Interview

Students of the 80's bore us endlessly about Duran Duran, Culture Club, Human League, Frankie and - help - A-Ha!

Black were the great '80's band history forgot. Melodic but darkly mysterious, they trundled out hits like Wonderful Life and Sweetest Smile with scathing scouse wit. And then scarpered. Seven years since the last sighting, singer Colin Vearncombe has emerged with a solo album and a series of live gigs. He has some explaining to do...

Colin Vearncombe barely picked up a guitar in anger during the last years of the 20th century, but now he's back in the old routine and enjoying it.

But it's no nostalgic exploitation trip and the former Black frontman - last chart single Here It Comes Again in '91 - has dumped Black for a solo career. He's released his first solo album, The Accused, on his own label, Nero Schwarz, and this week playing his first Black-less gig for seven years.

"I've played live a few times recently but mostly I just turn up to places and start to play. When you're on your own you can do that, " says Vearncombe. It's a far cry from the hazy, crazy days of the late '80s, when Black were deemed cool and groovy, but V. is happy to have escaped the chart chase. "I've stripped the sound right back and I feel like God when I sing - all that space! It's amazing."

Ok, Colin Vearncombe, former pop/singer with Scouse funsters Black - what did you DO in the '90's ?!?
"I got out because there wasn't a place for me anymore. That whole club thing is anathema to the musical values I hold and I didn't know what to do next, so I didn't do anything. I never took a decision to retire and I never stopped writing. Eventually, the hunger came back and I decided to start recording some demos."

Colin says he recorded his comeback album, "The Accused", for one person and one person only ... himself.
"Everything has changed so much you don't need major record companies anymore and the gear exists to make records in your own bedroom. So I just decided to record the album I wanted to make, even if nobody else was interested. I feel good about it. Since it came out, the phone started ringing and other things followed."

At one point, Colin couldn't imagine ever making another record.
"I did think of a career change though I didn't know what. I did think of going back to art college and I'd like to test the theory that everybody has a novel inside them. Society is in the middle of a cultural malaise but I don't feel negative about Black, even a bad experience with a major label. If you dance with the devil, you'll smell bad breath."