wee pop rock

some of my favourite music from scotland - from the last few years.
this only scrapes the very tip of the iceberg to say the least...

1 i hate rock and roll - jesus and marychain
2 into the valley - the skids
3 velocity girl - primal scream
4 rebel rebel - bay city rollers
5 heartbeat - jazzateers 
6 million tears - the pastels
7 citizens - josef k 
8 premonition - simple minds 
9 texan - jazzateers 
10 the angle - josef k 
11 saturday girl - bubblegum lemonade
12 what you do to me - teenage fanclub 
13 2cv - lloyd cole & the commotions
14 superficial cat - edwynn collins 
15 orchid girl - aztec camera 
16 ease your feet in the sea - belle & sebastian 
17 you've been a friend - jesus and marychain 
18 higher than the sun (dub symphony in two parts) - primal scream 
19 mid air - paul buchanan

the ballad of the band

You're fearless and brave -
you can't be stopped when you're young
You used to fall in love with everyone
Any guitar and any bass drum

back in the 80's, i was in a band called the sherbet fountains.
we were my hometown's premier pop band, in my mind... there were some seriously talented people in the band(and me...), davie who could play any instrument, laz who was a west coast pop art muso, allison who sang very well and maggie who played real instruments like the violin and my one drumbeat for every song we did.
we were into felt, velvet underground, jesusandmarychain and the local indie glasgow bands who were taking the popworld by storm at the time... it was nice being a local popstar for about 10 minutes.

that's me in the brylcreem and buddy holly glasses...
i had a battered old drumkit and blagged the audition over some other aspiring people... the fountains were already a band who'd played parties and such before i joined... so i dragged my self down to an old school building and got myself a position... felt quite good at the time, like i had just joined the coolest gang in town.
we played around kilmarnock and the west coast... i was a very busy musician for someone who was so inept at playing anything(i've since attempted to learn how to play), as i was also in a blues band and a rival indie band, which caused me no end of hassle at times - having to schedule rehearsal sessions around all three and play gigs, and remember songs.
i wanted to follow allison's influence and become a bit more like louis phillipe, whereas laz wanted us to be the byrds(i think)or early pink floyd and dave was more into the REM side of things and probably loads of other clever bands... all classic stuff though, we were very mature in our listening habits and i can still hear a lot of that music today and not feel embarrassed.

i would just like to state for the record here and now, that the velvet underground got me into rockabilly...they always did have that touch of country about them(i was and still am a lloyd cole fan too), so there.

it all fell apart as bands do... allison went off to glasgow to join other bands and be a musician for a living now working with the very cinematic heist, maggie found gainfull employment, and us lads became an instrumentals band, playing all the usual guitar cover versions- before i gave it all up and went off to college, leaving town never to really return.
funnily enough dave and laz went onto better things, the band became more well known, and they became local indie heroes for a time.
dave eventually came down to england and we lived not far from each other without knowing... and laz became a glasgow indie icon, which is kind-of what i think he wanted to be be anyway.

that's kilmarnock taken from the station... btw.
we're all still making music - dave has his tesco chainstore mascara, and laz has his innumerable persona to harness his many talents as a songwriter - both of them producing some very fine material.
me, i'm working under the name of the helvatones, making suitably bluesy and sometimes jazzy sounds...