Colin Moulding

Ooh.

And the last one is Colin Moulding of XTC.

Colin Moulding invented the spangled cape-wearing psychedelic mystic and scene maker The Red Curtain on the Dukes of Stratosphere album, 25 O'Clock.

So there you are.

One of those isn't real, and the rest are real.

It's really good.

Nicki Minaj, yes.

And, of course, Colin Moulding, because the names...

Uh, they're playing clubs.

The lineup doesn't cement into what it's, is kind of considered the classic lineup behind Andy until '76, and that's Colin Moulding, Terry Chambers, and Barry Andrews.

That's right.

They get a new manager who starts getting better gigs.

... no.

They continued to write and collect songs for future use.

Partridge, Moulding, and Gregory demanded to be released from their contract on penalty of giving Virgin no further music to satisfy the niche XTC market.

Big business tried not to budge and held out for the better part of the '90s.

All right, this is a big one this week.

Our guest is the great Colin Moulding of XTC.

I feel like XTC, thankfully, as the years go on, more and more people come to the realization that they are one of the greatest bands of all time, which, which they absolutely are.

Now, when you think of XTC, uh, I- personally, they would not be what they were without the contributions of everybody involved: Andy Partridge, Dave Gregory, Terry Chambers, and Colin Moulding.

Having said that, most of what ended up on the albums was a lot of Andy's songs, but there would be peppered in some Colin songs, and it was often the case that songs like, uh, Making Plans for Nigel, Generals and Major, King for a Day, those were the songs, those were Colin's, and those were the songs that would sometimes almost make more sense on the radio.

He had more of, like, a streamlined pop classicist perspective on music, I feel like.

I believe if you buy the single, the CD single for Want It Bad, there's one or two other songs on there, so maybe that counts as an EP, but I think of it as a single.

What's interesting here is that XTC hasn't been around for 30 years or so, and I would have imagined that Colin, once he was free and not, you know, in a partnership with Andy anymore to write songs and get his own stuff heard out there, he would just explode and do his own thing, but he has never really done that.

And now, here's your host, Steve.

Today, I'm joined by Colin Moulding, founding member, bassist, and songwriter for XTC.

Colin was a major part of the band's distinctive sound, contributing to some of XTC's most memorable songs throughout their career.

Colin, thanks so much for joining me here on the New Wave Podcast.

Well, Colin, it's been an absolute pleasure to be speaking with you today on the podcast.

Before we let you go, what's the best way for our listeners to keep up with what you're doing and find y- and m- maybe, uh, any other future current music projects?

Well, the three XTC sites, really, and the Colin Moulding site.

There's a Facebook site, I think, uh, for me, uh, Colin Moulding, and, uh, there's other ones as well.

What do you call that noise? As far as I know, it has been more than quarter of a century since Colin Moulding and Dave Gregory appeared on the same record.

But all that has changed with the release of Come Home to Me, the latest of many albums by today's guest, Anton Barbeau, who has brought both Colin and Dave together, virtually at least.

Hello again, my name is Mark Fisher and in today's packed edition of What You Call That Noise, the XTC podcast, I'll be joined by Ashley LeCron as we talk to Anton Barbeau about Come Home To Me and about what it's like to hear Colin's bass and Dave's guitar and Mellotron fleshing out his songs.

Good that you can join us.

And the reason for joining us is Come Home to Me, which is Anton's latest album, which is released on the 9th of October, 2026.

And it features Colin Moulding and Dave Gregory on certain tracks.

In fact...

Two tracks with both contributing together, presumably not in the same room, but they do contribute in the same manner, which I don't think has happened.

He said there was only one track on Sky Like Him where the whole of XTC played together.

And when he came in the following day, Andy Partridge was forcing Colin Moulding to redo his bass part all over again.

It drove Todd Runkin crazy.

He says, I produced Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell as a parody on Bruce Springsteen.