Intro by Duane Davis
When Dave Stidman and I hired Barb (then Hirn, now Schiola) at Wax Trax back in the 90s, we very quickly realized we had hit the The Legendary Employer’s Jackpot: The Perfect Employee! Barb was bright, hard-working, forward thinking, organized, dedicated and just flat-out fun to be around.
We had poached three fine workers from the now defunct Rocky Mountain Records and Tapes: Karen, Liz and Barb. We were fortunate to get them. Business was exploding with Grunge and Hip Hop, fueling a frenzy of sales as people got into CDs to replace their worn out and scratched up vinyl. It was a great time to be in the business of providing music.
As with most of our staff over the past 47 years, Barb was also a music fanatic. Her tastes ran from Kraftwerk to Devo with an emphasis on bands like Depeche Mode, Ultravox and Yello.
But Barb’s big love was Soft Cell, a UK duo of Marc Almond and Dave Ball, who had a smash hit in 1981 with a cover of ‘Tainted Love’– an R&B song originally recorded by Gloria Jones in 1964. And as much as Barb liked Soft Cell, her love for Marc was even greater after Soft Cell broke up in 1984 – as you will discover when you read some (or all if you have time) of the article below. What follows is a detailed record of the evolution of a Super Fan, a species of fan that has kept the store alive for decades.
As Barb says, she is not a stalker. She is a Pilgrim.
I Am Not a Stalker – A Journey of Love for Marc Almond
In February 1981, I found a program on Denver’s PBS 12 TV station (KBDI) called “FM/TV.” All that I can find of it now is a blurred image of the show’s opening credits. At 12, I yearned for something other than the same rock and pop songs I heard every day on the radio. I have always loved music, but FM/TV shaped me into a raging music video kid.
By the time Soft Cell’s huge hit, “Tainted Love” topped the charts in America, I already knew two of their other songs thanks to FM/TV, “Bedsitter” and “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.” I stayed up until 2am Fridays and Saturdays, hoping to see both videos among the rest. These videos launched me into a decades-long journey of loving Soft Cell and Marc Almond in particular, the vocalist for the pop duo. I think I listened to Soft Cell’s first album, “Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret,” until it drove my parents insane. I remember my older brother asked me in the early 80s,
“Who’s your favorite band? Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd?”
“Soft Cell,” I replied.
Fast forward to 1988 when I worked for Rocky Mountain Records in the Tabor Center (then a mall). Marc’s solo album, “The Stars We Are,” had just been released and I fell further into love with his voice. This prompted me to visit tons of record stores , always looking for Marc’s other solo work. After college in 1992, I began working for Wax Trax, which gave me another avenue to collect (thank you Duane Davis, Liz Hughes and Karen Brown!). I left Wax Trax in 1993, but then returned in May of 1995. I met my husband Paul at Wax Trax when he joined the store in August of that year. Not particularly a fan of Marc, but he does respect him and without Paul, I would have no journey to share.
Over the years, I have taken a lot of shit as a Marc Almond super fan. Friends call me a stalker, and some people judge Marc’s talent unfairly when they don’t know anything but “Tainted Love.” I always have a retort ready.
The existence of eBay grew my collection of Soft Cell and Marc Almond vinyl and CDs into a ridiculous number of physical media and posters. When Paul and I moved into a larger house in 2014, I designed The Marc Almond Room.
Meeting Marc the first time
Seeing Marc Almond play live eluded me for years. In 1999, Marc announced a US tour that would include a stop at the Hard Rock Café in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, the venue canceled the show due to low ticket sales with two days’ notice. Ah, the tears!
In 2003, Soft Cell joined the line up for Watapalava, an LGBTQ-themed Lollapalooza and the tour would take them to Denver. I bought tickets for the third row but management canceled all shows when Sinead O’Connor backed out at the last minute.
In 2004, I discovered Soft Cell’s tour would take them to play in Venice, Italy two weeks before our vacation in that very same city. Then Marc’s motorcycle accident occurred and he didn’t perform again until 2007.
It wouldn’t be until 2012 that I found the courage to try again. This show had a lower risk of cancellation because it celebrated Marc’s 55th birthday at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London.
I stayed up late one night to buy tickets and once I saw the order confirmation appear on my screen, I woke Paul up to tell him in an excited whisper, “We’re going to see Marc Almond! We’re going to London!” He rolled over and murmured, “That’s great, sweety,” then his snores began again.
Other than my wedding day, I have never experienced such an enormous amount of anticipation for any event. I counted down the months, then weeks, then days until the concert, all on tiptoes because of my fear of cancellation.
On the day of the show, I fell into what I still call “The Marc Zone” wherein I focused on nothing but getting to the venue. We stepped onto the Underground, headed for the Shepherd’s Bush station, my excitement barely contained. The train lurched a few feet, then stopped. I looked at Paul with terror in my eyes!
“Are we stuck?” He calmed me down and told me to just wait a minute and shortly afterwards, the train moved. Whew!
We had general admission tickets and lined up outside the venue early. We met another couple behind us and when the doors opened, the woman and I tore up the stairs to get the best seats in the first row of the lower balcony. My eyes filled with tears when Marc took the stage. He sang so many of my favorite songs and I watched him with my hands resting on the balcony bar, mesmerized.
After the show, my new friend gave me the scoop that Marc sometimes exits the theatre before heading toward his car, so we waited outside. Unbeknownst to me, she had written a note on some scratch paper and handed it to the bouncer.
Suddenly, Marc walked out the stage door and I stopped breathing! The bouncer gave him the note, which read, “Barb and Paul came all the way from the US just for this show.” After reading it, Marc looked up, looked around and said, “Really?”
Suddenly, I found myself next to him, I’m still not sure how, watching as other fans surrounded him, one man even grabbing Marc’s face and kissing him repeatedly on the lips. As he pushed that man away, he got close to me and posed for a picture. I thanked him and walked straight over to where Paul was standing and put my face in his chest. My incredulity at what had happened spawned multiple F bombs. I ugly cried for at least 30 minutes. I was gobsmacked! I floated around with that memory for several months.
Following my first tour
Over the next two years or so, I waited for my opportunity to catch Marc again. He announced a tour in early 2015, a 12-date UK tour for his new album “The Velvet Trail.” The woman we had met in 2012 and I coordinated and scored tickets for eight shows (our spouses only on the hook for two), all in different cities. Her husband agreed to be our driver.
Paul and I flew into London on April 18, which also happened to be Record Store Day, so we figured out the Underground and made our way to SoHo. Even at midday, the queues flowed out the doors of several stores. When I could get into a store, I couldn’t move around. That happened so often that I just gave up and felt lucky to be amongst the excitement. I lost Paul in the crowd when he left to find a drink but before long, I saw both of his hands raised above his head as he yelled, “Beer here!” The crowd parted immediately.
We took a train to Cambridge, then a taxi to our hotel to meet our friends. No matter how hard I tried, I could not get traffic patterns correct. When I thought the taxi driver should turn right, she turned left and when I thought a string of cars should exit the roundabout, they stayed in it.
Before the concert in Cambridge, we saw Marc’s longtime guitarist, Neal X from Sigue Sigue Sputnik, hanging out close to the merch table. I told him about my quest from Colorado and described that I am Marc Almond’s biggest fan. He responded with a grin by saying Marc’s biggest fan was someone else. He posed for pictures with us and then he left the area to get ready for the show to start.
We sat in front of a man who called out our matching hats that read “On Tour With Marc Almond,” and asked for a picture of the three of us. Every April 20, for the next several years, he posted that picture on Twitter. His posts stopped only when he and I left the platform.
The set started with the short, instrumental piece from “The Velvet Trail” album. Whenever I hear that intro, my mind returns to the energy I had stored before each show on the tour. Marc opened with “Minotaur,” from the new album and my tears began. I sat in a state of semi-consciousness; I couldn’t believe where I was! I had to tell myself over and over, “That’s Marc Almond. You are watching Marc Almond!” Marc sang a few Soft Cell songs, but he mostly concentrated on his solo work.
April 21, 2015, at the Brighton Dome, row 3.
The opening band in Brighton, The Montecristos, led by Neal X, took the stage and wowed me with the most talented standup bass player ever (Emma Goss). Neal’s electric guitar and heavy lyrics brought the house down.
When Marc took the stage, I had to readjust my brain, because Marc stood just a few feet away from me! About half-way through, we rushed even closer to the stage, and my friend told the people around us that I had come all the way from America. I felt like Moses and the Red Sea as bystanders parted for me.
I met a couple of guys who pulled me into a dramatic singalong when Marc closed with “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.” We sang at each other, put our hands to our hearts and belted it out. We shared hugs when the show ended. God, I love the English.
Our traveling companion surprised me with a VIP pass to meet Marc before the show in Leeds. I received this gift with both incredible gratitude and absolute fear. I felt paralyzed in the Marc Zone all day. The terror of saying something stupid or stuttering while trying to speak to him engulfed me. But when my turn to meet him came around, I asked Marc for a hug, which he gave me with a smile. I told him about my journey to see eight of his shows, said I’d been a fan since the beginning when I was just a kid and that the tour was my dream come true. He asked me how I liked the shows and I told him, “Each one is better than the last. And I love the album.” We then posed for photos, my whole face quivering with nerves. As we started to say goodbye and in a surprising show of utter bravery, I took Marc’s hand and leaned in so we could exchange kisses on the cheek. I cried after I left the room, of course, and said almost nothing during the concert from our front row of the balcony. To this day, I am amazed at how well I kept it together.
April 25, 2015, Manchester Bridgewater Hall, row 2.
Neal X’s The Montecristos opened and I found myself in the front row again once Marc invited the audience to come forward. Two women stood right at the foot of the stage and one touched Marc’s shoe more than once. I found that horribly strange and disrespectful. And my friends call ME the stalker!
I saw the best concert of my life at Queens Hall in Edinburgh, Scotland. Seats in the first row and a low stage put Marc only a few feet away. Near the end of the concert, he jumped down off the stage and walked through the crowd, still singing. YouTube videos show me right there with Marc.
Scotland lived up to the hype. We ate the best Sunday roast (on a Monday) in a pub down the street from the venue. We took a day trip to the Highlands and rode a boat to find the Loch Ness Monster (she was in the parking lot of the gift shop) and the haunted Edinburgh tour scared the crap out of the entire group. I have been known to remind Paul that our adventures to see Marc Almond have taken him to places he might not get to see otherwise. Sometimes that works.
For the last show of the tour, we returned to the spot where I first saw Marc in 2012, and the crowd was awful. A woman pushed a teenage girl out of her way to get a first -row balcony seat and words started to fly. Later in the evening, the people in front of us kept leaving their seats for more alcohol and they talked incessantly.
For the last show of the tour, we returned to the spot where I first saw Marc in 2012, and the crowd was awful. A woman pushed a teenage girl out of her way to get a first -row balcony seat and words started to fly. Later in the evening, the people in front of us kept leaving their seats for more alcohol and they talked incessantly.
On May 2, 2015, we said goodbye to our friends and I broke down into a puddle, sniffling from the cold I woke up with, and from crying. I had the most fun two weeks of my life following Marc on “The Velvet Trail” tour and didn’t want it to end. The time went so fast and I loved every single minute of it.
Ditching the husbands for a second tour
I watched Marc’s website on a regular basis, waiting for another tour. In October of 2017, he announced a short UK tour to promote his new album, “Shadows and Reflections,” a covers album in honor of hits from the 60s. This meant I had a new reason for Paul and me to travel back to England with our friends, but only for three shows. I refused to let the husbands join us for any of the shows so she and I could have a better chance for seats near the front.
October 14, 2017 at the Ipswich Regent Theatre, row 3.
During Marc’s quiet song “Embers,” two drunk women rushed to the stage (way too early) and proceeded to talk loudly. When the song ended, Marc marched to the end of the stage, yelling and swearing at them. He told them to F- off and leave. I have always defended his actions.
The opening act in Ipswich, Jack Lukeman, an Irish rock/folk musician, impressed me. I met him after his set, bought his latest CD and he signed it. I now own his entire catalogue. I regret not asking for a picture with him.
I asked the box office as we walked in if I could have the concert poster and they said they would have it for me after the show and that my name would be on it. As I left the theatre, I learned that someone tried to take it, and an argument ensued between our English friend and another man. Thankfully, Paul broke them up. I took that poster home.
I met Neal X again. He told my friend through a Twitter DM that he would wait around after the show to give me a “special cuddle.” A roadie gave me a set list. A few women hung back in order to have a chance at a photo with Neal. His lobby visits failed to garnish this type of attention. I chalked that up to jealousy and a weird sort of competition women sometimes have with other women.
Our incredible journey to see Marc ended with a stay in North Wales, my favorite place on Earth.
The horrible crowd threw beers at others and yelled through most of the show, but I made the best of it. The majority of the audience clearly knew their hits and not their B sides or random songs from their album “This Last Night in Sodom.” Even my friends knew nothing but songs from “Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret.” The concert marks the only time I have seen Dave Ball, an original member of Soft Cell.
February 15, 2019, The Globe Theatre in Los Angeles. General admission.
To give Paul a break, I asked my good friend Chris to join me for the show. He flew from his home in Houston to LAX and met me there.
Between the wait outside The Globe and the time we stood at the front of the stage, Chris and I did not sit down for 8 hours. The Sex Cells show included several LGBTQ acts, one of which was The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black. I still can’t accurately capture what happened when Kembra Pfahler took the stage. She was almost completely nude and covered in red ink. The artist Christeene also came out to slosh through confetti and blue ink that had exploded from balloons Kembra’s bandmates had smashed on her. And that barely covers the whole story!
I brought Paul to be the photographer and he made his way through the crowd all evening and captured a variety of angles. Drag queens handed out shots of a locally-made vodka on the corner of the stage and Paul took advantage of that. He still claims the vodka was the reason he made it through another Marc Almond concert.
An Airport rendezvous
The next day, we left Dallas for a quick layover in San Francisco so we could get to LA for the show in two days. We skipped Marc’s San Fran show to spend time with some friends who live in the LA area. While sitting at the Dallas airport gate, I decided to go for a short walk before boarding started. As I turned the corner into the nearly-empty concourse, I saw Marc walking straight toward me! As I neared him, I said, “Wonderful show last night, Marc!” He smiled and immediately thanked me. I thanked him for the show and he was so gracious. Marc and his entire group had seats on our plane! As we boarded, Marc squeezed past us to talk to his group and I think I died, being so close to him again. As we walked to our seats, we saw Neal X. As we approached, he said, “Hey, I know you guys!” I shook his hand and said, “Hi Neal, Barb and Paul from Colorado.” He came to my seat during the flight and we talked for about 10 minutes. During the flight, I had a perfect view of Marc as he turned his head to talk to his bandmates. At no time did I ask him for a photo and I did not take secret photos of him; I respect him too much.
A very intoxicated woman jumped up on stage to put her arm around Marc and then tried it with Neal. Neal left the stage to get security involved, but that didn’t help. She ended up in the crowd again, even trying to push me forward. A security guard stood right there doing nothing and I shouted, “Hey, can you help me???” The guy finally escorted her out. After this show, I ended up in two of Marc’s Instagram posts, right up front and clearly in worship mode.
Live shows go online
COVID-19 stopped the world in March of 2020, and thankfully, Marc and his band performed online concerts. In one of the events, he read a question chosen from his online contest. The question belonged to me. He said my full name and answered my question. Luckily, I recorded it with my phone. “I have a question here from Barb Schiola and Barb Schiola says, ‘I’ve been a huge fan, have I got that right Barb? I’ve been a huge fan since the early days of Soft Cell. You have created wonderful music over the years, thank you very much. What album, project or collaboration is your favorite and why?’ I have to assume he asked if he pronounced my last name correctly. He almost said it correctly.
Covid kept Marc from touring but it didn’t stop his creativity. In 2022, he and Dave Ball released an album of all new material called *Happiness not Included. In celebration of the new album and to honor their very first album, Marc embarked on a short Soft Cell tour. Dave Ball’s health prevented him from joining. Marc sang all of “Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret” and almost all of “Happiness Not Included.” True to form and a surprise to no one, I pulled Paul along to be my photographer in three cities.
Always in awe of him, I watched Marc with the same intensity as before. He wore his usual heeled boots and he danced and moved around the stage with contagious energy. His constant motion makes him difficult to photograph and most come out in some stage of blurriness. The photos pale in comparison to how it feels to watch him live. I try to live in the moment and enjoy every minute. Covid had kept Marc from touring for “Chaos and the Dancing Star,” released in January of 2020. But here I was again, finally, three long years since a live Marc show.
A relief washed over me after the show at The Masonic. I accomplished it again! Three Marc Almond (Soft Cell) shows without a hitch. I wondered how long it would take him to return to the States. He had to make up for missing time due to Covid.
Turns out, I only had to wait 1,000 days.
Marc finally comes to Denver
In early 2025, a friend told me about an incredible event. Soft Cell announced a tour with Modern English and Simple Minds! Soft Cell still really means only Marc Almond again since Dave Ball’s health still prevents him from touring. When a friend told me the tour would play in Denver, I almost lost my mind. I joked with my friends that I couldn’t let Marc come to the US and only get to see me once. So naturally, I bought one ticket to Los Angeles and had an amazing time. I enjoyed Modern English and Simple Minds too even though my head stayed in the clouds thinking about Marc.
Five days later, I saw the same concert in Denver. My friend Michelle jumped on 6th row seats the minute ticket sales opened. I never imagined seeing Marc perform in Denver. While at dinner before the show, I barely spoke and I barely ate. My sister-in-law, Nicole, had told me she looked forward to watching me react to Marc just as much as she looked forward to the show itself. I had to explain to her, Michelle and Chris that I had hit the Marc Zone.
Marc Almond Forever
Many people have asked me why I love Marc Almond so much. My answer has remained the same for over 40 years: I love the man and his music. His voice reaches the right tone for me and his lyrics often hit close to home. The Soft Cell song, “Frustration” has been my anthem since 1981, but only in times of feeling down or struggling with work. “I’ve done nothing, I’ve achieved nothing. I work for a firm, but I want to burn it down, down!”
If someone had told my 13-year-old self of my journey, I never would have believed it. As long as Marc continues to perform, I will travel to see him. Instead of saying, “Life is too short,” I prefer, “Talk less, do more.” That mantra started me on my journey in 2012 and defines a part of who I am. I am not a stalker. I just know what and who I love. And I love Marc Almond.
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