Go West: Peter Cox talks to Mill Magazine

40 years since they first enraptured audiences, Peter Cox from Go West has lost none of his love of the craft. Ahead of their show at Paisley Town Hall, the singer/songwriter talks to Mill about the band’s history, breaking America and much more. 

Despite how ubiquitous they were in the 80s and 90s, Peter Cox of famed pop duo Go West doesn’t take their longevity for granted. In fact, he seems refreshingly stunned that he and Richard Drummie still have such a rabid audience. 

“It’s amazing, I’m obviously grateful” he reveals. “Especially when you consider how difficult the landscape is for new artists and younger people who don’t have any kind of track record to trade like we, arguably, do (laughs). But, if you said to me in 1985 that we’d still be doing this in 2025, I would have thought that was unlikely.” 

When talking to Peter, there is a continued sense that, even with how much they were part of the fabric of the pop charts back in their heyday, he still can’t believe exactly what’s happened over the course of his career.

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With 2025 marking the 40th anniversary of the band winning Best New Artist at The Brits, Peter reflects on that event and what getting such an accolade meant both now and then.

“That’s the only time I’ve actually been invited up to accept an award (laughs). Richard has always been the more confident of the two of us, whereas I was, let’s say, managing my expectations.

“I didn’t think it was very likely that we’d have won but as Richard has said many times, he was sure that A-Ha would win until he realised they weren’t British. It was quite a moment.

“Like lots of other artists who came before us who had struggled to get through the door, winning that was great. As much as I can feel imposter syndrome, when the public are saying ‘we think you’re pretty good’, it’s definitely a great feeling.”

Immediately praised in their home nation, one thing that Go West, like many bands before or since, struggled with was breaking America. However, as Peter recalls, a serendipitous moment involving a major motion picture would ensure that it finally happened after years of trying. 

“Because our first album was successful in the UK, the rule of thumb was that if you had success anywhere in the world, you’d immediately be shipped off to the biggest market in America.

“I spent a good part of 85 and 86 banging on that door. Then, after Richard says, ‘our difficult second album’ [Dancing on the Couch], we were in the wilderness for a little while.

“Then, in 1990, the Pretty Woman soundtrack came about and we’d only just been recognised from the wilderness by our A&R man Ron Fair. The King of Wishful Thinking was the first song we’d written for what would become our Indian Summer album,” Peter divulges.

“So it was really about being in the right place at the right time. If things had been slightly different, we’d have missed that window. Instead, it became our first top 10 single in the US after two albums of trying.”

Peter Cox from Go West

“A crowd will always get a better show when a performer feels they’re getting some energy back”

Faced with the unenviable task of summarising 40 years of music into one performance, Peter admits it’s harder to pick a setlist when you’ve got so many fans who are devoted to their entire discography, rather than in the days when a particular album was the focal point. However, they have some hard and fast rules that simplify things a little bit.

“At the risk of being predictable, our viewpoint is there are certain songs that an audience expects, so we always try to ensure we get those big singles that a fan would want to hear,” he declared.

“Other than that, we try to change it up. There is always an argument of what songs work better in a live context. Certainly, with the first album, some of those tunes made at the height of the 80s synth pop era, there are a lot of bangs and crashes that are more difficult to recreate. 

“Basically, we try to deliver the songs in a way that is as much as possible as they were to the original, given that the singer is 40 years older than he was in 1985 (laughs).” 

“Above all, we try to bring energy,” Peter self-effacingly reveals. “As much as I am standing there and singing songs, I try not to just stand there and sing the songs to ensure we get the audience involved. The physicality of doing what I do requires energy.

“I’m quite envious of singers who can do things in a very relaxed way. When we were recording our first album, Gary Stevenson, the producer, encouraged us to pitch each song as high as we could in my vocal range without causing me serious physical harm (laughs). For the most part, we’re still performing those songs in those same keys today.

“There is no real better feeling than hearing a crowd sing back a song where you can remember where you were when you wrote that and the room you recorded it in,” Peter says when asked if that novelty ever wears off. “A crowd will always get a better show when a performer feels they’re getting some energy back.”

While Peter is fresh from touring his recent solo album Seaglass, he reveals that for a variety of reasons, more Go West recordings are unlikely. But that doesn’t mean things aren’t being unearthed from the archives.

Recently, their old label Chrysalis issued a new version of the King Is Dead which came with a previously unheard piano solo from Scotland’s own Peter Vettese.

For anyone familiar with Go West, they’ll know this track famously featured Kate Bush and Peter was happy to recall how their collaboration with the famously elusive artist came about. 

“When we were recording the track, we said it could do with a female vocal, something like Kate Bush would do. Then, our much missed, much loved guitarist, Alan Murphy, who’d been in her band, said ‘why don’t we just get Kate?’

“So he asked her and at the time, she wasn’t keen on flying. So, we were recording in Denmark and she sent the tape over to us and when we got it into the studio, it was amazing to hear what she’d done as we hadn’t really given any instructions at all. It’s Kate Bush, you’re not going to tell her what to do!”

Still as thrilled to be performing as ever, Peter and the band are excited to come to the town hall, particularly as he revealed that the group playing in our country isn’t as commonplace as you’d think.

“We don’t actually get to Scotland as often as we would like, because the logistics of going there with any kind of sizable band or crew is expensive,” he reveals.

“Then, the further north you get, it’s even more expensive. We’ve had a lot of good fortune up in Scotland. If you’re up there, you don’t get that many chances to see Go West, so we’re sure that contributes to the energy we find when we’re playing!” 

Go West will perform at Paisley Town Hall on Friday 7th March 2025 with tickets available here. To find out more about the band, visit their website.