BELOVED Scottish pop band Hue and Cry will be bringing their stripped back performance to Wrexham this month, when they appear as part of a co-headline tour with The Christians.

Taking things back to basics, the gig will contain reworked versions of classic songs and new tracks from Pat and Greg Kane’s most recent studio album, Pocketful Of Stones.

Both bands celebrated the 30th anniversaries of their debut albums in 2017. Hue And Cry’s debut, Seduced And Abandoned, skyrocketed them to stardom selling 100,000 copies and spawned the top 10 hit Labour Of Love, whilst

The Christians self-titled debut went to number two and double-platinum.

“It works really well with The Christians,” says Pat, on the phone from the duo’s native Glasgow. “I love Garry’s voice and songs and I think it will be a nice experience for the audience to have a support act and a main act with such strong voices.

“You could tell we were both listening to old soul classics and newer stuff like Prince and trying to stand on the shoulders of those particular giants. We both wrote songs about social topics too and of course they did that great version of Harvest For The World, which they nail every time. They’re great guys.”

Hue and Cry first caught the public’s attention in the late 80s with a string of chart-friendly hits, including Labour Of Love and Looking For Linda, but their pop sound was not to last and they took an experimental turn, slipping in and out of a multitude of styles, including jazz before going their separate ways in 1999.

It took until 2005 for the brothers to reform after they won the fourth-week heat of the ITV pop-competition show Hit Me Baby One More Time with a rendition of Labour Of Love and a cover of Beyoncé’s Crazy in Love.

“I wanted to do it but Greg had to be dragged kicking and screaming,” laughs Pat. “It’s a cliche but I’m Liza Minnelli and he’s Kurt Cobain. I was like ‘it will be all limos and big smiles’ but the way he got into it was

by being a typical muso and discovering the track the O’Jays did which Beyonce had sampled for Crazy In Love and then covering the original - it was great, even if we did get beaten by Shakin’ Stevens, but nothing’s perfect.

“What it did do was to find an audience again that we didn’t know existed and for 10 years we’ve benefitted from that - it was nice to come back to something we thought was behind us.”

Since then the brothers have returned to their pop roots albeit with a modern, matured outlook on 2015’s September Songs, their album of Frank Sinatra covers.

“We’re not just reheating old classics,” says Pat. “There’s a whole new body of work which can hopefully be understood at first listen rather than be too obscure. We’ve always tried to write pop songs and we’re still doing that even if they’re ballads - they still have to work with just an acoustic guitar and a piano and that’s the test for us.”

Despite their reputation for making intelligent pop, Pat admits he has no qualms about indulging in a bit of nostalgia now and then with various 80s package tours.

“I’m 54 now and I want to enjoy the heritage act stuff which puts you in front of 25,000 people on a Saturday afternoon but I also like that if we make enough money doing that, we can also pursue making original recordings,” he says.“We are not remotely embarrassed by the hits we had in the 80s - we put everything into them: our heads, hearts and guts.

“Looking For Linda is a song about women’s autonomy and Labour Of Love was a protest song - we were shooting from the hip from the get go and trying to write great songs and whether we did or we didn’t is in the ear of the beholder.

“The main thing is we were ambitious, so it’s actually great to come back to the hits because they were as complex and rich as we could make them.”

Hue and Cry have been quick to adapt to the new workings of the music industry and embrace the opportunities of streaming and interacting directly with their fans through social media.

“We have a very strict rule about smart phones at our gigs,” jokes Pat. “If you don’t use them to record us and put it up on social media, a large guy with a shaved head is going to beat you up!

“It builds a community which trades, shares and takes possession of your music and if you treat your fans with that amount of friendliness and generosity they tend to come back to see you.

“We cottoned on to that early and realised that social media was a way to strengthen a community around your music.”

After years of campaigning for an independent Scotland, Pat got something of a reputation for his outspoken comments on politics and today he’s confident that there are still political voices willing to be heard in pop music.

“You can see that hip hop was waiting for something like Black Lives Matter and it articulates it brilliantly,” he says. “I think with #MeToo there will be a wave of female-centric music.

“There are still moments that flash up but they are not going to be from old Scottish dudes like me - it will come from other places. My ideal of a political songwriter is someone like Elvis Costello or Steely Dan where it is all ironic and wry and that’s where I’m at these days, so I don’t think I could write another Labour Of Love for instance.”

Peaking at number six in 1987, Kane’s coded anti-Thatcherite anthem remains Hue and Cry’s best known song but it almost didn’t even get beyond the studio.

“It was so strange I didn’t even want it to be released,” he admits. “I loved it but I always thought there was

no way anyone could dance to it and it had this political philosophy that no one would get and also it had me rapping.

“Thankfully I was overruled and I’ve never been allowed anywhere near a decision in the band since!”

WIN TICKETS...

To celebrate The Christians and Hue & Cry’s new tour Stripped, the Leader is giving away one pair

of tickets to see these iconic bands play live at the William Aston Hall, on Friday, May 18. Our lucky winner will also receive a copy of Hue & Cry’s latest album, Pocketful Of Stones. So for your chance to win simply answer the following question: What is the name of Hue & Cry’s latest album?

Then send your answer on a postcard, along with your name, address, postcode and daytime telephone number by noon on Tuesday, May 8, 2018 to: The Christians/Hue & Cry Competition, c/o Kathy Woodfine-Jones, Newsquest Ltd, Mold Business Park, Wrexham Road, Mold, Flintshire, CH7 1XY or email your details to kathy.woodfine-jones@nwn.co.uk. Don’t forget to include your daytime number as the winners will be notified by phone. The competition is not open to employees of Newsquest Ltd or the prize provider and their families. Full terms and conditions for all Newsquest competitions are available in the Classified Section.

The Christians and Hue and Cry play Wrexham William Aston Hall on Friday, May 18. Doors 7pm.

Tickets cost £25 from www.glyndwr.ac.uk / 0844 888 9991.