The Proclaimers still aren’t sick of singing 500 Miles

Almost 20 years on from their biggest hits, the Proclaimers still haven’t tired of playing them, writes Ed Power

THE Proclaimers are living proof it is possible to have a career-defining novelty hit and walk away with your sanity. In 1987, Edinburgh twins Craig and Charlie Reid stormed the charts with ‘Letter From America’, a feat they followed 12 months later with ‘I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)’. Some artists might have tried in vain to replicate such early success. The Reids had no intention of running in circles vying with their younger selves.

“The last thing I would ever want to do is rewrite one of our existing songs,” says Craig, the younger sibling by 30 minutes. “If I’m working on a record and a piece of music sounds like something I’ve heard already, or like someone else’s song, I bin it immediately.”

At the same time, the Proclaimers are enormously proud of their best-loved tracks. Having performed ‘Letter From America’ and ‘500 Miles’ night after night for over a quarter of a century, their enjoyment of the material has yet to wear thin.

“When we wrote ‘Letter From America’, we knew it was a really good song. With ‘500 Miles’ it was obvious to us that it should be the first single off the record and that if it received airplay it would be a hit. The thing with ‘500 Miles’ is that it has lasted — it has come back again and again, with different generations discovering it.”

The same might be said of the Proclaimers. Lampooned early on for their chunky spectacles (this was the pre-hipster era) and dowdy fashion sense, the brothers have earned respect through sheer staying power.

They widened their audience significantly when their songs served as springboard for acclaimed 2007 musical Sunshine On Leith, subsequently turned into a hit film starring Peter Mullan and Jane Horrocks (and also the name of the Proclaimers’ second LP).

“It’s definitely introduced our music to people who might not otherwise be aware of us,” says Craig. “Sometimes there are funny side-effects. We played a gig in Southend at the weekend — a 1,600-capacity theatre, sold out. There was a group of women in their 50s and, in the middle of these three or four pals, a lady with her fingers in her ears all the way though. I don’t think she understood what she was letting herself in for.”

The Reids have been prominent supporters of Scottish independence, though played a relatively low-key part in last year’s campaign. Nonetheless, their representatives south of the border fretted about a possible backlash.

“We spoke to our English promoter and tickets have sold quicker for our latest tour than for any previously one we’ve done,” says Craig. “That said, [the independence debate] is going to drag on for years. So we’ll have to see what the repercussions are.”

“We’ve never hidden that we were supporters [of independence]. We’ve been that way since we were teenagers. With a few weeks to go to the referendum I felt we wouldn’t win. Then, as it got closer, I started to think that we would. In the end, to get 45% was impressive, especially as the vote was called at a time that the independence campaign would not have chosen. What has happened since has been the revelation. I always knew the SNP [Scottish National Party] would go up in popularity. To sign up 100,000 new members and get 59 seats [a record haul for the party in the British general election] has been astonishing.”

As with any siblings, the Reids have had their differences. None of their fallings out have been so serious as to threaten the Proclaimers, though. Somehow, they’ve always managed to rub along. “It has been a good thing working with my brother,” says Craig.

“We do make a point of working with an outside producer — it’s useful to have different viewpoints. From our early teens we wanted to play music — that remains our driving force. We have a simple rule — if one of us doesn’t like something we won’t do it. It has served us quite well, all this time.”

The Proclaimers’ new album is Let’s Hear It For The Dogs