AS frontman of one of the biggest bands of the 1980s, Ricky Ross has seen it all.

But, says the Deacon Blue singer, certain moments stick in the mind and make you laugh many years on. One such episode, he says, took place right here in Oxford, and it struck such a chord that when the reformed band began talking of a 25th anniversary tour, they knew they had to come back.

“The last time we played Oxford a friend insisted on our inviting some sisters from a local convent,” he grins.

“Some of the sisters were a little older than our average audience members and even older than me! But they seemed to enjoy it. Half-way through the show the power failed and we had to wait for it to be restored again. From memory, it was only the lights that tripped, though, so we all had the experience of playing in the dark.

“Everyone seemed to the think the combination of nuns, power-cut and Deacon Blue music worked so well we’re coming back to try it again.”

Ricky, pictured third from left, is one of pop’s nice guys. A down-to-earth Scot, he had been a teacher before moving from his home in Dundee to Glasgow where he formed the band.

He could not have picked a better time. The band’s 1987 debut Raintown struck a national chord. Charting the struggles of life in a declining industrial city, the record, with its singles Dignity, Chocolate Girl and Loaded, was thoughtful and soulful ride, while its gloomy sleeve image of a drizzly Glasgow would not have gone down at all well with the tourism chiefs of what was set to become Europe’s Capital of Culture. But it was a masterpiece.

Their second outing, 1989’s When The World Knows Your Name faired even better, topping the album charts for a fortnight, and spawning Top 10 singles Real Gone Kid, Wages Day and Fergus Sings the Blues.

By the time they broke up in 1994, they had sold six million albums, scored 12 Top 40 singles and two Number One albums.

And they couldn’t leave it alone. The musical world may have moved on, but there was still an appetite for their slick Scottish pop, and despite carving out a career as a soloist and songwriter, Ricky got the band together.

Since their 1999 reunion, the band have continued to play on and off, and turn out new albums – including latest effort The Hipsters.

The title, Ricky admits, is tongue-in-cheek.

“I remember saying when we first got back together that we must be the uncoolest band in the world,” he says. “But I like that. And people still love us despite all that.”

The album sees Ross reflecting on the life and times of his group, through good times and bad. Ross says he, his wife of 22 years and bandmate Lorraine McIntosh, second left, James Prime, left, and Dougie Vipond, right, were united in their determination to record a new album.

“We’d done the greatest hits thing for a while,” he says, “And we needed to do some new material or not do it at all. It’s so different to come back to it when you’re not in the thick of things. When you’re a young, aspiring musician, chasing success, nothing ever satisfies you. Now, after writing a couple of these new songs, I realized there was a different narrative developing.

“I felt I was in a new moment. Then I realised: It’s about us. It’s about being in this amazing band. It’s an open love letter to Deacon Blue.”

The album is a tribute to late guitarist Graeme Kelling, a member of Deacon Blue until his death in 2004 from pancreatic cancer.

“He was the only one of us who was a true hipster,” says Ricky. “He was the cool guy with the Ray-Bans and the Katharine Hamnett jackets. He lived the life. It’s eight years since he died, and truly a day doesn’t pass without us thinking about him and very often talking about him and the stories that all come up.”

The band play the New Theatre, Oxford on Wednesday. How does Ricky feel about coming back and performing a power cut-free show with or without nuns?

“I am really looking forward to it,” he says. “We have a day off the next day and I’m looking forward to spending time in such a lovely city with my young son who will be on tour with us for a few days.

“We’ve really been looking forward to this tour. There are lots of new songs to play and a chance for us to explore lots of old ones we haven’t performed for a long time.

“The idea of putting an exciting show together which brings all of this together has been a great prospect.”