"We're like the emos"

3:40pm Thursday 15th November 2007

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IN their heyday, the Human League were known for their outrageous costumes and asymmetrical haircuts.

But singer Phil Oakey says, regretfully, that those days are over.

"I won't dress exactly as I did in those days but at least it gives me a hint," he says of the band's upcoming Dare tour.

"I'm often in a crisis about the way I dress nowadays because I enjoyed being glam, I was very, very happy to be a glam electro guy and now I'm an old grey haired baldy guy.

"I can't do all of that in my private life so I have to find some sort of compromise."

And there is one group of people in particular who Phil feels the band have an affinity with.

"We actually looked quite gothy in those days," he says. "It's funny - the people that we're most like now is the emos. And y'know, we would have fitted perfectly amongst those - even down to the makeup come to think of it.

"If I was a kid I think I'd really like it, but from my perspective I think it looks a little tiny bit artificial."

At 52, Phil admits that his retirement is in sight. But what will he do with himself once his human League days are over?

"Me and my girlfriend are a little bit tired of the weather in Britain and we both really like the Mediterranean, so maybe we'll move somewhere where there's a lot of sun and try and get on with something a little bit arty," he says.

"I guess it would largely be music. I've always been jealous of people who can paint or write, but what I've not got in those cases is a subject. I really like music and there's always barriers to be broken and a chance to surprise people."