Ricky Ross of Deacon Blue: "I always remember the day we were signed, because everyone was kind of hedging their bets"

While wrapping up our interview in an otherwise empty restaurant at The Morrison Hotel, Ricky Ross, lead singer of the mighty Deacon Blue – an absolute gentleman – tells me about watching his beloved Dundee United play Rapid Wien at their home ground, Tannadice Park, the previous week.

“I was up with my son watching the European game,” he relates, “and now they always play ‘Dignity’ right up to the kick off. But the funny bit was, they played ‘Dignity’ again before the penalty shootout. And I’m going, ‘What’s going on here?’ They’re waiting to take the penalties, and they wouldn’t stop the song until it finished, which was quite ironic, but when everyone was singing it, all I heard was Jim.”

Ricky is referring to Jim Prime, Deacon Blue’s keyboard player and founding member, who died from cancer in June. Emotions being still obviously raw, I delicately recall reading that the piano used whilst recording ‘Dignity’ was on hire, so Jim Prime rushed in to play it, in case it was taken away.

“Actually,” Ricky clarifies, “we didn’t even hire it for the demo. A Glasgow band, that were really happening at that time, Love And Money, had been in the studio the night before. They had a real piano, but it hadn’t been picked up by the hire company.

“So, when we started the demo session, Jim, who was working in a bank at the time, said, ‘I’ll do the piano in the afternoon.’ So he cut all the piano before the hire people took it away.”

Jim Prime’s beautiful cascading melody on the piano is one of many vital ingredients that make ‘Dignity’, the band’s debut single, a bona fide classic. Recently voted Scotland’s greatest song, it set Deacon Blue on a wild adventure that has lasted over 40 years.

Deacon Blue at The Morrison Hotel on Auguest 21, 2025. Copyright Abigail Ring/ hotpress.com

INCREDIBLE SINGLES

The crusade continues with The Great Western Road, their critically acclaimed new album, which soared to No.3 on the UK charts and set the wheels in motion for a UK & Ireland arena tour this autumn.
It’s a record jam-packed with sonic gems – from quintessential Deacon Blue-sounding tracks ‘Mid City Modern’ and ‘Ashore’, and the Italo disco-infused ‘Late ‘88’, through to closer and personal favourite ‘If I Lived On My Own’, a track that’s lyrically reminiscent of Dylan’s ‘Most Of The Time’.

Of the latter, Ricky says, “Originally, I thought I’ll leave that aside and maybe it will become a solo thing. But it felt like a bookend to the record, and also, I love classic albums like Rumours, which have these big tracks and then intimate ones. Everyone in the band thought we should do it, so we just cut it live. It’s about a guy that’s facing loss, and it’s so prescient, because I was saying, ‘You just don’t know what’s ahead of you’, and within a few months, the worst possible thing happened.”

The title and theme of the album refer to the Great Western Road in Glasgow, which reminds me of similar inspiration that the Westway has provided for so many London bands.

“The Great Western Road,” Ricky explains, “was where we used to hang out, in a trendy part of the west end of Glasgow. The road goes out beyond that, through the Clydebank, Dumbarton, Loch Lomond and all the way through Fort William.

“So, it goes out into the wilderness, past lochs and through glens. And I thought, ‘What a brilliant metaphor for where we are in our sixties’, because you don’t know what’s around the corner. It was that uncertainty I was trying to get to. The same with ‘How We Remember It’, which was a kind of partner song to ‘The Great Western Road’.”

That connection struck me when I heard the line, “Say goodbye to the circus leaving town / Cause there’s a long road out heading south.”

“When I was a kid,” Ricky relates, “I used to love the circus. I was saying to my kids one day, ‘The circus is pitched up just around the corner in Queens Park. We should go around and have a look, it looks great with The Big Top.’ So we go around, and sure enough, just overnight, it’s gone.

“I love the fact that it’s there for a minute, and then it’s off, it’s mystery stuff. Lorraine and I used to talk about how being in Deacon Blue was like joining the circus, just entertainers moving from place to place. It’s been an interesting old ride.”

It certainly has. Indeed, ‘Late ’88’ captures the phenomenon that was Deacon Blue’s debut album, Raintown, and the incredible singles it contains: ‘Dignity’, ‘Loaded’, ‘Whey Will You (Make My Telephone Ring)’ and ‘Chocolate Girl’ are all setlist fixtures to this day.

“Late ’88’ was when it all happened,” Ricky confirms. “The track itself started because I had these big, fat ’80s chords on the synth, these major sevenths. It became a celebration of that time when you have a hit single, which was never celebrated at the time, because you’re always going, ‘Right, what’s next?’ It was lovely looking back on it, thinking, actually that was pretty good.”

NEW LINER NOTES

I wonder about the music scene in Glasgow in the late ’80s. Ricky relates that there were few venues, if any, so they played in pubs, nightclubs and student unions. Simple Minds landing a record deal without moving to London, meanwhile, provided them with a role model and a path to success.

“I always remember the day we were signed,” Ricky laughs. “Because everyone was kind of hedging their bets – Graeme, our guitarist, was playing with another band, that Jill, our part-time manager, was managing. Dougie, our drummer, was playing percussion with them as well.

“And Graeme had another project that was just studio-based. Every time the A&R guy came up to see us, he went off to see this other band. Then he went in the studio and he goes, ‘Who’s this guy? He’s in all three bands!’ I was obviously wanting the guys to play with me. But they were always wondering which one of these bands is going to take off.”

The upcoming Deacon Blue Arena tour, wonderfully titled the Great Western Road Trip, will coincide with the release of The Great Western Road Tour Edition album, complete with bonus tracks, new liner notes by Ricky, and an expanded booklet, released in tribute to Jim Prime.

“It was exciting,” Ricky says. “But as we talked about earlier, it’s been a strange time as well, because we were really enjoying it. The gig we did in Shepherd’s Bush Empire, which was the last night of a small tour to promote the album, was fantastic.

“We all came offstage and I said, ‘It’s as good a venue, as good a gig, as good an audience as we’ve ever had.’ It was so great. Jim loved it. And so, it’s been a really poignant time. But it’s not just, ‘Well, that’s Jim gone.’ There will be memories of him all the time.”

• The Great Western Road Tour Edition is out now. Deacon Blue play the 3Arena, Dublin on October 8.