Boy George finds '70s heart' for first Culture Club album since 1999

Despite Culture Club's status as an icon of the 1980s new romantic scene, British singer Boy George believes his band has a 1970s heart.

The 57-year-old Londoner discussed his musical influences, his new projects and his dismay at Britain leaving the European Union with dpa ahead of Friday's release of "Life," the group's first album for nearly 20 years.

"Somebody did say, in one of the reviews, that Culture Club has a 70s heart as opposed to an 80s heart," George said.

"And I think that's probably true because I think that the 70s was really where I first discovered music.

"You know, [at] the end of the '60s into the '70s you had all kinds of prog rock, then you had glam rock and you had punk rock, then you had sort of electronic music and you had disco and you had reggae.

"There was a lot of stuff going on and I think that definitely shaped how I write. I would say I would go back to those reference points whenever I'm writing something."

The new album "Life," which draws on material from the aborted 2016 Culture Club album "Tribes," is a "celebration of all the things that I grew up loving as a teenager."

"I mean the opening track, 'God & love,' and you know the Banshee-style guitar in there, you know, and then kind of hints of Sly and The Family Stone," he said. "There's a lot of things in there and... I actually write the lyrics and the melody for the songs."

George admits he has mellowed artistically since his 1980s heyday and is now more protective of his personal life.

"I don't write in a literal way any more. You know, when I was younger everything was almost like a diary - if I was feeling something I wanted to put it into a song and I wanted everyone to hear it.

"Whereas now I'm probably a little bit more protective of my personal life. I'm not necessarily willing to spill everything out there like I used to. I think that you have to hold some stuff back."

George regards himself as spiritual and sees too much antagonism between people across the world, epitomised by the divisions that have been exacerbated in Britain by its vote to leave the European Union.

"I think there's so much dissension in the world, you know, and that [Brexit] is an act of insanity," he said.

"We should be uniting, not un-uniting. We shouldn't be pulling away from each other, we should be pulling together.

"As a Buddhist, you know, I believe that we are all connected. I don't believe in 'us and them' and I think there is only 'we.'

"I'm very optimistic about the future but I'm also worried because, you know, there's so much... anger.

"So I don't think Brexit is necessarily helpful right now."