If You Read One Thing…
As Texas’s 10th album is released, Scots singer Sharleen Spiteri reflects on a music career that shows no signs of slowing down
Don’t miss our interview with Texas frontwoman Sharleen Spiteri, as she introduces their new album, Hi
MORE than 30 years after their smash-hit debut, Southside, Sharleen Spiteri is equally elated and surprised that Texas are still here with Hi, the Glasgow band’s 10th album.
“Johnny Mcelhone – Texas guitarist and co-founder – and I started Texas about 35 years ago and I remember doing interviews when we put our first record out in 1989 and they said, ‘Do you think you’ll be doing this in 10 years’ time?’ And here I am more than 30 years later? Wow!” says Sharleen.
If Hi has a classic feel to it, there’s a good reason behind that. Many of the album’s songs are rediscovered demos that the band originally made when working on their 1997 album, White On Blonde.
“Being immersed in our old songs was so exciting,” Sharleen says. “It was amazing to be taken back in time, but also to hear how much energy and passion we had. We were fighting for our careers at the time, trying to prove that Texas were still relevant.”
White On Blonde was the band’s fourth album, and came after the colossal success of Southside, but disappointment with their next two records. Mothers Heaven, “the difficult second album”, went to 32 in the British Album Charts, while Ricks Road reached 18.
There’s something almost poetic about the band revisiting these songs now – having conclusively proven their longevity and success – which were written and recorded at a time when Texas’s future was somewhat uncertain.
“Our excitement at finding the old recordings collided with our excitement from back then and, suddenly, new songs started coming.
“It felt like us, now, collaborating with ourselves of 25 years ago,” says Sharleen.
“We’re referencing our past, but also writing from the position we’re in now. Being able to stand back from what you’ve achieved gives you a different perspective.”
Sharleen says the fourth track, Unbelievable, is one of her highlights on Hi, as the first ballad the band has ever produced.
“We don’t usually do ballads,” Sharleen says. “But this one really stuck. The words are very intimate and personal while the music sounds really epic. My voice sounds amazing on it. I’d love to take the credit, but it’s mostly down to a new mic we found!”
“It felt like us, now, collaborating ago” with ourselves of 25 years
When asked for her favourite song on the album, though, she struggles to come up with an answer. “People say, ‘What’s your favourite track?’ and I’m like, ‘Ask the punter that, don’t ask the person that wrote it!’”
Speaking of the punter, there’s plenty more for Texas fans to enjoy on Hi, including a duet with fellow Scot and Johnny’s Altered Images bandmate Clare Grogan on Look What You’ve Done.
Most interestingly, perhaps, is the collaboration with rap group Wu-tang Clan on the title track. On paper, the Glasgow rock sound of Texas and the famous American hip-hop of Wu-tang Clan might seem an unlikely mix, but the end result proves spectacular.
As fans will know, this isn’t the first time the two groups have collaborated, having first teamed up in 1998 on a remix of White On Blonde’s Say What You Want.
The reunion was first suggested by Wu-tang Clan’s RZA, who came to Glasgow last year to make a short film about Say What You Want alongside Sharleen and Johnny. The pair loved the idea, and pitched the song Hi to RZA, who wrote a rap and verse to add.
“We assumed they’d used a rap they already had, but in fact, they wrote it from scratch. The lyrics about the high seas and bottles of rum are because we’re from Scotland. Wu-tang thought the place was full of pirates. And he’s sort of right – we had smugglers,” says Sharleen.
As for the rest of the album, it’s a real melting pot of musical influences, something which Sharleen believes will have a broad appeal to both loyal fans and new listeners alike.
“I think they’ll love the fact that it is a complete album. I think it’ll make you feel really good,” Sharleen says.
“There’s Motown, disco, everything – it’s all there.
“Our music” aim has been to make great
“And I think people will love the fact that there’s so many different moments in it, that it all fits together as an album.”
After recording Hi during the Covid-19 pandemic, and being unable to perform live for more than a year, Sharleen is excited to get back on stage and play the new songs to an audience.
“I’m just dying to get out there and see everybody’s faces, people jumping up and down and being allowed to do so. That’s the most exciting thing about it. We’ve been through a worldwide moment that has never existed before. I think we’re all going to be so ready to let go of a lot of pent-up feelings and emotions – music is a great escape for that.”
The band’s UK and Ireland tour begins next February in Dublin, before travelling around the UK and ending in March in Stoke-on-trent. For Sharleen, the home date at Glasgow’s SSE Hydro on March 4 is the show she’s most looking forward to.
“Scotland is my country, that’s where I’m from,” says Sharleen. “I guess whenever you play Scotland there’s that moment of emotional ties and pride where you can feel you’ve succeeded.
“But it’s like, ‘Now show us what you can do.’ That’s something that doesn’t exist anywhere else. You have to show why you’re still on the map, why you’re still successful and I love that – it keeps you on your toes.”
“We’re all going to be so ready to let go of a lot of pent-up feelings – music is a escape” great
Texas have played all over the world, in some fantastic places and venues – including the famous SXSW Festival in the US, Glastonbury and even the old Wembley Stadium. But for Sharleen, one venue trumps them all – Glasgow’s Barrowland Ballroom.
“It’s a great venue, a great sound. There’s no other view of a stage like it and that’s what you’ve got to remember – because of the arched ceiling and the height of it.
“It’s always a great atmosphere, and I think that’s why people love it, there’s a very particular sound, a particular view and that’s why it stands out as a venue.”
After more than 30 years, Texas don’t plan on stopping anytime soon. Their continued success comes as a surprise to no one. No one except perhaps Sharleen herself.
“I’m allowed to do what I dreamt of doing and I’ve been allowed to make a living and live this life with this thing that I wanted to do as a dream. That for me is the ‘pinch me’ moment,” Sharleen says.
“We’ve been in this game so long, we’re not trying to compete with anyone else. Our aim has only ever been to make great music.
“What’s been great about making this album is hearing how much music has always meant to us and knowing that’s never going to change.”
With Hi another success for the band, Sharleen is happy in the knowledge that Texas are still as relevant today as they were when Southside hit it big back in 1989.