The Proclaimers

THERE are lots of brothers in the pop world - from the Everleys to the Gibbs to the Gallaghers - but twins are thinner on the ground. True twins that is - Thompson Twins don't count, as there are three of them, and they're not related. But in Craig and Charlie Reid's case, you have the genuine article and a great band in The Proclaimers.

Over the last 15 years they have enjoyed international success with hits on both sides of the Atlantic and the anthems they created can still get any pub crowd up on their feet.

They are still busy recording and touring and their fifth studio album, Born Innocent, was released last month.

Born and bred in Edinburgh, where they still live today just a few miles from each other, Craig and Charlie have stayed true to their roots.

"We certainly didn't ever consciously think that we would change the way we sang. We sing in our own accents about our own experiences," says Craig. "You don't lose where you come from."

It may not have seemed like a winning formula - a pair of average-looking blokes wearing sensible clothes, with short back and sides haircuts, topped off with black rimmed National Health specs singing about working class lifestyles in a Scottish accent. But then they came up with some anthemic songs - Letter From America, I'm Gonna Be, King Of The Road and Let's Get Married.

Contrary to appearances, The Proclaimers are not prolific songwriters and there is no formula for creating an anthem. Sometimes they don't realise how strong a certain track is until they hear it in context with the other songs on the album and sometimes it will not become apparent until they start playing it live.

"If I knew the secret," says Craig, "we'd have had more hits."

There was a seven-year recording gap until 2001, when they released their last album Persevere.

"There was a long gap when basically we didn't write enough songs that were good enough," explains Craig.

"We set ourselves a target to get an album out for 2003 which is what we did," he continues. "Writing an album - I've found from past experience - if you get the first four or five songs then the rest come really easy. If you struggle for the first few songs then that's when it becomes a real hassle. When we started writing this album a year ago the first few came within the first two or three months."

The Reid brothers both contribute to the writing process, although tend to work separately. "We used to write together years ago when we lived in the same house," says Craig. "Generally we'll write 90 per cent of a song individually then we'll come together and start playing it over. Sometimes the songs don't change that much and sometimes they'll change quite a bit."

Neither have collaborated outside the Reid/Reid partnership, keeping The Proclaimers sound fairly pure.

"We've really struggled to keep our own career going. If we ever get to the stage where we've just done an album and we've got a whole new album's worth of material, then we might do something else. We've been asked to write film scores and TV themes and stuff like that but we've just never had the time to do it," he says.

Among the high points in their career, Craig includes finding a new younger audience. "When we came back with Persevere in 2001 after a long break, the younger people came along to the concerts who didn't know our stuff before but had got into it in the time we'd been away.

"I think a lot of it is down to the fact that I'm Gonna Be has become a real thing in clubs over the last couple of years and student unions. You put that song on and the dance floor fills up. There's something about that song that gets people and got a new audience for us," he explains.

Having spent their entire lives not more than a few miles apart, Craig and Charlie still tend to get on remarkably well, so don't expect any Gallagher-type spats on stage. "If you're born with somebody, you grow up with them and you're in school and you're working in the same job, it can end up being a bit fraught. Most of the time it's good - we don't tend to have the big fall-outs that other brothers do."

The Proclaimers play City Hall, Salisbury on Tuesday, 21ST October (Box office: 01722 327676) and Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth on Sunday, 26th October (Box office: 023 9286 3911).