Hue and Cry's new labour of love

By Kevin Young
Entertainment reporter, BBC News

Greg and Pat Kane say they were never afraid to sound "sophisticated"

It seems appropriate that one of Hue and Cry's best-known lyrics is "ain't gonna work for you no more".

Twenty one years after that line rounded off their debut hit Labour of Love, Pat and Greg Kane have a comeback album on their own label and a website they created from scratch to gather views on their new material.

"We've tried to build a home for ourselves online, for our fans to come together," says Pat.

"In terms of the music business, in a sense, fans have always been kept at bay a wee bit.

"It used to be: 'Just you stay there, buy the concert tickets and merchandise, then go away and we'll come back to you in six months.' Web 2.0 totally subverts that."

'Blue-eyed soul'

The brothers' debut in 1987 came at a time of "a lot of hype in the press about blue-eyed Scottish soul bands", Pat says.

"We were quite a distinctive group - Danny Wilson, Deacon Blue, Texas, Wet Wet Wet, ourselves.

The fame and the fortune wasn't the driving force for us. We intellectualised and worried about music a bit more than most of the bands did Greg Kane

"We all seemed to stand up on the same campaign stages, whether it was against the Poll Tax, for the Scottish Parliament, or whatever issue came up.

"You got a sense that people in Scotland would look to the charts and would see bands being confidently but stylishly Scottish at a time when it was quite tough in Scotland."

They "did not really get on" with their rivals, Greg admits, and would put up a "facade" of friendship whenever they met.

"Pat and I were a bit more serious about music. We craved different things.

The group had hits with songs such as Ordinary Angel and Looking for Linda

"The fame and the fortune wasn't the driving force for us. We intellectualised and worried about music a bit more than most of the bands did."

Pat says they were not afraid to be sophisticated, an attribute he believes was "beaten out" of some other groups.

But after two successful albums - Seduced and Abandoned, and Remote - their third studio release seemed to mark a turning point.

"I think Stars Crash Down is one of our best-ever records. It was a top 10 album, so it was quite successful," says Pat.

"I don't know who didn't support it but I don't think it was quite what the record company thought was going to be delivered.

"We thought it was the kind of record we could do for the next 10 years. That's a familiar old story - the third record doesn't match the numbers and doesn't please the accountants."

Sibling rivalry

The rest of the 1990s passed with two jazz albums - low-selling in terms of their previous releases but "massive" in jazz-industry terms, Greg says - and reports the pair were not speaking.

"Blue-eyed soul" acts such as Deacon Blue emerged at the same time

"They were mostly true," Pat says. "It was sibling rivalry - certain problems that usually people sorted out in private and we sorted out in public between the ages of 20 and 26."

But he always knew they would continue recording, and the catalyst for this comeback was ITV1 reality show Hit Me Baby One More Time, celebrating forgotten '80s and '90s acts.

Hue and Cry performed alongside the likes of Tiffany, Chesney Hawkes and ultimate winner Shakin' Stevens.

"I remember you really enjoyed having a choreographer," Greg jokes to Pat. "'Where's my choreographer? Come here. What should I do?'"

"She only had one piece of advice for me," Pat remembers. "Don't move and stand up straight."

Their TV appearances "revived" their ambition and have led to Open Soul, their 8th major studio album.

"The reaction we've had has jogged a lot of memories about the enthusiasm of the '80s," says Greg.

"It seems to have struck a chord with people who want to be 21 again, or think about the decisions they made when they were 21."

'Feel like adults'

Pat says the first single, The Last Stop, is a "no-regrets" pop song.

"It's saying don't regret the decisions you made when you were 21 because they were the ones you were capable of making then."

To be in university one year, then to be recording a video in LA the next year, with a hit single after that - it was quite a lush time Pat Kane

Taking control of their own affairs has returned to power to them, he adds, in terms of how to promote themselves and their music.

"I feel like an adult now in the music business, whereas for so many years I was a whining child."

But the pair seem to have no regrets about the way their career began.

"We were very fortunate boys," Pat says.

"We came of age at the bulk of '80s largesse, with richness and endless resource. To be in university one year, then to be recording a video in LA the next year, with a hit single after that - it was quite a lush time.

"Now things are tighter all round but it's more efficient - you can do much more with less."

Hue and Cry's album Open Soul is available now in the UK.