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What are you doing now?
Ken: You could have knocked us over with a feather when in the early '90s we were offered an opportunity to get back together and re-launch Middle Of The Road. We have actually performed in more live concerts since 1991 to date than we ever did in the six hectic years we had in the '70s. Most of our work is in Europe but we are playing to audiences ranging from a few hundred in smaller more intimate venues to tens of thousands in large stadia and indoor sports arenas. We make regular appearances on TV in Germany and even here on programmes like I love 1971 and Night Fever. If you didn't blink for 45 minutes last New Year's day, you might just have seen us in the audience of It's A Number One Party.

Can you tell us what the rest of the band are up to?
Ken: In the mid '90s, Ian McCredie (the original guitarist) left the band and set up in opposition with his son and daughter-in-law. His brother, Eric (the original bass guitarist) left a year or so later due to ill health. Ian augments his musical career with his work as a chartered surveyor in Glasgow. I am a partner in a video production company I started in 1982 and Sally and I look after the running of the band. Sally also involves herself in charity work as well as pursuing a multitude of qualifications not the least of which is a certificate in brick laying. She was always good at dropping them, now she can pick them up and make something out of them.

Any disbelievers when you tell people how you once had a record which sold over 10 million world-wide?
Ken: Funnily enough, no. People remember the songs, particularly, and they can usually put a name to the group with a little prompting. I have changed in appearance quite a lot with the bald bit I had in the '70s having erupted into a wasteland of skin and shrub-like grey hair but Sally remains remarkably unchanged and is recognised almost immediately by members of our own generation and quite a few youngsters abroad. Anyone who is prepared to admit to being a part of the band who had a success with a song entitled 'Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep' must be telling the truth. Not many people would admit to such a crime.

Are you getting a bit tired of performing those songs?
Ken: We consider ourselves very lucky to be able to relive the dream each time we perform in our concerts. Of course we tire of the songs sometimes but you can never tire of seeing and hearing of the pleasure that these songs give to so many people round the world. The entries in our web site guestbook have surprised and thrilled us with some very genuine comments. When Sally and I were attending the Isle of Wight Song Festival in 1985 we were recognised by a lady who was really thrilled to have the chance to tell us how 'Chirpy' actually saved her life. Apparently she was very ill in the early '70s and she slipped into a coma in hospital. Her family knew how much she enjoyed the song and played it incessantly at her bedside. She claimed that it was hearing this that brought her round. The suggestion that it was probably her brain bursting into life to get her to regain consciousness and turn the thing off was rejected outright and it has remained her favourite song ever since.

Interesting medical theory in there somewhere. Do you try and catch TOTP2 these days?
Ken: Of course we do. It is fascinating to see our peers and colleagues of the past four decades performing as they were and in some recent cases as they are now. We also watch the current Top Of The Pops from time to time. It's very revealing to see young bands and performers regularly trawling the past charts to find material to record. Maybe there's a message there... and it isn't necessarily you can't beat an oldie..

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