From neon fashions to synthed-up electro, the ’80s are back… and so are one of its musical icons – the UK duo responsible for such hits as ‘We Close Our Eyes’, ‘Call Me’ and ‘The King of Wishful Thinking’ – Go West.

With the decade that started it all for Go West making a resurgence, Peter Cox and bandmate Richard Drummie have rekindled their collaboration and plan to release their first full-length album in 15 years. However, while the pair will rely on the formula of collaboration and compromise that saw them rise to stardom two decades ago, they will not necessarily embrace all things bright, loud and ’80s.

- Advertisement -

‘As a member of a band and very naïve about marketing and image back in those days, I made many a wardrobe nightmare error, which has led to the consequence of my dressing very soberly these days,’ Peter says of his ’80s fashion lessons learned. ‘I wore these very brightly patterned suits and quite wide trousers with a long jacket coat, much longer than an office suit might have been. It wasn’t even the cut of the jacket so much, or even the big shoulders, it was the curtain-like patterns that I seemed to be drawn to.’

Go West’s sense of fashion is not the only thing that’s changed in the 15 years between albums. Peter and Richard have led very different lives in the interim. As Peter explains, ‘Richard’s life is very different from mine – he’s got two kids and is really settled in the UK. He never wanted to live abroad, and I still feel somewhat restless.’

The differences between the two are not limited to their lifestyles, and in writing for the new album decade-old tensions have emerged between their different musical styles and influences, with Peter looking to soul and blues and the likes of Stevie Ray Vaughn, while Richard prefers the more left of centre sounds of acts like Todd Rundgren and Aracde Fire. However, when all works well, the pair butt heads, then find the middle ground, where pure ’80s gold (album) lies.

Even with a new bag of tracks, Go West will go back to their ’80s classics when they play the Perth Convention Centre on May 31st. Fans can expect to hear all the group’s hits from a time when Boy George was king and Prince was still, well, Prince.

‘I’m not one of those performers who thinks “Oh, I have to play this song again,”’ Peter says, ‘because the success of those songs and the fact that Richard and I wrote them together and the fact that we are still performing them seems a pretty good indicator that the songs have stood the test of time.’