Monday 14 February 2011

ST ANDREW & THE WOOLLEN MILL - 80'S

Formed in 1979, Saint Andrew & The Woollen Mill were regulars on the Dundee music scene by the time these 3 articles were written about them in the early 80's.
They stood out from your average local band because they specialised in humour, with plenty of well known tunes getting the comedy mash-up treatment in their set, along with their own quirky material.
You may get an idea of their silliness from the list of influences they mention - Kenny Everett, Dolly Parton, Patrick Wayne, Rolf Harris...etc.
I remember them doing their version of "Close Encounters" at the Tayside Bar and The Bothy - one of those hand held Casio mini keyboards was used for the famous UFO encounter tune bit, I think it then burst into a kind of disco groove!
They also had a few songs in oor oary local lingo.
The line-up in 1981 was - Andy "St Andrew" Pelc, vocal - Stewart Ivins, guitar - Eddie (Chris?) Marra, keyboard - Gus Foy, bass and Glen Jones, drums.
The band have released quite a few records over the years and I'm fairly sure St Andrew still performs from time to time.
So, the 2 items above...
Top, is an interview in Deadbeat, which the band did just before their gig at the Tayside Bar on 22nd December 1982 - and also includes a short review of the show.
Below it is a brief, light hearted introduction to the band taken from a 1981 Cranked Up.
Click them to bring up the large versions.

10 comments:

  1. Andy Pelc was one of my lecturers at Duncan of Jordanstone. Fantastic bloke with a fabulous sense of humour.
    Lovely guy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You obviously don’t know him.

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  2. Does anyone know if Andy Pelc is related to Stan Pelc?

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    Replies
    1. yeah he is, stan pelc is my dad

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  3. .
    The original St Andrew web site (last updated 2000), "The Word On The Weh'b", has been archived by the Internet Archive:
    http://web.archive.org
    (Browse through over 150 billion web pages archived from 1996 to a few months ago.)

    Unfortunately, the archive doesn't always capture all the graphics and this is the case with "The Word On The Weh'b".
    However, all the pages and text (and some of the graphics) are there so you can again enjoy browsing the ""Dundickshonary
    and Saintandrewsaurus".
    These hallowed pages can be found at:-

    http://web.archive.org/web/20050311163836/members.aol.com/dinnaastme/index.htm

    "Well my name is Saint Andrew and I’m here to tell you whuh’ the story wis then and whuh’ the story is noo
    I fund masel beh the side o’ a loch wi a vat o’ veeps and a flask o’ hough
    Eh looked aroond and eh thocht “och!”
    It’s rare t’be alehv – is it?"

    8=)

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  4. andy and stan are brothers. lesley g.

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  5. The Woolen Mill Story was released on CD in the 90s. It was only sold in Grouchos I think. It had extra songs on it, with Lloyd Anderson on drums who I'm guessing was still with the LA Allstars at the time. I got my copy there and Andy happened to be in the shop and I got mine signed with the dedication "Yer aff yer heid!! St. A"
    Not long after they did a one-off show in the Rep which was a great night. Oddly enough about two days after that show I was rewiring a house off King Street when the painter & decorator came in, none other than Gus Foy!

    Must be about time for a 30 year reunion of the Woolen Mill...

    Peace on earth and Earth on piece!!

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  6. I went to see a show at the Bonar Hall about 1985 which was to raise funds for the Cyrenians. Big Andy was the compere for the night,with the usual suspects,Michael and Chris Mara,Gary Clark,Ged Grimes Allan McGlone (pre Danny days and Gary had hair),Brian McDermott and various female chanteusses whose names escape me. The raffle draw was a riot.It was released on video,through Groucho's for the princely sum of £10.

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  7. Donny Couts (Hector O'Sexual) was the original drummer. Pete McGlone also played sax, sometimes Alan was in on the gigs too.

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  8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T14t0Be4moU&t=0s

    and

    https://www.musical1.com/saint-andrew/uploaded_audio/albums/the-word-on-the-pavey

    ReplyDelete