The Time Frequency star Jon Campbell talks about 30 years of New Emotion

The uplifting dance anthem turns 30 this year and TTF are planning to mark the occasion with a show at Braehead Arena this Saturday.

Back in 1992, New Emotion not only entered the UK Top 40 but also not surprisingly on the same day topped the Scottish charts - and the moment is one Jon will never forget.

READ MORE: Interview with The Time Frequency founder Jon Campbell

"It had been hanging around the UK Top 40 for ages. It was 46, 42, 41 and I am thinking to myself if this doesn’t get in there, the party could be over because ultimately back in the day the Top 40 was the holy grail.

"I had worked all my life to get to this point. This is something that from a very young age I had been doing.

"It wasn’t like I was a teenager and I thought I will get in a band. I had been doing music literally since four years of age. This was always the plan."

"So finally the Scottish DJ Mark Goodier, he did the Top 40 countdown, said we broke the Top 40 and went to number one in Scotland at the same time.

"He didn’t just say they are in the Top 40, he went they have done it. They have made it. TTF are in the Top 40 and when he said that... I hate to say this I am going to cringe man, but I burst into tears," the 53-year-old added.

Despite its release the following decade, East End songwriter Jon initially came up with the concept for the anthem in the 1980s. 

"I actually wrote the music for the song in the 80s before the rave scene," explained Jon who was previously frontman with synthpop band Thru The Fire.

He added: "But I never really had a top-line melody for it.

"In the 80s in Scotland, we had a lot of brilliant bands...Del Amitri, Deacon Blue, Blue Nile.

"But they were all singing about the rain. They were all singing about Raintown, Tinseltown (in the Rain), (Spit) in the Rain...it was like a permanent episode of Taggart. Everything was all grim, black and white and we were all poor. 

"I was kind of like the antidote to that. Obviously, I came from the Gallowgate and put it this way I got tired of reaching into my pocket and the only feeling was my leg.

"I wanted to create music that would give people an escape and that’s why New Emotion is so full of euphoria.

"Obviously a lot of the basis of the track is based on the 80s high energy sound like, 'can you feel the energy?' but what I was trying to say was this is the energy, what we are all about, this is the youth fighting back at oppression if that makes sense? I don’t want to send too pretentious but it is the truth."  

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That zest for life through his music clearly resonated with the audience and it is that very reason TTF still remain around today. 

With Jon still at the forefront of the band and original keyboardist Paul Inglis, TTF continues to produce new music including the 2016 release Come Alive which has managed to rack up streaming figures in the same vein as 90s favourites Real Love and The Ultimate High. 

"I wouldn't do it if it was just going down memory lane. You can't do that. Well you can do that but it is not something as a creative artist I would want to do," said Jon.

He added: "You feel like you are cheating yourself and your audience, because you're turning up and going, 'here is the past, thank you bye,' - that’s never what we have been all about. 

"We've always been seen as a futuristic act"

He continued: "The next song I have got is pretty good and I have got a lot of well-known remixers who have remixed it which is great. It's an exciting time right now for us. 

"To come out of lockdown and had invaluable time to make all the music, even although lockdown has been terrible in many ways, crippling for a lot of businesses, for a creative artist it has been a bit of fortune because you have got more time to do the stuff that you want.

"I have written the whole TTF album."

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That album is bound to have the backing of the TTF fans who have remained loyal to the band throughout the decades. The cult following the group has achieved is a cultural phenomenon in Scotland with a radio even dedicating Friday to TTF. So why after all these years is Scotland still crazy about TTF?

"People need that escape, we provide that escape in a good way," said Jon who now lives in Loch Lomond.

He continued: "I am a very optimistic person if you want the truth and there is a lot of joy because music for me was the great escape. That was the whole thing I knew there was something out there and I wanted to connect to people.

 "I probably connect to people through my music better than I do on a one to one basis, to be honest. I think a lot of artists, it is the same, to be honest 

"I just wanted to convey a sense of joy in how I felt about the songs literally I am on a complete high, naturally high I should add, when I am writing them because I think this might move somebody. 

"People come to our events and I think for that hour they can forget about our worries, they can go, 'oh right I am in TTF land'."

And for the fans who dare to enter TTF land this weekend, Jon promises one thing, "Get ready to see the very best version of TTF. It's going to be the best night of the year by far."

The show begins at 12pm and for tickets, HERE