‘It was inspired by diving into a photo booth’: How the Thompson Twins made ‘Catch Me Now’ | culture

Tom Baileysinger, songwriter, bass, guitar, keyboards

The Thompson Twins were a seven-piece, guitar-based, squat band when I met Alannah Currie, who was also living in London. She was in a chaotic improvisational band, the Unfuckables, which clearly wasn’t destined for Top of the Pops, but there was something very exciting about it. When I invited her to come to the end of the Thompson Twins concert, she stole the show.

We’ve downsized to a three-piece with Alana and Joe Leway [keyboards, percussion, vocals] And myself. Suddenly we were an iconic trio that could all fit in one car. After I bought an instrument, our song “In the Name of Love” became a dance/club sensation, opening doors in America. Up until then, we’d always vaguely hoped our music would do well, but then we thought: “Why don’t we actually design it to do well?”

The idea for Hold Me Now came about after we went to write songs in a house somewhere, and we had a creative disagreement that spilled over into personal insults. But behind that there was a real affection and relationship that we kept secret from the press. We quickly reconciled and immediately wrote Catch Me Now about the process. The song came very easily. It felt more mature than the edgier stuff. It was slower, honest, more emotional, and being about real things gave it authenticity.

I was keen to record it as soon as possible, but Alex Sadkin, our usual producer, wasn’t available, so I went to RAK Studios and recorded most of it myself, something I’d never done before. Alex came in last and wanted to bring back some of the vocals. Joe and I have been involved in false cutting. We knew we were on to something, because everyone who heard it said it would be a huge hit, including the BBC.

We released it in November 1983 because in those days everyone wanted a Christmas No. 1. We were recording away at Compass Point in the Bahamas when Hold Me Now came out and we had very little contact with the outside world. We came out of those sessions to find it topping the charts, and then becoming a huge hit.

Alana Currie, singer, songwriter, percussionist

I remember a truck pulled up outside with all this equipment and the whole band moved into a really bad squat position against my car. When Tom showed me the tube, we hit it off immediately. In those days, loads of bands came from the squat scene: you had free accommodation, you’d get on the Tube and tour London.

The Unfuckables only played one gig, but we were wild feminists who used to fill eggs with black paint and throw them in sex ads. We were afraid. Once I joined the twins, we only had each other, so we really did. I was a musical woman at a time when there weren’t many and Joe was black, so we had a hard time.

Everyone focused on Tom, who was classically trained – while we were dirty punks. But we always tried to find common ground between the three of us. I remember we were all sitting cross-legged and decided we wanted to become a new kind of band – the synths and drum machines brought incredible freedom. After being broke for so long, suddenly we could do what we wanted: try to make amazing records.

“Hold Me Now” is basically a letter from me to Tom, and from him to me, with interjections from Joe. I’ve never had a “picture on my wall,” but that lyric was inspired by a photo booth photo of me and Tom hugging, which I keep inside my writing notebook. I wrote down most of the words like a love letter, one of those frantic things you do to find out what you’re really thinking. Then we stitched the words in as if they were coming from Tom, because he was going to sing them.

Everything was done very quickly and was completely from the heart. Then the song seemed to take on a life of its own. It was a huge, exhilarating, painful but insanely wonderful time in our lives. Tom and I have two children together, but even though we are no longer a couple or a band, we are all like family and stay in touch. Sometimes, I hear “Hold Me Now” playing somewhere and my heart says, “Oh.”