Homesick Return For 80's Scots Popsters
Halifax Courier 30th April

Deacon Blue's Ricky Ross The 80s are coming back to haunt us.

From reminiscing programmes to revival tours, you can't move for reminders of the decade taste forgot. Now another group from the 80s is making a return - and they're hoping to win over new fans as well as please the old ones. Deacon Blue are back with a new record company, a new album and tour. The group, who hail from Glasgow, had a string of hits singles in the late eighties, including 'Real Gone Kid' and 'Fergus Sings The Blues'. Their greatest hits album 'Our Album' hit number one in 1994 and that year the group decided to call it a day.

But in 1999 they reformed for a sell-out gig, and encouraged by that success, embarked on a hugely successful UK tour. Now they're back, 16 years after Ricky Ross formed the group which includes Lorraine Mc Intosh on backing vocals, Graeme Kelling on guitar, Ewen Vernal on bass and Dougie Vipond on drums.

Ricky is relishing a return to the music world. "It's great to be back and I'm really looking forward to it." He said he still got very nervous about performing, especially when he had to do something new. But at least this time he'll have the band behind him - during Deacon Blue's sabbatical, he released two solo albums and performed in a one-man show. Ricky also wrote music for the theatre and TV, something he had always wanted to do.

He started after being asked to write a score for the local theatre in Dundee and enjoyed it, especially the change from the group. He now has plans to write a musical. "I am a fan of the idea that good songs should be in musicals". He said he hoped the new album would please long-standing fans and attract new ones. It's a singles album, with each track a potential release. "I think it's very accessible. Hopefully it's the kind of record that's very intentional." And what about the sudden flurry of eighties revivals? "I think people get too hung up about decades."