on the new Erasure album and it's completely different. Erasure is much more personal, being with Vince.
Although to me it's good just to see him and be with him and make sure he's safe. That's what's nice."
