Some things don't change: Human nature. Corruption in government. Public apathy. The “;what's in it for me”; and “;ainokea”; attitudes.

Cy Curnin, leader and spokesman of the Fixx, has been speaking out against things like that for almost three decades. It's been 26 years since “;One Thing Leads to Another,”; the English quintet's biggest stateside hit, peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. The lyrics are as relevant now as they were back in 1983.

“;A lot of people have been saying that the early Fixx songs—'Stand or Fall,' 'One Thing Leads to Another'—still ring very true today,”; Curnin said in a long-distance call from France last week.

While it was 11:30 Thursday night here in Hawaii, it was already Friday morning for Curnin, half a world away, “;taking care of my pigs”; (literally, of the porcine, four-legged variety), where Curnin lives “;in the middle of France, helping my wife run her guest house.”;

He and the band are currently in the islands to do three concerts: one last night on Maui, tonight here at the Pipeline Cafe and tomorrow in Kailua-Kona.

The Fixx's last studio recording of new songs was their 10th—2003's “;Want That Life.”; Curnin said that “;I guess I've been writing the same song my whole career, which is about accountability. You have to take a little control for your actions. As soon as you let society do it all for you, you end up with the mess we're in now.”;

What changes from one year to the next, he continued, are “;the distractions. They manage to keep us very happy with credit and flat-screen TVs and gadgets and everything else, but it can only keep us distracted for a while. In the end, the irony rings through, and the same problems come back to haunt us.”;

For instance, it was the savings-and-loan mess back in the '80s; now it's all the shenanigans with subprime mortgages and the collapse of the stock market.

“;Each generation faces the fire. You hear about angry young men. They're the ones who hear and feel the injustice. And then those who have gone through the system and have matured have shut up and got their heads down just to put food on the table.”;

FIXX FANS, take note: Where many hit-makers from years past tour now with few if any of the personnel who were there in the glory years, Curnin, keyboardist Rupert Greenwell, guitarist Jamie West-Oram and drummer Adam Woods are all founding members of the group. Bassist Dan Brown joined the group in 1983, left for health reasons in the '90s and rejoined the band last year.

Curnin describes the group as “;a longtime love story between five guys who just keep making music.”;

“;I think we've improved with age. I know my voice is improved with age. It's like wine. ... Touring brings us to places like Hawaii and Southeast Asia and Europe. There's nothing wrong with that.”;

They're currently working on a new album (”;There's plenty of stuff to still keep us angry at the state of the world”;) that could be out by the end of the year. They haven't had a deal with a traditional brick-and-mortar record label since the '90s, but are making extensive use of the Internet—“;you sell less but you make more”;—and all the major social networking sites.

Curnin also has two solo albums out: “;Solar Minimum”; and “;The Returning Sun.”;

“;The reason why I like to do solo records is because they're the first process of a Fixx record. It pulls all the sloppy, vulnerable, insecure stuff out of the way and lets the Fixx music become more of the social platform. I don't feel that I need to be writing songs for the other guys in the band that are all about my weaknesses and vulnerabilities. I use my solo stuff for that.”;