Proclaimers

Proclaimers
Scottish band, The Proclaimers, is composed of a set of identical twins Charlie and Craig Reid. Particularly famous for two of the songs they wrote Letter from America and I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles), the twins are quite popular. 500 miles became the theme song to the film Benny & Joon (1993), and to the charity events the Terry Fox Run and Comic Relief 2007, as well as a Molson Canadian beer commercial.

Career
This Auchtermuchty pair leapt to public attention, after a January 1987 appearance on UK popular music programme The Tube on Channel Four, four years after their formation in 1983. The album, This is the Story, went gold, whereas Letter from America peaked at number 3 in the UK singles chart. The follow-up album Sunshine on Leith featured I'm Gonna Be... and I'm On My Way. Due to the fact that the brothers are famous fans of Hibernian Football Club, Sunshine on Leith is played at every home match.

Many of their songs reflect their political views, such as Letter from America and Cap in Hand. The brothers are also very vocal about their views, expressing them on their promotional tour of Britain in March 2007, being well known supporters of Scottish independence and having been activists of the Scottish National Party. A month after the British tour, Charlie Reid announced that he had switched his allegiance to the Scottish Socialist Party in protest at the Scottish National Party's receipt of funding from big business. On May 16, 2006, the twins announced their participation in a campaign to free a fellow Scot, Kenny Richey, from his death row sentence in Ohio, U.S., including them playing at a charity concert.

Becoming major chart hits in Australia, I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) and I'm On My Way enabled the band to successfully tour the major cities of Australia in 1989. They were supported on the Sydney and Canberra legs of that tour by The Mexican Spitfires, the indie rock band. Their popularity was buoyed by the inclusion of I'm on My Way on the Shrek soundtrack in 2001, and hence the Proclaimers have remained popular in Australia with I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) and the former song regularly played on Australian radio and at suburban parties, nightclubs, and especially pubs.

I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) has remained till May 2006, in the iTunes download chart since December 2004. In 2005, the 1988 album Sunshine on Leith sold over 25,000 copies. . In June 2007 their ex-manager, Kai Davidson, aged 44,was killed in a fall. The death is being treated as a suicide.

Their popularity continues and lots of things are witness to it for example in 1994, their cover of Get Ready featured in the soundtrack for the hit film Dumb and Dumber. Their song I'm On My Way appeared on the soundtrack to the 2001 animated film Shrek. In 2003, the Proclaimers came fifth in The Glasgow Herald's poll to find The Most Scottish Person in the World. In the final concert of Live8, The Final Push at Murrayfield Stadium, they were the opening act at Edinburgh 50000, on July 6, 2005.

To symbolize the conclusion of The Long Walk to Justice, they played I'm Gonna Be (500Miles). On April 30, 2006, the Proclaimers appeared on the hit animated show Family Guy, in the episode You May Now Kiss The...Uh...Guy Who Receives, in which Stewie Griffin says Brian's homosexual cousin will fit in the Griffin family as badly as Peter fit in the Proclaimers, as a cutaway shows him fighting over who sings a lyric of I'm Gonna Be.... They made this guest appearance because the show's creator Seth McFarlane was a huge fan of the Proclaimers.

The Proclaimers also played the Main Stage at T in the Park on July 9, 2006. To be performed by the Dundee Repertory Ensemble and directed by James Brining, the jukebox musical featuring the music of the Proclaimers was being prepared and set to debut in April 2007, which had been earlier announced on September 17, 2006.

On the February 27, 2007 episode of the television show, How I Met Your Mother, the band's I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) was played multiple times throughout the show as the cassingle that was stuck in the tape deck of a car. Comic Relief's Red Nose Day's unofficial charity single, in UK, is I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles). . It has been covered by comedians Peter Kay and Matt Lucas, in character as the wheelchair users Brian Potter of Phoenix Nights and Andy Pipkin from Little Britain respectively (the word walk in the chorus has been replaced with roll). The Proclaimers feature in the song and the accompanying video. Lucas wrote sleeve notes for their greatest hits, while Kay joined the band on stage when they performed at Live 8.

Next they appeared on The New Paul O'Gady Show on April 4, 2007. The Proclaimers have also made many random appearances on the popular Australian television show Rove (TV series) twice. The first time they appeared, they appeared randomly on the stage, and began playing, before Rove McManus, host of Rove, pressed a button on his desk and a piano was dropped on the band. He then stated that he was going to fire someone after the show.

The band later reappeared on the show, and were this time interviewed by Rove McManus. After being interviewed, they played again (this time a different song), but their performance was cut short just before the end of the song, when the pair exploded in a cloud of white smoke and the clatter of a guitar. This series of gags were widely watched and well-received Australia wide, making the already popular band even more famous in Australia.

There is a head to head to find the King of the Proclaimers, Craig vs. Charlie, in issue 165 of Viz. The first four rounds, Recording Career, Scottishness, Spectacle Wearing and Anti Death Sentence Campaigning, there is close competition, whereas in round 5, Charlie takes the lead in Guitar Playing.