True Believers
Daily Record 17th September 2016
Deacon Blue’s Ricky and Lorraine on how plight of refugees formed backdrop to
new album
Ricky Ross and Lorraine McIntosh talk about mixing pop and politics on Deacon
Blue's new album, Believers.
THE song speaks of children on a journey, of belief in better times and of hope
in the face of ignorance. Deacon Blue’s recent single The Believers put them
back on radio playlists with an upbeat and optimistic pop song as timely as it
was tuneful. But it also split the audience.
No surprise, some might say, in these days of Brexit and the divisive debate
around the ongoing refugee crisis. For husband and wife singers Ricky Ross and
Lorraine McIntosh, whose songs have reflected politics and society for 30 years,
there was never any doubt images in the news would colour their songs.
Lead singer and songwriter Ricky said: “The refugee story is the backdrop to the
whole album. It was happening all the time that we were writing it, so it was
very definitely there in the background.
“It is for many people, because I think we just don’t know how to deal with it.”
The Believers, though, isn’t a straightforward reflection on international
migration or religion. Instead, the band say the song, and the tone of their new
album Believers, was formed from the notion of trust.
Ricky, 58, said: “You contemplate the pros and cons of any argument,
relationships, buying a house, getting a job, voting in a referendum. “You weigh
it all up and you make your decision based on your gut instinct. That got me
thinking about how in so many situations we give ourselves over to trust and
belief, and that’s how humanity works in its best possible way. “It’s that
Malcolm Gladwell thing,” he added, referencing the bestselling author of Blink,
a book which looks at how we make split-second decisions. “There was another
story behind the song, about an Indonesian priest speaking to people on death
row. “He had to go round them all and said to them, ‘Don’t worry, I’m not going
to be far behind you.’ I thought that was beautiful, that idea of coming along
behind you.”
The song’s video invited a more straightforward interpretation but attracted
criticism, with some taking to the band’s social media channels to complain
about a perceived political overtone. For Lorraine, 52, the response was equally
straightforward. She said: “People say things like, ‘They should leave politics
out of their songs – I’m done with them.’ But if you think we’ve never been
political before then you don’t know much about the band. “Anyway, it’s not
politics, really. It’s about people and their lives. We are part of a continent
where people are washing up on the shores.
“What are we meant to do? Just pretend it’s not happening? Not let it affect us?
It should affect everyone with a conscience.” Ricky added: “That song isn’t
about religious belief or political belief. It’s about belief in human beings.
That’s the stuff we have to work on, the stuff that gets us through.” The new
album is the revitalised band’s eighth, and their third since 2012, working with
producer Paul Savage at Chem19 studios in Lanarkshire.
Ricky said: “It’s not necessarily a trilogy. But they’ve come so close together
and have been with the same producer. “The Hipsters was about the band, A New
House was about Scotland and the land and this one is about belief and trust.
But we never set out to make a trilogy. “In fact, when we set out to make The
Hipsters we never intended to make another record.”
Having disbanded at their peak in 1994, they reformed five years later, ebbing
and flowing with changing line-ups and the death of founder member, guitarist
Graeme Kelling. Now Ricky and Lorraine with original personnel Jim Prime on
keyboards and Dougie Vipond on drums are Deacon Blue Mark II, with Gregor Philp
on guitar and Lewis Gordon on bass In those four years they’ve been back to
Glastonbury and the Royal Albert Hall, filled the Hydro and made their debut at
T In The Park.
The new album, out on September 30, includes second single This Is a Love Song,
a euphoric, synth-laden best version of themselves, reworked with the help of
Coldplay engineer Michael Brauer in New York. Ricky said: “It’s a very simple
song about the terror and beauty of true love. It’s tough but when it works it’s
the only thing that keeps us going.” Last year he co-wrote a play The Choir with
actor Paul Higgins, which ran at Glasgow’s Citizens Theatre.
But the experience led to an uncharacteristic crisis of confidence, despite a
career selling seven million albums and penning hundreds of songs. He said: “I
was knocked for six after writing The Choir, which I thought would be much
easier than it was. “I came away from that feeling really uncomfortable about
writing. At one point I didn’t think there was another Deacon Blue album there.
“I went off to Nashville to purposely put myself in the room with other writers,
almost as a sort of therapy. “I had an experience in Belfast a few years ago
when I completely forgot the song I was singing, right in the middle of it. “It
had never happened to me before and I’m the sort of person who thinks the way to
deal with that is to go out and face the demons. So I set myself a challenge of
doing a solo tour last year, too. The tour turned out to be one of the best
things that ever happened to me.”
The new record also includes the fascinating barely-there track I Will and I
Won’t, which sees Ricky and Lorraine swap lead vocals to sing a song recalling
the early stages of a relationship. It might easily be considered
autobiographical. Ricky smiles at the idea: “I don’t think so. There are
probably other songs on the record that are far more autobiographical than that
one. Writing songs is about bits of truth, things you’ve experienced, trying to
remember someone you were.
“I think have to let your imagination fly. When we came away from Deacon Blue in
1994, the band had fallen apart and I thought I’d never write songs to that big
palette again. “But I wanted to get back to writing songs with ambition again
and Deacon Blue are great musicians. They can do anything. It’s like having a
big train set to play with. It’s great fun.” Paul English