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Go West (not so young) man
by Conrad Astley31/ 3/2005
THE LAST time Peter Cox appeared at Manchester's Bridgewater
Hall, it was as part of a revival tour alongside Spandau Ballet's
Tony Hadley.
Hot on the heels of the pair's appearances on Reborn In The USA -
which at the time had been credited with relighting both their
careers - the gig had been dubbed Peter Cox versus Tony
Hadley.
But, as Peter said when he spoke to me from his London studio, the
rivalry was always light-hearted: "We're quite different singers,
and Tony's taste in the songs he chooses to sing is very different
to mine.
"I think the `versus' part had more to do with the bar, and while I
gave it my best shot, he'll always win when it comes to
that."
Go West have enjoyed a renaissance over the last two years, partly
because of the Granada-made reality TV show Reborn In The USA, but
although the new tour - kicking off in Manchester - has been named
The Twentieth Anniversary Tour, Peter insists there is more to it
than nostalgia.
He admits most of the audience will be an older crowd, but adds
they also get a number of younger fans at their gigs, and jokes he
apologises to them for having been subjected to Go West songs by
their parents during the `80s. However, he insists Go West has
become an "active" band once more, and they are now busy writing
and recording new music.
Some of this will be performed on the new tour, and while Peter
admits the fans will always want to hear favourites like The King
of Wishful Thinking, he is optimistic the new tunes will eventually
become just as popular. They hope to release singles in the near
future, and a new album is also expected to be released - their
first since 1992's Indian Summer - after Peter puts out an album of
his beloved Motown covers later in the year.
Their rebirth means Peter has been working with his old songwriting
partner and guitarist Richard Drummie once again, although he says
this was not a huge step. The pair parted company when Go West
broke up in the early `90s and Peter chose to live in America, but
they remained close friends.
Richard said: "We've known each other for the best part of 30 years
now, and we see a lot of each other outside of music, so we always
knew it was likely we'd work together again.
"The problem was the compromises we had to make as songwriters
became too hard, and it also became too much because we lived
together throughout.
"I would advise any new band not to do that. During the writing of
our second album we lived together on the Isle of Man and recorded
it in isolation in Denmark.
"We've got a great friendship but we over tested it by constantly
working, touring and living together. It would have been fun at the
beginning of a band's career but not after years together.
"But I don't think we ever had dis agreements that were going to be
permanent. We had a year where we thought we'd keep away from each
other but we've never gone six months without speaking to each
other."
Some of the recent interest in the band has also come from The
Groovecutters' dance remix of their 1985 debut single We Close Our
Eyes.
The pair say they are confident about the new tour.
Go West play the Bridgewater Hall on Sunday (April
3).
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