ORCHESTRAL Manoeuvres In The Dark’s influence has been felt across the music industry.

The XX, Brandon Flowers, Hurts, and LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy have cited the Wirral electro- pioneers as an inspiration. Can Andy McCluskey hear how his own work has inspired newer bands?

“I couldn’t possibly say,” laughs Andy. “You hear your own music everywhere, and you hear it nowhere. But it’s always nice when bands namecheck us.”

Now the Wirral duo, Andy and his school mate Paul Humphreys, are back with their first new album in 14 years, the appropriately entitled History Of Modern. And what a return.

““I’ve been pretending to be a pop star again,” he chuckles. “But we’re being realistic about the new album’s commercial prospects. We’re not expecting to sell millions.

“We wanted to go back to the sound that we had with our earlier albums, but with the advantage of the production techniques of 2010.”

The music sees a return to the band's early pioneering electronic roots.

“Fifteen years ago, we were majorly out of date,” he explains. “We were dead ducks. When grunge came in and everyone was listening to Oasis, we were suddenly completely irrelevant.”