Tom Bailey Interview: Thompson Twins Icon on 2026 UK Tour

When I was offered the chance to interview Tom Bailey, the voice and creative force behind Thompson Twins, I’ll admit I had a moment of pure 80s nostalgia. This is the man whose synth-pop anthems provided the soundtrack to so many of our teenage years. Hold Me Now, Doctor Doctor, Love On Your Side: these were the backdrop to first crushes, school discos, and countless hours spent perfecting our dance moves in front of the bedroom mirror.

As I discovered during our chat, Tom Bailey is approaching this September’s UK tour with the same creative energy and collaborative spirit that made Thompson Twins one of the most iconic bands of the 1980ss, just with a very different line-up and a refreshingly honest perspective on fame, balance, and what really matters.

Now performing as Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey, he’s bringing his greatest hits back to UK audiences this September, with special guests Blancmange. The 16-date tour kicks off on 7 September in Exmouth and culminates at London’s Indigo at the O2 on 19 September, a show that’s already generating serious excitement among fans old and new.

Tom’s current band is entirely female: Charlotte Raven on vocals, keyboards and cello, Paulina Szczepaniak on vocals and drums, and Alice Offley on vocals, bass and keyboards, a line-up he describes with genuine enthusiasm. “It’s a fantastic thing these days that there’s such a big pool of talent amongst female musicians,” he tells me. “The days when bands have to be four guys, those days are over.”

He’s also remarkably candid about the lessons learned during those heady years of global fame. From the experimental post-punk underground to sharing a stage with Madonna and Nile Rodgers at Live Aid, Tom reflects on the rollercoaster ride with wisdom and humour, including the moment he and Nile ended up playing Scrabble in a hotel room to avoid the temptations of the road.

Whether you’re a lifelong fan or discovering Thompson Twins’ music for the first time, this interview offers a rare glimpse into the mind of one of Britain’s premier songwriters, a man who’s found his balance, his voice, and his joy in performing.

The Interview

Monica: You’re going to tour soon, so this is very exciting. What does the Thompson Twins show look and feel like this year? How does it compare to the 80s tours?

Tom Bailey: Well, I’m the same, but a lot older! But my band is completely different. And I have an amazing band, all female musicians. It’s a fantastic thing these days that there’s such a big pool of talent amongst female musicians. And I keep saying, the days when bands have to be four guys, those days are over. Thankfully.

Some people still think so. But I think it’s a great energy working with really clever women. And we’ve got a big tour. We’ve got 16 concerts to do in three weeks, basically. So we’re going to be working hard, living on a bus and travelling around the UK.

Monica: You started as quite an unusual, rebellious post-punk band and became one of the biggest pop acts on the planet. When you look back at that journey from the early days to breaking America, from artistic freedom to label pressure, what were the moments that truly defined who you became?

Tom: Well, you’re right that we started out in a very experimental kind of underground world of music. And after a couple of albums doing that, I have to partly blame technology because I finally got my hands on the things that would become prominent in the way that I made records like synthesizers and drum machines and what have you. So when I got hold of those, everything changed.

But it was also a kind of determination to finally get a record in the charts, get on Top of the Pops or something, because when you’re a pop group, that’s what you have to do, you have to somehow have a mainstream of attention. And that was the big deal. And at that point, we became a three-piece band, the one that everyone knows well.

And looking back, I think I now realise that we stopped being a band and started being more designers of the whole experience. We very, very carefully sat around the table and thought, “OK, how can we make this work? How can we divide the job into not just music, but the visuals and the performance and all those kinds of things?” And it was fun and it worked.

Monica: You played in Philadelphia with Nile Rodgers on guitar and Madonna on backing vocals. Is that right?

Tom: Right, yes. Yes. So we did a backstage deal with her that we would sing on each other’s sets. So that’s what we did.

Monica: When you walked off that stage, what was going through your head, and what was really happening behind the scenes with all those egos crammed into a very hot tent?

Tom: Well, I met a lot of people that day that were heroes of mine. Which is interesting. But I was also looking after Nile at the time. I had a tendency to alcohol and drugs, which he’s now thankfully recovered from. So the funny story is we ended up going back to the hotel and playing a game of Scrabble. All together with all these people. Nile and me, we did that in order to stop him partying too hard.

Monica: I love this story! Fans have a very romanticised, neon-coloured idea of the 80s synth scene. What was the day-to-day reality of being in a successful band back then that would shock a 20-year-old musician today?

Tom: Oh, well, we were always travelling with truckloads of equipment. Now I mostly travel with a laptop and a pair of headphones. But in the day, it was almost a military operation getting a band around the world. And we did a lot of travelling, a lot of touring, especially in the States. So I think life on the road characterised everything that we did. And you become a strange kind of person who lives in hotel rooms.

Monica: Is it different now?

Tom: Well, it is, but it’s periodic. So there are times when I go on tour. Most of the time I’m at home here or in New Zealand.

Monica: In terms of your songs, people tend to gravitate to the big hits. Is there a deep cut, a song you’re particularly proud of that you wish people talked more about?

Tom: Yeah, there are lots, in fact. But the one that I always think of is a song called If You Were Here, which for some reason captured the attention of a filmmaker in America. So it got shown in some kind of high school movie, which I’ve never seen. But it became a big non-hit in America. In other words, it was never released as a single, but everyone loves this song. And so that’s the one that I always feel obliged to play, regardless of the fact that it never charted.

Monica: If you could sit down with the 1983 version of yourself, just before the explosion of fame, what would you warn him about? And do you think he would actually listen?

Tom: Probably he wouldn’t listen. Too caught up in the excitement. But my advice would be to enjoy the rollercoaster ride for a short while and then realise that actually you have to look after yourself as well. You can’t party every night of the year. And it’s important to get a personal balance. It sounds boring, but it’s so true.

Monica: So you were partying every night?

Tom: Well, of necessity, yes. But you find ways of avoiding the damage. But yeah, I can imagine a 20-year-old wouldn’t really listen.

Monica: I’ll give you one last question because I know you’re on a very tight schedule today. If you could recreate one Thompson Twins moment exactly as it happened, not necessarily the biggest one, which moment would you choose and why?

Tom: Oh, gosh. Well, again, there are probably several that I could pick from. From the early days, rehearsing in an attic and thinking, “Wow, this is what I want to do.” To concerts with that early version of the band, where we had crazy concerts, where we got like seven encores or something. “Oh, seven encores. It can’t get better than this.”

But also that moment, the moment that I discovered the technology of music and sound engineering, which would allow me to make hit records. I think that was the moment for me.

Monica: It’s still so popular and it never goes away, really, because it’s stuck in our memories.

Tom: Well, as I said, I would spend the whole day there. I know you could.

Monica: Well, I’m going to leave it at this. You answered all my questions. And I wish you a wonderful tour.

Tom: Thank you, Monica.

Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey & Blancmange UK Tour September 2026

Tickets on sale now: https://www.alttickets.com/thompson-twins-tom-bailey-tickets

Tour Dates:

Date	Venue
7 September	Exmouth Pavilion
8 September	Birmingham Town Hall
10 September	Friars Aylesbury at the Waterside Theatre
11 September	The Forum, Bath
12 September	Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre
13 September	Bridgwater Hall, Manchester
15 September	Playhouse, Whitley Bay
16 September	Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow
18 September	Town Hall, Birmingham
19 September	Indigo at the O2, London
20 September	Chalk, Brighton
21 September	G Live, Guildford
23 September	Junction, Cambridge
24 September	Opera House, Buxton
25 September	Rock City, Nottingham
26 September	Barbican, York