Peter Cox, an English singer and songwriter and one half of the duo Go West chats with Kevin Cooper about performing backing vocals with The Boomtown Rats, their orchestral shows with the Southbank Sinfonia, the release of a deluxe edition of their debut album Go West and touring in May with Paul Young.

Peter Cox is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer of British pop duo Go West.

In 1978 Cox joined Terra Nova, a band put together by former Manfred Mann’s Earth Band members Chris Slade and Colin Pattenden. While in residency in a Sheffield night club, he began writing songs with long time collaborator, Richard Drummie.

In 1982 he and Drummie formed Go West with Cox as lead singer and Drummie on guitar and backing vocals. They initially signed a record deal with Chrysalis Records.

In 1985 they released We Close Our Eyes which reached number five in the UK singles chart. Also released that year was Call Me and Don’t Look Down. In 1986 they were named Best Newcomer at the Brit Awards.

In 1993 he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a solo career. He released his self named debut album in 1997 which was followed by Flame Still Burns in 2001, Nine Miles High the following year, Game For Fools in 2005 and Motor City Music in 2006.

Whilst pursuing his solo career, Cox continued to work with Drummie as Go West. They have released a total of five studio albums, three live albums, four compilation albums, two remix albums and three EP’s.

Whilst busy preparing for Go West’s shows with the Southbank Sinfonia, he took some time out to have a chat with Kevin Cooper and this is what he had to say.

Peter, good morning. How are you today?

Hello Kevin, I’m good thanks, how are you?

I’m fine thank you and before we go on, let me firstly thank you for taking the time to speak to me today.

Not at all mate, thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about what we are currently doing.

I have to ask, just how is life treating you at this moment in time?

Well, what can I say, like everyone I am so pleased that we are somewhat returning to some kind of normality. Don’t get me wrong, I am still being careful, but I am happy to be back at work, and I have to tell you that I am busier than I have been for quite some time.

How did you manage to remain sane during lockdown, if in fact you did manage to remain sane? (laughter).

(Laughter) you cheeky bugger. I was most definitely on the more cautious reaction to Covid but, in the end, I got my head down, and I actually started writing and recording some songs for a forthcoming solo album.

As yet, do you have a window for a release date?

I am currently aiming for autumn with the album itself, because as I see it, I am eight songs into what will be a ten-song album. Having said that, the first single from the album which is called Too Far Gone, will be released on 18^th March, which just so happens to be the day when we will be playing the Bridgewater Hall with our orchestral dates as Go West.

I’m so pleased that you have mentioned the shows that you are going to be performing with the Southbank Sinfonia. Are you looking forward to those?

(Laughter) yes, finally I am looking forward to those shows very much indeed. I had a slightly more difficult time imagining just what Go West would sound like with an orchestra when the idea was first suggested. Obviously it made sense for ABC to play with an orchestra simply because The Lexicon Of Love has an orchestra all over it. The Go West sound was, by design, quite synthesized with synths taking the part of the horns and strings, on the first Go West album. We are now some ways into the arrangements for the orchestra for these shows. Rob Pagett, the guy who is doing the arrangements for us, is doing a fantastic job, and he has particularly done some beautiful arrangements for some of our less well-known songs and some of the ballads from the album. So, yes, now that I can hear synthesized demos of what the orchestra is going to sound like, I can visualise it more easily, and I am now really looking forward to it.

Whose idea was it for you to play with the orchestra?

It has to be said that it was our manager who came up with the idea. Isn’t it always the managers idea? (ldaughter).

How are rehearsals going?

(Laughter) well you are not the first person to have asked me this, so I will try to keep this short. The reality of working with an orchestra is that they are very expensive, and it very soon becomes a very expensive endeavour (laughter). You are talking about thirty additional players on top of your own electric band. So, whilst we are hearing our arrangements in a synthesized form so that we can be involved, make comments, together with the odd change here and there should we feel it necessary, we will have at least some control over what the orchestra will be playing on the day. I won’t hear the orchestra playing these parts until the day before the very first show.

That is the only rehearsal that we will get. Having said all of that, I have a feeling that it is going to be good (laughter). I don’t want to offend any classically trained players, because I can’t even imagine how they do what they do, but they don’t tend to interact like a drummer, a bass player and a guitarist would interact in an electric format. These kinds of players will turn up on the day; they have music in front of them, they play the music and, as you say, if all goes smoothly, it will sound fantastic.

You will be performing in The Symphony Hall in Birmingham, and I have to say that the acoustics in there lend themselves to this kind of performance.

Well, all of the venues on this tour have been chosen because, as you say, the venue itself needs to have been constructed with orchestral performances in mind so yes, I have played at The Symphony a number of times, but never with an orchestra though. So, I am really looking forward to hearing it doing what it is designed to do. We have always had such great support in Birmingham, and it is always a venue that I always look forward to performing in.

(Laughter) how does it feel playing catch-up with your old sparring partner Mr (Tony) Hadley who has done this sort of thing on many occasions now?

Yes, you are quite right, Tony has done this sort of thing many times before, but I don’t know really if Tony’s music is necessarily better suited, but as you say, he has beaten us to the punch, but we are certainly catching up with him now (laughter). Thank you for bringing that up and you and I were getting along so well (laughter).

One of the shows is at The Palladium in London and I have to ask, when you think about all of the artists, stars and legends who have trodden the boards there before you, does it make you nervous at all?

I am definitely tuned in to the prestige of the venue, but having said that I always have pre-gig nerves, and I try to channel those nerves into something positive. Having said that, my anxiety is only ever about me wanting to do my part as well as I can and wanting the show to be as good as it can be. So, I hope that nerves lead to a positive result in the end. So, I will be as nervous before the show at The Palladium as I am before any other gig (laughter).

Are there any songs that you really wanted to perform that haven’t quite worked out with the orchestra?

Actually, our process has been slightly different to that. From the outset we have tried to envisage which songs would work, and, touch wood, we haven’t had a disaster. We haven’t had a song that has gone wrong. Having said that, they are not all completed as yet. We did that edit if you like, of our back catalogue, before we started the process of orchestrating the songs. Clearly, there were some songs which quite obviously needed to be included, but once we had dealt with those five or six songs, then there was scope for us to be a bit more imaginative and there are definitely songs in our catalogue which, on the one hand may be less familiar to the audience, but which lend themselves much better to an orchestra setting, and we are hoping that everyone will enjoy it.

I see that you have, once again, got Cutting Crew on board as special guests. They always put on a good show.

Yes, they have got some great tunes, and I have to come clean and say that they have beaten us once again, in the process of making orchestral albums. So, they already have their arrangements in hand. They will be opening with a set of thirty-five minutes or so, and I really can’t wait to get back out on the road with those guys.

On the subject of guys who you enjoy being out on the road with, in May I see that you are helping a youngster launch his career (laughter).

(Hysterical laughter) that’s nicely put (laughter). Yes, we are doing a double headline tour with our old mate, Paul Young in the second half of May up and down the country. It will be the first tour that we have undertaken with back-to-back dates for a very long time. Its years since we have toured in this way, so I am looking forward to that. At this moment in time, we are not really sure what form that show is going to take quite yet, but I am sure that we will get into the planning stage once we have done these orchestral shows.

The question that everyone wants an answer to is will we be seeing all of you on stage together at some point of the show?

I’m honestly not quite sure yet. We haven’t spoken to Paul about these arrangements as yet, but I am sure that we will get into that during the rehearsals leading up to the tour. All that I can say at this moment in time is watch this space (laughter).

If you can’t find Paul for rehearsals, he will no doubt be away cooking somewhere.

Yes, that’s a good call; he could even be off somewhere playing with Los Pacaminos (laughter). There is always a danger with Paul that he will be out and about.

How much fun is it when you go out on the road with Paul?

Paul and I have very similar musical influences, and I have to admit that Paul is quite the musicologist (laughter). He has always got something interesting to turn you onto musically, and yes, he is great fun to be around. He is a very nice man.

In May you will be releasing a deluxe edition of your debut album Go West as a box set including four CD’s together with a DVD. Are you happy with it?

Yes, we are, and yes, I am very pleased with it. In my opinion, I would have to say that it really is a great looking box set. It is packed with loads of demos, previously unreleased mixes of various songs which the fans might know. It is also full of artwork and pictures that have never been seen before. It also includes a film of our very first live performances, from when we were on the road over in Japan with Culture Club, The Style Council and The Associates. There is also a film in the box set of our Yokohama baseball stadium concert, when Typhoon Number 9 came in so fans will have the dubious pleasure of seeing me singing while I am absolutely soaked with rain (laughter). It really is a nice-looking package; Richard (Drummie) and I are really pleased with it. I really do hope that people will enjoy it.

You say that you are pleased with the final product. Were you and Richard involved with choosing the content?

Oh yes, absolutely. You’re kidding me aren’t you (laughter). Richard and I have always been, from a managerial point of view, very difficult to deal with because we try to be involved in every aspect of whatever we do; from the song writing to the artwork to the way that things look, so on and so on. So, yes, Richard and I have been thoroughly and deeply involved in the process of putting it all together, so much so to the frustration of people who might have liked it to have been completed much more quickly (laughter). That has always been our agenda, to make something that we can be proud of and that we hope that the fans will enjoy.

I have to be honest with you and tell you that I have played the Go West album earlier today and, in my opinion, I feel that it sounds as fresh today as it did on its original release back in 1985. Would you agree with that?

Thank you very much for saying that. I have got to give some credit to Gary Stevenson for the sound of the record. We obviously brought the songs to the table, but I think that the whole being greater than some of the parts, or whatever that expression is, is largely due to Gary and his fixation with Trevor Horn, and that very high-tech production, reverbs, echoes and all that stuff that made the Go West album sound the way that it does. So, yes, Richard and I brought the songs to the table, but it was Gary and his keyboard player Dave who together dialled in all of those keyboard sounds. We were there, we were involved in those parts, but it really was the famous five, we four and the engineer who engineered that first album.

You and Richard have been together for forty years now.

That’s right, man and boy. It really has been a very long association (laughter).

It’s actually longer than most marriages (laughter).

Yes, it is but without any of the good bits (laughter).

Have you enjoyed the ride so far?

Yes, I have, absolutely. Obviously, there is a certain amount of ebb and flow as there is with anything else. If you have told me back in 1985 that I would still be making a fool of myself in front of audiences here in 2022 I would have said that I thought that was unlikely but, here we are and I feel very lucky and very grateful to the faithful, which is what we call our Go West faithful fans who have kept us working and have enabled us to do what we do. We couldn’t do it without them, and Richard and I feel very fortunate.

Have there been any major disagreements along the way?

Yes, far too many to mention (laughter).

You mentioned that you are currently working on a solo album; are there any thoughts on a new Go West studio album?

If Richard were to be sitting in on this conversation, he would be saying that we are always working on the next Go West album (laughter). Obviously, one reason for me to be working on a solo album was that we were all isolated during lockdown, and I have got my little rig here where I have been writing and creating demos of the songs that are going to make up my solo album, so I haven’t been in touch with Richard that much. In all truth, I have only seen him when we have played a few shows recently. So, all that I can say to you is that there are no immediate plans for anything Go West wise.

We have spoken about this previously; and I have to tell you that I am still playing to death your 2006 solo album Motor City Music. I personally think that it is a great piece of work.

That’s very kind of you, and to be honest I really don’t know what to say. Let me say that I really do appreciate the support. That album really was a labour of love; Motown was the soundtrack to my teenage years, and whilst I may have thought ‘do I really want to attempt a Marvin Gaye song or a Stevie Wonder song’ these are the icons, my idols, my favourite singers. I have to say that it was fun to do, and whilst working within certain restrictions, I was very pleased with the result.

Do you have a favourite Go West song to perform?

To be totally honest with you, I always like to perform the songs that the fans know because again, when you are writing the songs you never imagine that one day in the future, we will play this song and when we get to the chorus, the audience will take over and sing that song for us. So, for example, The King Of Wishful Thinking is generally that song. It is most probably the best known song in our show, and we always invite the crowd to sing along with us, which from my point of view, if they are singing and I’m smiling then life is pretty good really (laughter).

I was recently watching an old concert of The Boomtown Rats and I have to ask; did I see a young Peter Cox backstage performing backing vocals?

(Laughter) yes, you did. Just how the hell did you spot me on that (laughter). That’s me and Colin Campsie from The Quick. Colin had been called up for that gig and he called me and said “do you fancy having a go at this” and at that time we were closer friends than we are now, it’s sad to say. I don’t see that much of Colin these days but yes, he called me and asked me if I fancied giving it a go. To be honest with you, Colin was pretty wired in those days, by which I mean cocky, confident and a ‘we can do anything’ kind of guy. I have never been wired in quite that sort of way, but I rode on the back of Colin’s confidence that we could do that, and I have to say that it was a fun day. It really was an interesting experience. I haven’t had many occasions to be hired, if you like, as a sideman, as a hired hand, so yes; it was something to be in Bob Geldof’s company, to do that gig.

Finally, I have to ask the question, are you currently on the hunt for some new white shirts for the tour?

(Hysterical laughter) there it is, the white shirt syndrome. How I have been trapped into the cycle of ironing, I have absolutely no idea (laughter). I have a pretty good supply of white shirt’s thank you, so hopefully no one will be disappointed by the wardrobe choices.

On that note Peter, let me once again thank you for taking the time to speak to me today, it’s been delightful as usual.

Thanks Kevin, you take it easy, and I hope to see you in Birmingham. Bye for now and once again, thank you for your support.

Peter Cox, singer and songwriter with Go West, chats with Kevin Cooper about his favourite Go West song, his ideal Christmas, the 35th anniversary of their debut album and next year’s tour of the UK.

Peter Cox is an English singer songwriter, best known as the lead singer of the British pop duo, Go West.

In 1978 he joined Terra Nova, a band put together by former Manfred Mann’s Earth Band members Chris Slade and Colin Pattenden. While in a residency in a Sheffield nightclub he began writing songs with long time collaborator, Richard Drummie, leading to the formation of Go West in 1982.

Signing a deal with Chrysalis Records, they released We Close Our Eyes which became a top five hit in the UK singles chart in 1985. The following year Go West was named Best Newcomer at the 1986 Brit Awards.

In 1990 Go West had a number eight hit in the US with King Of Wishful Thinking which featured in the movie Pretty Women.

He has also pursued a solo career. In 1997 he released his debut album which was followed up with five more solo albums.

Whilst busy preparing for Christmas, Peter Cox took some time out to have a chat with Kevin Cooper and this is what he had to say.

Hi Peter, how are you?

I’m very well Kevin thank you. How are you?

All is good thank you and before we move on, let me firstly thank you for taking the time to speak to me today.

Not at all, thank you, it’s not a problem; it’s always a pleasure whenever we get the time to speak.

And just how is life treating you today?

Life at the moment is treating me very well, thank you mate. I have just got back from Australia and I am still trying to get over the jetlag (laughter). Peter (Drummie) and I played over in Ireland at the weekend so what can I say, I am continuing to play and am still enjoying it.

I must ask, just how do the Aussies treat you? Do they look after you?

They do, yes. I have developed the trick now that we have been going down there with the same promoter on the four or five occasions and having learnt from bitter experience to put some time in at the front end in order to get over the jetlag, I now turn it into a holiday. I had ten days over there before the gigs started; I had a holiday in Sydney which I always really enjoy.

Looking at the tour photographs I see that you have had some great acts playing with you over there in Australia; Pseudo Echo, Flock Of Seagulls, Wang Chung and the Cutting Crew.

That’s correct and let me tell you, I was very grateful for them at times (laughter). Being the last act on the bill can be at times a poisoned chalice, because some people start to head for the car park. So I just think of it as being a group of artists all from the same era really. They are all great guys, some of whom I have worked with before, and yes, we all had a good time.

You and Richard have now been together for thirty-five years, longer than most marriages.

I know, just who could believe it (laughter). If you had told me thirty-five years ago that we would still be playing and enjoying fantastic audiences, I would have very much doubted that. But here we are.

Do you and Richard argue?

Yes, of course we do, absolutely; it kind of comes with the territory really (laughter). Even back in the day when we had more musically in common than we have now, we both still feel passionate about our individual points of view. Everyone, including the producer, walked out of the studio at some point during the recording of the first album because he was not getting his own way, and let me tell you, that has not changed, we still do argue (laughter).

Back then, if someone had asked you just how long you thought that it would all last, what would you have said?

To be honest, we never really had a plan. I read somewhere, and this might not be true, it could well be a Press Soundbite, but I read that Duran Duran said that they were planning world domination from the very beginning. But we never really thought about it in those terms. I am much humbler than that, I think. When we were making our first album, albeit in an inexpensive studio, we were really living the dream. So we never really thought about it any further than ‘will we sell enough records or be successful enough so that the record company will let us do this again’. That’s about as far as we thought ahead. So, to be here still playing live, in a drastically changed industry some thirty-five years later, is something to be thankful for.

You mention the recording industry and over the years I would assume that you must have seen some drastic changes, so I must ask you, is the industry currently in a good place or is it simply dying on its backside?

What can I say; that depends entirely upon your point of view, but at this moment in time I wouldn’t necessarily say that it is dying on its backside. However, what I will say is that if you want to make a living out of being an artist playing music then you need to play live, unless you are right at the top of the tree. Having said that, even then, I feel that with the demise of the hard copy, the CD, the album or whatever your format is, because people pay as we all know for a streaming service and have access to almost pretty much anything that they want to listen to, there is no money in making records in a way. You have to think of it in terms of your recordings being an advertisement for your live shows.

And, if you want to make any money, then you need to go out and play live. From the point of view of the industry now, the vast majority of the music that is currently being made, most certainly the high-profile music in this day and age is not made for someone of my sensibilities (laughter). I do hear new artists all of the time who I do like, and to be honest there seem to be more and more of them every week. Whether or not it is a positive thing that any individual can make a recording in their bedroom these days of a very high standard and put it out there on YouTube, remains to be seen. But it has never been any different; you can make the best record in the world, the best record that anyone has ever made, but if no one knows that it is there, then no one will ever hear it.

From my personal point of view as a record collector, there is simply nothing out there for me to collect anymore.

Well to be perfectly honest with you, I am not a record collector, although at this very late stage, I gave in to subscribing to a streaming service simply because I haven’t got the room to store the records that I want to collect. But, to go back to what you were asking me, isn’t there currently a resurgence in vinyl; can’t you now buy new recordings on vinyl?

You can but, at this moment in time, it is not a level playing field. You can get a chart CD from your local supermarket for as little as seven pounds, but if you want to buy it on vinyl then it will cost you thirty pounds.

(Laughter) well you know supply and demand mate, it has always been the same and if you still want to buy vinyl then they are going to carve you for it. That is just the reality of commerce (laughter).

Swiftly moving on (laughter) next year will be the thirty-fifth anniversary of your debut album, Go West, and I have to ask you, do you still listen to the album?

Oh, I very seldom listen to any of my own music mate. The thing is, certainly back then, the process of making an album when there was still something of a budget, again I reiterate that the studio that we worked in was not an expensive or glamorous one but, we were thrilled to be there. And for us to get to the point where you have made the record; you have heard that music and have agonised over every high-hat beat and vocal harmony, you have heard it so much that it is very difficult to really be objective about it and to hear the big picture of a record that you have made until a good while later. I might listen to a less well-known Go West track if we are going to play it live and I need to refresh my memory on this or that phrasing, or what happens in verse two or whatever. But no, I really don’t listen to my own music very much.

Having played the album earlier today I have to say that, in my opinion, the album still sounds as fresh today as it did some thirty-five years ago.

Thank you, that is so kind of you to say that. However, I must confess that I really can’t take that much credit for the sound of the album. Obviously, I was involved with the writing of the songs, but one of the reasons as to why we started working with producer Gary Stevenson was because we were friend’s way before we were in business together. When we first met Gary, he had his own band, and he always had an almost science fiction approach to recording music in terms of the reverbs and the sounds. And I have to say that has been a positive as well as less of a positive over our career (laughter).

I think that the sound of the record is quite different from a lot of what was around at that time. Gary went from Thin Lizzy to Trevor Horn in one big step. Gary doesn’t have much of a love for Motown or that era of Black Music which I know was so important to my own influences, as well as yours. So, as I say, Gary went from Thin Lizzy all the way to adventures in modern recording in one big step. So that kind of huge sounding record complete with that Trevor Horn production, was really influential to Gary. The soundscape and the size of the reverb was the stuff that I was less interested in, at least on a technical level, but yes, Gary made that record the way that he did.

My favourite track on the album is Innocence which surprisingly wasn’t released as a single.

That is so kind of you to say so. It is risky because I always think of myself as not one who particularly blows his own trumpet, so whenever I look at that first album, there are songs on it that I think could have been better. They could have been better written; could have been worked on harder, but to be honest it is hard looking back thirty-five years to be objective. There are songs on that record that I am personally less proud of than others, let’s just put it that way (laughter). I personally think that Innocence is lacking a bit of a chorus, although there are parts of the song that work well, so let’s just say that a lot of happy accidents happened.

On the subject of happy accidents, it must have come as a bonus for you to be able to call upon the likes of Pino Palladino and Alan Murphy whilst you were recording the album?

What can I say, yes it was; it really was. I can remember really well, standing in that very small control room listening to Pino and Alan playing the whole thing live together. It was great listening to them recording the bass and rhythm guitars to Innocence, so what can I say, it was an exciting day.

Do you personally have a favourite track on the album?

Well I have told this story before Kevin, so please do forgive me if you have heard it. Like loads of other bands before us, we took some time to finally persuade a label to take us on. We had been in to see various people who would say useless things like “we love what you are doing, keep on going” and you would walk away from that meeting thinking ‘well, just what the hell was the point of that’ (laughter). That was, I feel, the mantra of all record labels of that time (laughter). I don’t think that things have changed that much, because now they tell you “we don’t hear a single”. We had a very early version of We Close Our Eyes which, to be fair to those labels, sounded quite dramatically different from the one that you might be more familiar with.

After one of those meetings, we came away and said “right, lets write what we think would be the most commercial song that anyone has ever written” and the song that came out of that was Call Me. So, we finally got through the door when we had a demo of Call Me and the label finally said “yes, we can see this as a single”. However, because obviously we were new artists, like many new artists before us, they didn’t want our first release to get lost in the shuffle of releases in this or that month. So, they thought that they would go with another track from the album first, and they asked Richard and me which track we would choose, and we chose We Close Our Eyes and it was the most successful single from the album. So, because of that, that song would be my pick.

You mentioned the Record Companies and singles. I am currently being told that they no longer refer to them as singles; they refer to them as being the first look at the album (laughter).

(Laughter) really, you may well be right. I have no doubt that my up to date terminology is hardly up to date (laughter).

You will be going back out on the road next year with the 35^th Anniversary Tour of the album Go West. What can you tell me about the tour?

I can only tell you what you have most probably already read in the press release. The story is that we will be playing thirty-five dates throughout the year, with quite a lot of different context, and we will be playing some venues that have played a part in our success together with places that have meant something to us. I believe that we will be playing a gig at The Theatre in Chipping Norton, because, for example, that is the place where we recorded the essence of the singles Call Me and We Close Our Eyes. We will be playing at The Rose Theatre in Kingston because that is one of the venues which is closest to where Richard and I were living when we were writing those songs for the first album. So, as you can see, the venues on the tour will be places that are special to both Richard and me.

I have heard a whisper that a certain Paul Young will be joining you at some stage during the tour; is that correct?

(Laughter) just who have you been speaking to? Yes, that’s right, Paul will be joining us for twelve dates in September, as part of our thirty-five-date schedule.

And what about the festivals?

Yes, we will be playing a few festivals during the summer together with a variety of shows through the year, in order to celebrate the album and also the fact that we are still standing (laughter).

Will you be performing the album in its entirety and in sequential order?

I have to be totally honest with you and say that whatever we perform from the album will not be performed as it was originally recorded. For a long time now, we have been playing extended versions of the songs as they are on the Bangs & Crashes album which, as you know, was an album of extended mixes of the songs from the first album. So, those versions of the songs are a little bit different. Plus where we have felt that the recording of this or that song might have been better, we might revisit that song and see if we can’t rearrange it in some more interesting way. So no, it won’t be sequential, and the versions of the songs won’t be identical to the way that they were originally recorded.

Will either the record company or yourselves be doing anything special with the album?

(Laughter) it’s funny that you should say that. We are currently looking at releasing a box set around the album. Hopefully, that will be released in September, which will contain the album itself; together with what we hope will be some demos of a few songs which didn’t make it onto the record which may be of interest to the odd diehard fan (laughter). Obviously, if I say that the song didn’t make it onto the album, then you will know that we didn’t think much of it thirty-five years ago (laughter).

The label that currently owns our back catalogue, have dug back into the warehouses and have found some tapes of stuff of ours and as they say, it is always interesting looking back over early recordings, especially the stuff that you haven’t heard for a very long time. So hopefully, that will at least be one of the things in the box set that might attract that diehard fan (laughter).

Where would you say that the album would sit in a Peter Cox top three Go West albums?

Oh wow, what a question. Let me just think about this before I give you an answer. Thinking about it, I think that it would have to be number one really. That is the album that has kept us working, obviously aside from King Of Wishful Thinking, by association with the movie, Pretty Woman. It is quite interesting; we played in South Africa and in the first place you would think that you wouldn’t get an invitation to play in a foreign territory if the promoter didn’t think that the audience was going to be familiar with your material. The King Of Wishful Thinking is fairly international world-wide because of the movie, but it was interesting to play in South Africa. For example, we played Call Me and where we are used to getting a reaction whenever we play it here in the UK, you could see that the audience were not aware of the song.

Then, when we were recently in Australia, whilst Call Me, We Close Our Eyes, Don’t Look Down and The King Of Wishful Thinking get a reaction, again by association with an album which I suppose was a success back in 1985, but when we played Faithful from our Indian Summer album, which is one of our two top ten singles, again clearly the audience didn’t know the songs. So, what point am I making, yes, I would have to say that the first album is the most important of all of the albums we have made, because after years of trying, it got us through the door, and we are still playing those songs some thirty-five years later, and at least here in the UK we are still getting a great reaction with them.

I have been looking at the PR photographs from the recent tour in Australia and I have to ask, is this the end of the infamous Peter Cox white shirt?

(Laughter) I have to be totally honest with you and say that this white shirt thing really is weird. We have never, clearly over the years, at the risk of stating the absolutely bloody obvious; we have never really been a band with a particular image (laughter). We may have had mascara put on us, unaware of what that might mean back in the 80s, but it has never been ruffles or any really strong image in that sense. People do still ask me “will you be wearing the vest at the gig” which really is a redundant question; it is all that I can do not to be somewhat short with them (laughter). Take it from me; no one needs to see me in a vest in this day and age.

So the fact that anyone has picked up on the white shirt thing is simply extraordinary to me. That we are even having this conversation because obviously social media is now a part of what any performing artist is doing these days and I actually do get feedback about this and that, especially about the shirt that I wore on any given day. So, in all honesty, no, it is not the end of the white shirt, but it does make me laugh that people think that a white shirt is vaguely interesting (laughter). Having said all of that, I have to say that there is a practicality about it, because in some cases we are playing venues where there isn’t really that much of a light show and if you are wearing a white shirt, then you are least visible (hysterical laughter).

Putting you firmly on the spot, what would you say has been the highlight of your career so far?

Let’s just say that I have been lucky and as such, there have been a few highlights. I have played at some amazing venues, but obviously, winning the Brit Award for being the Best Newcomer back in 1986 must be up there. At the time a lot was made of the fact that it was the one award which was voted for by the British public. If you have any insecurities about how good your record or your voice is, or any of that nonsense, then for the British public to go out and buy the record, and then to vote us the Best Newcomer that year, that was a really great feeling.

If music hadn’t have worked out for you, what would you be doing today?

(Laughter) I would most probably be in trouble with the police. I don’t really have any other skills, although saying that I wasn’t bad at languages when I was at school. I remember telling the careers officer at my school that I wanted to be an interpreter, and he said, “Well you can forget that idea because only the top one percent of bi or multilingual people are ever good enough to make a living at that job”. So that was the end of that (laughter). So, after several not quite successful jobs, I levitated to the path of least resistance which was singing. So that is kind of how it went really.

Is there currently anyone out there who you would pay to see?

Yes, there is. There is currently a young singer from New Jersey called Donna Missal who I think has got a wicked voice and I believe that she has recently been opening for Lewis Capaldi. She is most certainly on the upward trajectory, and she has got the most amazing voice. But with all of these things, it is going to be the right song that does it for her and then hopefully she will be as successful as she deserves to be.

I know that you are going to be busy next year with the anniversary tour but are there any thoughts on a new studio album and a solo tour from Peter Cox?

It’s tricky you know, for me to fit a few solo dates around a year that is big in the year of Go West. So I think that it will be most unlikely that there will be a solo tour, and as far as new material is concerned, Richard and I are always fooling around and writing, sometimes together and sometimes not; it is just a question of whether or not we finally come up with something that passes our own filter for what is good enough really.

Why are Go West not on the Classical 80s Tour, as I would love to hear you singing with an orchestra.

(Laughter) well you very may well do if you are at one of the two shows that we are going to be performing at. As you rightly point out, we are not on the tour as such, and in actual fact I think that we are taking Nik Kershaw’s place, on the one date in Brighton, and we are playing a date in Leeds in the middle of the year; I think that is in July. So, you and I will enjoy whatever the hell we sound like with an orchestra (laughter). Let me tell you, I have no idea just how that is going to work out. But yes, it is happening.

What was the first record that you bought?

That was Clint Eastwood by Lee Perry And The Upsetters. Lee Perry released dozens and dozens of instrumentals, which he was most probably making in his own shack studio. It was the first music that I was passionate about; the reggae that was coming out of Jamaica in the late 60s and not the UK versions. I was heavily into the authentic stuff.

Who did you first see performing live?

That’s a good question. What I can tell you is that it would certainly have been at The Winning Post in Twickenham which sadly is no longer a venue. I’m not sure which artist it would have been, but I saw Argent, Thin Lizzy, all kinds of bands of that era. Let’s go for Thin Lizzy because I saw them more than once at The Winning Post.

What was the last song or piece of music that made you cry?

The one which immediately comes to mind was when I was watching the TV series Nashville. Don’t get me wrong, I am not personally a fan of what I used to think country music was all about, but of course, the blurring of the lines between genres these days, country pop and pop country, who knows what you want to call it. Anyway, in the show Lennon Stella and her sister Maisy Stella, play the daughters of Rayna Jaymes who is played by Connie Britton. Maisy sang Come And Find Me and I have to say that it was bloody marvellous. Throughout the whole series I have to say that the song writing has been excellent.

As a person who used to boast that he was allergic to country music this series taught me and broadened my horizon, because a lot of the songs in that series were excellent, straightforward, commercial pop songs. For someone as young as Maisy Stella is, to be able to produce such a heartfelt and emotionally moving vocal, that really is quite a talent.

As we are rapidly approaching Christmas, what was the best Christmas present that you have received?

I know that this will most probably sound very Edwardian, but I have a great-niece and my great great nephew has just arrived. They have named him Edward Peter, so I think that is most probably my best Christmas gift ever.

And what about the worst, without offending the family of course (laughter).

(Laughter) with the family in mind, let’s just say that I have been a victim of the Christmas jumper in the past (hysterical laughter). So, to be on the safe side I will just say a general Christmas jumper episode.

What would be the ideal Christmas for Peter Cox?

That’s easy, being with the family. My partner is from Leeds, and obviously my family, such as is left of them, bless them all, are all down South so we take it in turns to be either North or South and this year it is going to be North. So, I will be spending a little bit of time with my immediate family before we head off North. So, in answer to your question, for me, Christmas is all about being with family.

On that note Peter, let me once again thank you for taking the time to speak to me today. It’s been wonderful as usual.

No problem Kevin, you too. It’s been great speaking to you once again; let’s not leave it so long next time. You take it easy and have a great Christmas.

Peter Cox, one half of Go West, chats with Kevin Cooper about his admiration for Vintage Trouble, his latest album Damn The Brakes, his infamous white shirts and his forthcoming UK Together In Concert tour with Nick Kershaw and Carol Decker.

Peter Cox is an English singer-songwriter, and is best known as one half of the pop group Go West. Forming the band in 1982 with rhythm guitarist and backup vocalist Richard Drummie, they enjoyed their peak popularity between the mid 1980’s and early 1990’s. They were named Best British Newcomers at the 1986 Brit Awards.

Whilst preparing for their forthcoming UK Together In Concert Tour with Nik Kershaw and special guest Carol Decker, Peter Cox took time out from his busy schedule to have a chat with Kevin Cooper. This is what he had to say.

Mr Cox how are you?

I’m alright Kevin, how are you doing?

I’m good thank you. We will have to stop meeting like this (laughter).

(Hysterical laughter) do we really?

Yes, my wife is starting to think that there is something going on between us (laughter). It’s good to speak to you again.

Yes you too mate.

So how is life treating you?

Things are good Kevin. We are approaching the end of our Festival season but it has been a great summer for us. We have played some fantastic festivals with our 80’s contemporaries, and immediately before we tour the UK we are going off to Australia with Nik Kershaw, The Cutting Crew and Paul Young. That is going to be great and I am really looking forward to being in Australia. We will be able to hopefully iron out some of the potential rough spots before we hit the road in the UK.

The forthcoming UK Together In Concert Tour will see you out on the road with Nik Kershaw and Carol Decker; are you looking forward to you all being together?

Yes absolutely Kevin. You may or may not be aware of this but we as Go West, that is Richard Drummie and myself, are planning on being on the stage with Nik and we will be performing together. There will be a little Go West, a little Nik Kershaw obviously but we are also planning on being on stage together and we are currently in the planning stages (laughter) of which songs we might attempt to play together and how that is all going to work out.

Can the audiences expect any surprises?

Yes Kevin, we are planning on throwing a few surprises into the show so that it is not just about the hits, but something that a lot of people would not necessarily expect.

So Go West and Nik Kershaw are co-headlining this tour?

That’s right Kevin, just to clarify the situation, Go West are not the headlining act above Nik; we are doing it as a joint show. That is what is behind ‘together onstage’.

And have you had any say in who will be opening the show for you?

Well with regards to Carol Decker and T’Pau, we had some say yes, but obviously the promoter is looking at a combination of acts that will sell tickets and Carol has a fan base of fans that might not necessarily be the first people in line to buy a Go West ticket for example. It is nice to have a female voice on tour with us and of course, and something for the gentlemen to look at whilst she is on stage.

The reason I asked was because it doesn’t seem to matter who you tour with, for example last year it was Hue and Cry and The Christians; it always seems to work perfectly well. Everything just slots together.

That’s nice of you to say Kevin. Obviously that is what we are aiming for. It has been interesting meeting with Nik and discussing what we might do together. This whole Onstage Together Tour at least for Go West stems back to my involvement in a TV show called Reborn In The USA. I was on that show with my old mate Tony Hadley from Spandau Ballet. There was a point at which I think that the UK audiences thought that Tony and I might be in the final together but unfortunately for me that didn’t quite pan out (laughter).

I remember it well. You blanked out and forgot your words didn’t you?

Yes I did Kevin, thanks for reminding me of that (laughter). It seemed like a good idea that we might give that audience in the UK what they might have liked to have seen on the TV. Tony is such an easy going, what you see is what you get kind of guy that in hindsight I now realise that how smoothly that whole tour went was because of the personalities involved. Whereas at the moment certainly with Nik’s musical influences and his history, he is coming from such a different place to Richard and myself. It is going to be interesting to see what we come up with. But at the moment we are still negotiating (laughter). That is where we are at the moment (laughter).

I was just thinking to myself that a concert involving Big Shouty Blokes one and two would be well worth paying to see.

(Hysterical laughter) yes big shouty blokes, yes (laughter).

I spoke to Carol (Decker) earlier and she tells me that she can’t wait to get out on the road with you.

To be honest with you Kevin I think that we all feel the same. It is the 30^th Anniversary of the release of We Close Our Eyes this year which seems to have gone by on some level in a flash. But yes we are all absolutely looking forward to it; it is going to be a lot of fun, and yes I can’t wait.

You mentioned the 30^th Anniversary of the release of We Close Our Eyes. Is there anything special planned either by way of a tour or a record release?

There are no current plans to release anything to commemorate the 30^th year but there are a couple of things that we have done for other territories which may or may not see the light of day here. But we are so busy with the live thing; working that out and how we are going to make it happen, that we haven’t been writing, so there is no current plans on that level.

You have recently played The Rewind Festival at Henley-on-Thames again. Isn’t it nice that it is now regarded as a proper festival?

Listen Kevin the organisers are printing money; they had in excess of forty thousand people there over two days so I wouldn’t imagine that they would really care if people thought that it was a proper festival or not (laughter). Festivals are organised to attract a certain demographic and obviously Rewind is an 80’s festival and people come dressed accordingly expecting to hear songs that they remember from back then. It is not really a platform to introduce any new material but at the same time, if what you want is a live juke box of all of the 80’s hits that you can remember, then it is a fantastically successful day.

From a personal point of view I am disappointed to see that you are not performing at Clumber Park this year, but we will wait and see what happens next year.

That’s right Kevin. Obviously whilst there are a lot of 80’s bands out there, promoters need to change their line-ups otherwise people might decide that they saw certain bands last year and decide not to go. But yes, you are right, it is entirely possible that we might be there next year.

With all of the work that you as Go West are currently undertaking, will you find the time for a Peter Cox solo tour?

You are quite right Kevin, at the moment I am on the road in the UK with Go West for the majority of this year so I have to say that it won’t be this year. But yes there is always the possibility of more solo dates but as you will no doubt appreciate Kevin, it is much easier to string together some shows with a much more known brand although I do have some die-hard fans, god bless them, and my name doesn’t attract as many ticket sales as Go West. But having said all of that, I intend to play live again on my own I’m just not quite sure exactly when it will be (laughter).

I saw you two years ago at The Robin 2 in Bilston and you just blew me away.

That is very kind of you Kevin, thank you.

As I mentioned in a previous interview, I personally would love you to make another album of Motown covers but, as you pointed out to me, there simply isn’t the demand for it.

No, there isn’t the demand Kevin and part of the motivation for me to record Damn The Brakes and to actually call the album Damn The Brakes was that at that time I had been looking around at other contemporary artists and I was thinking about revisiting the music and some of the influences that I personally was passionate about. The kind of thing that I can’t get past Richard when we are writing together (laughter) and at the time I was looking at Joe Bonamassa as a contemporary blues artist. Now admittedly, Joe Bonamassa is even more a guitar player than he is a singer, but I was looking at what he was doing and he put out three albums in the course of a year without any real concern for whether he had written the material, or whether it was covers or whatever it was.

Joe Bonamassa has obviously got a huge audience who are all clambering for his next record but it changed my own thinking that perhaps it was not as important that I had written all of the material as it was that I made a record that felt authentic to me. So I have done that now with Damn The Brakes and now my view point has changed (laughter) and I am thinking that the next time that I put out any sort of recorded material I should write the material and it should come from me so that is my current thinking (laughter).

From a personal point of view I have always felt that Joe’s cover versions are unfortunately far better than his own original material.

Listen Kevin, I am trying to keep aware of contemporary stuff and what is going on. For example I get The Times on Sunday; I read the critic who I think talks out of his… but let’s not go there (laughter) and the reason that I do that is because I want to know what people are talking about right now. And perhaps it is inevitable because I am now of an age where I listen to contemporary music and a lot of the time I just don’t understand what the appeal is.

I watched a number of the highlights of the Glastonbury Festival because of course you can now on the BBC iPlayer, and the number of artists that I was watching who I hadn’t seen performing before who I thought yes I can see that, as opposed to the number of artists that I just couldn’t see the appeal of, well there were many, many more who I didn’t get than artists that I thought yes to me that’s the real thing. Buts that music isn’t it, it’s so subjective like you say Kevin. If you don’t get Joe Bonamassa’s original material then that doesn’t seem to be a problem for Joe (laughter).

He is obviously referencing the blues from all the way back, so in a way the genre in which he is working is obviously one where he has got a vast catalogue of material that he can chose from to play live. I suppose that it is different for a contemporary pop act Kevin.

My problem with Joe is that I don’t feel as though I am being entertained whenever I see him play live. I feel like I am being given a lesson in virtuoso guitar playing. I don’t want to see Joe changing his guitar 23 times in a concert. If I want to be entertained I will go to see Go West, I know what to expect and I always feel as though I have been entertained.

As I say Kevin, I think that Joe Bonamassa is as much a guitar player as he is a singer and his audience, generally speaking, do want to see him playing the guitar and certainly, although I have never seen Joe Bonamassa playing live, if I was watching him changing guitars from song to song I personally would love that. To me that is practically porn (laughter). But it sounds as though you are looking for something different Kevin from a live music performance. If we entertain you then obviously that’s great but when Go West choose the material that we play live, even when we play covers, we try to think of songs that if they aren’t immediately recognisable, they are for want of a better description, a first listen song where if you don’t necessarily know the song before you hear it, it’s got a chorus which makes you at least go yes I know this song rather than something that is more obscure.

Having said that I have a feeling that Nik Kershaw has in mind to play something obscure because he wants to do what he wants to do (laughter). In terms of songs outside of his own catalogue on the tour I think that his audience might be in for a surprise or two, we will see.

At least you and I agree on something and that is just how good Vintage Trouble are live. I have been fortunate enough to see them performing live twice now.

And so what do you think Kevin?

They blew me away both times. I think that they are fantastic.

Not only is it the kind of musical direction that I like, but each member of the band is playing and performing to the audience as if their lives depended on it. They work so hard. I saw them in a tiny pub in Brighton where there could only have been a hundred people in there. They had just returned after opening for Bon Jovi in Germany where they had played in a stadium to 50,000 people three days previously. They came out on stage in the pub in Brighton and they performed as though there were 50,000 people there in the pub. That is what it is about Kevin.

These are guys who are not eighteen years old but at the same time they realise that this is their moment and they are grabbing it with both hands. They are obviously having an absolute ball as well and that is the kind of energy that I personally want to see when I go to a live show. I don’t want to see five guys standing there with their heads down playing their instruments. Like you Kevin, I want to be entertained with energy; energy which I think is such an important element of live performance.

I know that it is a cliché but a very young James Brown sprang to mind.

Yes Kevin, Otis Redding; the whole thing. Vintage Trouble are so much greater than the sum of their parts. They are all super talented within their own individual fields, but put those four guys together and their commonality of course, they are all in it and they all know what they want to do. They are really committed to the cause and they are enjoying a lot of success playing vast gigs opening for AC/DC and I think that it is brilliant that they are doing so well as an act that with the best will in the world, and I could be completely wrong, but with the best will in the world it is hard to see them having a hit single. But why should it be about the hit single, if they are a fantastic live band and I do like their records but it is hard to see them in the charts next to, I don’t know, you name it, any contemporary artist, but that’s not stopping them. They are still doing fantastically well.

They are working really hard and I have particular admiration for Ty Taylor because I don’t know how he sings the way that he does without any apparent need to have a day off (laughter). I don’t know how he does that, but still.

Is there any new album from Go West on the horizon?

Not immediately no, although we are always knocking ideas around. So never say never but no, not immediately Kevin.

I hope that you won’t mind but I have been wanting to ask you this question for ages now. Where do you get the trademark Peter Cox white shirts from?

(Hysterical laughter) I tell you Kevin, it is becoming more and more difficult. The white shirt that I have been wearing lately is a Hugo Boss shirt. I have reached the size now where XXL is only just fitting. Going back to Vintage Trouble, I’m looking at their image, and thinking that I am going to have to have taylor-made clothes (laughter). I simply can’t find anything off the peg now that fits me. I am at the gym as much as I possibly can; I am working out until I am nearly dead, and I just seem to be getting bigger and bigger. The true answer to your question Kevin is that I get my shirts from wherever I can find one that fits me (laughter).

The crisp, fresh white shirt is Peter Cox.

That’s not true but thank you for saying so Kevin. Listen, what to wear on stage is difficult and I am sorry to go back again but the Vintage Trouble gig that I saw in Brighton was on a blazing hot summers evening. It really was like not only stepping back in time in terms of the band’s music, but also to a time when I was in my teens on the pub-rock circuit which has more or less disappeared. They all came out suited and booted and within three songs Ty looked like someone had thrown a bucket of water all over him. My process of singing on stage is not me standing there tapping my fingers on the mic like Whitney Houston, it is much more of a physical exertion and second row forward type of thing. I am going to be sweating (laughter).

So I don’t really envisage me wearing a suit jacket, and a waist coat and a suit jacket is like me wearing an underwater diving outfit and then going out on the stage; it is simply not practical. But I have only gravitated to wearing the white shirts on stage because it was the thing that looked the best out of a bad set of options (laughter).

Mr Cox on that note I will thank you for taking the time to speak to me and wish you all the very best with the forthcoming tour.

Ok Kevin, no problem. Thanks a lot, it’s been enjoyable. Hope to see you in Leicester.