For Glare Grogan, the first few years of the spanking new 1980’s decade were a whirlwind of success and numerous opportunities at the helm of the alternative / pop group - Altered Images.

The band were NME’s Best New Group for 1981 and over 3 albums they produced an amazing run of unique, hook filled singles. With Clare Grogan becoming a Scottish pin up in the teen mags, success was surrounding her and her band until the pressure mounted to a degree that she felt time to step back in 1983. 

Life became more important, though this was not the end of Altered Images and Grogan returned to the business she still loved when it felt the right time.. 

Credit - David Scheinmann

She has a Tour for 2026 which will just be Altered Images playing with the emphasis on the first album “Happy Birthday” to be played in full. I asked her about this and the coming year. “Yeah, that's in September, and over the summer I'm going to be playing some festivals. So, it's just starting now to make people aware of upcoming events” she continues “I've been playing with the same group of musicians for a long time now, obviously not the original line-up. They are based in Glasgow, and they're called Andrew, Gillian, Mandy and Kyle. We’ve been working together for quite a long time, they bring something new to it as I guess it's important to keep it fresh to a certain extent, as they're all at least half my age (laughs). It's fun to see it through their eyes as well, the whole thing, it really is.  

So, in September, we're going to be playing the Happy Birthday album.The 45th anniversary, we're going to play it in sequence in its entirety, then we will do a second set with some of my favourites and some of the obvious hits of the band so at the moment, we're really thinking about the sound, you know, and I've started listening to the album again.  

 I was a different person to a certain extent. I wasn't completely convinced that I could do this because I was so young and the band was so raw and inexperienced, I guess. Now it's funny when you've had a whole lifetime of experience to revisit that time. I wasn't completely sure I could do it. And then it really just came down to one thing and that was the opportunity to sing these songs properly for the last time, really.  

 So it's been a really, really weird and touching experience for me”. 

"So listening to the

songs again,

I get what the

audience feels like"

ReturnToSound: “Well, it must be a bit like going through a time tunnel? I mean, I can't imagine what that's like for you, going back to 1981. It will have a totally different effect for you listening to Happy Birthday than probably a fan would feel. You must remember writing the songs and what you put into them. It must be quite amazing to be able to do that after this amount of time?” 

Clare Grogan: “I mean, for me, it was really surprising just how much of it I had to completely let go, you know. Quite often in my regular set, we'll play “Dead Pop Stars" and we might play “Insects” and "Happy Birthday” but that is the extent of it.  

So listening to the songs again, I get what the audience feels like, I mean, quite often I look out into the audience as I start a song and I can see it in someone's face that they are going back to a time and a place in their lives. And for me, that's exactly what happened listening to the album again.

And I think I wanted this to be a celebration, without being cliched and corny about the whole “Happy Birthday” thing, though I think I'm allowed to celebrate 45 years on that as a young person, I helped make this album what it is. I love the album, I'm a runner,  so I started listening to it for the first time out on a run one day and I had to stop and sit down”.

The Debut album "Happy Birthday" by

Altered Images released in 1981

on Epic Records

"you get to your 60s

and for me, I find that

I care less what

other people think"

RTS: “Yeah, I'm sure there must have been times that your mind was flooding with flashbacks, especially as you probably haven’t listened to the album as a whole for a while?”.

CG:  “No, it was probably at least 40 years ago since I listened to it as a whole. 

So it's a bit of a relief that I still like it…. Yeah. But I can't help but think that, doing this, it's almost like coming full circle in life.  

It's a funny thing. It's really hard to describe, but I think as I've gotten older and to this point in my life, I can really recognise who I was when I was young. Because, you know, you start out, you've kind of got that arrogance of youth and, you know, you feel a little bit fearless.  

 And then I think you get to your 60s and for me, I find that I care less what other people think. So I feel like I'm kind of meeting myself again, my young self again, remembering who I was and who I still am in many ways. Obviously life brings a lot of stuff with it, but it's nice to know that I still belong to myself. It's very, very hard to describe, it really is.  

And also, I don't like overanalyzing stuff, you can overdo that because you can talk yourself into a nasty corner, can't you? But so far, so good. Whether we pull it off or not, we'll find out”. 

RTS: “I think what you said there is correct. You didn't realize what an achievement it was just making the album. And as you say, you're quite naive at the time, you were ploughing on with what was a career and you don't realize actually this is for life. Here you are revisiting that moment in time, it's quite incredible and impossible for it not to have some kind of effect on you. You should celebrate this?” 

CG: “I suppose I'm allowing myself to feel good about things, you know, rather than going, oh, maybe we should have done it differently. I'm actually going, you know what, I think we got it just right for that point in our career”. 

RTS: “If you could revisit yourself back in ‘81, with the knowledge you now have, would you advise to do anything differently?”  

CG: “That time felt awesome. That's all I can say. It did.  

Yeah, I mean, I left school that summer, I got signed to a major record label and I made Gregory's Girl. And I will never understand why that happened to me. 

But it did. And I have to believe that maybe other people saw something in me that I hadn't recognized in myself at that point. I don't know. I just think I wouldn't change it. I mean, I think life is all about experiences though some of those experiences, no matter who you are, what you are, have to be tough,I think it's the way you learn.  

I think it's how you decide who you are as a person, how you feel about where you'll take a stand. Obviously, I had periods where it was pretty harsh and I wouldn't want to go through it again. But I think it's all part of it making me who I am now and I can live with that”. 

RTS: “You had it tough with the third album, was that where things started to get too much?”.

CG: “Yes as I remember it. I reached a point where I felt so unable to get it right with anyone that I just had to stop. You know, I was being pulled in a lot of different directions and of course, when you're young, you think it's up to me to pick this up again when I'm ready but that's not how it works.

  So that's when the hard work comes in. Because a lot of it just came very quickly and organically plus a lot of things fell into place in a really brilliant way and you get used to it. Then there's some bumps in the roads. It just became not fun anymore.  

I don't want to live my life like this. What happened next was, I guess I didn't panic, I just thought, okay, this is where I'm at.  

  But I do need to make a living and something that I really love doing. And no matter what, I'm going to find my way back into it on my own terms but it's not always entirely on your own terms, because that's not how this business works. But I think there was something in me that said I'm not finished yet. You might think you're finished with me, but I'm not finished.  

  I think that touch of determination and ambition, I suppose. You know, these words that you're frightened of saying when you're young, you know. And I was frightened to acknowledge it in myself to a certain extent. When I dropped out of it, I just wanted to lead a more normal life. Until I didn't. Well, yeah….”

"it's honestly

like a fucking

out-of-body experience"

RTS: “I mean, you certainly tried a lot of other things as well. You went off into Film and Tv Work so did you prefer the Music side or TV media?” 

CG: “You know, I think that for me, it's about keeping working.  

I've always thought that. I just like doing things. I like being part of this industry that I  love. But, as I said, in my early days I had to make a living and I had to pay bills,  

so in a way that forced me to maybe diversify a bit. I've had such great experiences.  

I think you tend to gravitate towards like-minded people. I think you have your own identity set somewhere in your DNA, you end up, everyone's been kind of cool though I'm not trying to make it all sound like an absolute perfect fairy tale because believe me, it hasn't been. But I just choose not to dwell on that. There's no point”. 

RTS: “It feels like you just look for the next opportunity, it could be anything and currently, that includes the Restaurant Business?” 

CG: “Yeah. A new interest. Well, we've had our first restaurant for 10 years now, I think it might be 12 years. But yeah, it was my husband, Stephen, who was a very successful record producer and previously had been in Altered Images, he got very ill and couldn't work for a couple of years. Then when he started getting better, he decided he didn't want to spend his life in studios. And he decided to open a restaurant. 

  I was like, what? Why?  I think as part of his illness he couldn't eat so he fantasized about food a lot at that time and then came out of it going, I'm going to open a restaurant and I'm going to make it a restaurant that I'd really like to go to. Fortunately, other people do too. So we've got three now. it's honestly like a fucking out-of-body experience when I walk into them. I can't believe I've got three restaurants. It's like, what's happening?”

RTS: “On top of the Tour have you many of the Retro Festivals planned to perform at?” 

CG: “Well, this summer, yeah, I've got a whole bunch of festivals that I'm playing. I'm not doing Rewind. I'm doing Rebellion”.

RTS: ”Are you going to punk it up for that one?” 

CG:“Yeah, definitely. 

This will be my third time playing Rebellion, then I've got a show with 10CC and Natalie Imbruglia in Scotland. Yeah, I think there's nine festivals happening though, I can never remember dates”.  

RTS: “So in the set, are you including songs from your last album, Mascara Streaks?”

CG:“Yes”. 

RTS: “How do those songs go down?, do the fans take to them?” 

CG: “They love them. Yeah, it's funny, the audience have really embraced the Mascara Streaks album, which is cool. And I think I've developed a new, younger audience as a result of that as well, which is great!” 

You can see Clare Grogan with Altered Images later in the year at the shows listed below:

Tour Dates

15-16 August 2026 - Replay Festival - Perth - LINK

03 September 2026 - The Adrian Flux Waterfront - Norwich

04 September 2026 - Islington Assembly Hall - London

05 September 2026 - Thekla - Bristol

07 September 2026 - Rescue Rooms - Nottingham

08 September 2026 - Brudenell Social Club - Leeds

10 September 2026 - Stables - Milton Keynes

11 September 2026 - Picturedome - Holmfirth

12 September 2026 - Town Hall - Birmingham

13 September 2026 - Lowther Pavillion - Lytham

15 September 2026 - Band On The Wall - Manchester

16 September 2026 - The Grove - Newcastle

18 September 2026 - The Factory Live - Worthing

19 September 2026 - Phoenix - Exeter

23 September 2026 - St Lukes - Glasgow

24 September 2026 - Old Fire Station - Carlisle

25 September 2026 - Liquid Rooms - Edinburgh

Tickets are available from the official Altered Images Website

Interview by Dan Reddick for Return To Sound