GOODBYE BILLY MACKENZIE

Something a little bit different now from the usual kind of Retro item.

On 28th March 2007, London's Shepherds Bush Empire hosted an evening of music in tribute to Dundee's Billy Mackenzie.

Lots of acts turned out and put on a very entertaining concert that lasted around 5 or 6 hours.

Many of the artists who performed had worked with Billy at some stage, the majority being from the 80's era. Most bands did 3 or 4 tunes of their own material and also 1 song from the Mackenzie/Associates back catalogue.

First up on stage was Howard Hughes, Billy's former piano accompanist.

Next was a contemporary band called Mower, followed by an act Billy had actually named, The Subterraneans. This included an appearance by an emotional Christine Beveridge (Billy's old flat mate in Lyon Street).

Then on came Billy's old friend and collaborator, Paul Haig, this being his first live stage performance since the late 80's.

Moving onto a duet featuring ex Propaganda singer, Claudia Brucken and pianist Andrew Poppy. Claudia then reappeared a little later with an act called One Two, alongside Paul Humphreys from Orchestral Manouevers In The Dark.

Incidentally, in between all the band changes, The Associates & Billy's solo work was blasting out the PA together with promo videos and photos of him beamed onto a screen above stage.

Next was a newer band called Electric Soft Parade, followed by another electric act, B.E.F. (British Electric Foundation) - an offshoot of Heaven 17 and the Human League. They did a really cool version of Party Fears Two, turning it into a slow moody waltz!

Lastly, rounding the evening off was Apollo 440, who powered their way through to the final whistle.

I was there, and can tell you a great night was had by all.

Apart from all the music played, what I think would have appealed to Billy too was the fact that the Empire was where they used to make Crackerjack every week, hence my wee link in the previous post!

Also in the crowd, clicking away down at the front of the stage, was famous photographer, Peter Ashworth, who spent all evening documenting the event. Peter was the guy who did the iconic Sulk album cover.

I teamed up with Peter to make this video slideshow of the concert, not only to show how the night went, but because it was a charity concert, all proceeds going to Sound Seekers, a charity organisation for deaf kids and who get a mention at the end of the vid.

If any of you are in a generous mood, check out their website to find out how to donate.

A reminder too that there are a few videos on Youtube capturing not only some of the music, but also includes interviews with one or two of the acts.

To have London put on such a top notch occasion, says a lot about Billy's talent and influence.

He would have been well pleased!

Incidentally, I took the photo of the Empire above - it's not one of Peter's!

DEADBEAT - FIRST ISSUE - 1982

It's good fun looking back at "first issues" to get a reminder of how they once looked before they became more established, and so here's #1 of Deadbeat fanzine, given away free in August 1982.

The mag's debut was printed out of just one A3 sized sheet folded into quarters, but eventually it became available in a 20 page A5 sized magazine format, which later would cost a whopping 10p!

It's lifespan was 1982 - 1986.

Although it was distributed around the country, the mag's content was generally based around the Scottish alternative music scene, with Dundee getting sizeable coverage.

One reason why Dundee was represented so often was because Deadbeat's main contributors, Alan McEwan (aka Vinny Bee) was at St.Andrew's University and so would often socialise in Dundee and Hilary Smart (previously featured on Retro), went to Art College and lived in town.

They still had to do plenty of whizzing around Scotland to collect material mind you!

An example of how well known Deadbeat had become around the UK, was the time when it was runner-up to Viz on the John Peel show in a feature on alternative publications!

So getting back to the first issue, one Dundee related item in it was the article above announcing the cancellation of The Associates tour. The piece didn't quite fit the xerox machine properly as you can see, but these wee teething problems were soon sorted and later they went on to have one issue which gave away a free flexi-disc, then afterwards there was a series of compilation cassettes featuring demo recordings made by Scottish bands.

Alan has quite recently started up a blog documenting Deadbeat which can be found at this link - http://www.deadbeatfanzine.blogspot.com/

The blog's content is accompanied by lots of amusing "behind the scenes" stories, with, needless to say, Dundee getting a mention quite a lot.

He's also gonna put all those rare recordings that appeared on the cassettes, up on Youtube, so's we can all catch up with them after all that time.

There is even talk of a Deadbeat party later this year to celebrate 25 years of it's death!!

So plenty to keep your eye on throughout 2011.

The good news for Retro is that Alan sent over a few original issues of Deadbeat, so watch out for some more past items on the local music scene cropping up here too!

Big thanks to Al.

STRANGE NEWS - HUNGRY LOOK - 1980

Although The Associates had only been in existence for a year or so at the time, in 1980 Billy MacKenzie got involved in a little side project with a few friends that ended up a short-lived outfit called Strange News.
Billy, vocals - Steve Reid, guitar - Andy Sturrock, bass - Gavin (surname?), drums.
They must have liked the sound they were making because it lead to them recording a couple of tracks in Edinburgh.
Here's a wee blast of one below, a song called "Hungry Look".
Check out Steve's guitar in it. Wicked! The driving chords of the main tune sounding like John McGeoch of Magazine, while a 2nd layer of plinky plonky notes are sprinkled about randomly in the background.
This tune also appears to be a precursor to Club Country, lyrically at least.
I don't have a photo of the Strange News line-up, but I do have this rather strange news item (above) from the same year - 29th April 1980, to be exact. A quirky wee feature from the Record Mirror telling of the time when Billy missed out on getting a cut of Howard Hughes billions!
Bit of a strange picture of him too as a matter of fact...bathing with his beret?!!

JIH - INTERVIEW - 1988

Here's a compact little interview with Grant McNally, who tells how Jih first began way back in 1983 in London, with a little assistance from Billy Mackenzie.
Pete Hood was the chap who cornered him for the quick chinwag on behalf of Street Life mag - 1988.
Click image to enlarge.

JIH - THE SHADOW TO FALL LP - 1986

Jih, is local singer, Grant McNally, plus a team of musicians who varied & changed, most of which having a strong Dundee connection.
This album "The Shadow To Fall" is also closely linked to The Associates, with band members, Howard Hughes and Steve Reid playing on this recording.
In fact, Billy MacKenzie has shared material with Grant (and vice versa), both having sung each others songs. Billy also sang backing vocals on Jih's singles, as well as doing some production work. Billy's brothers, John & Jimmy, have also been involved with the band.
Grant did seem to favour local talent too when it came to performing live.
Regarding the album, it received a favourable review in Cut magazine back in Feb 1987, which is what's on display above.
Although there are quite a lot of melodic songs on the album, I've opted for a track (below) called "This Is My House", which is just a little bit edgier!

 

STEVE REID AT THE CUTTING EDGE

Around the mid/late 70's, before Dundee guitarist Steve Reid was in The Associates & Orbidoig, he used to work in Johnalan hairdressers.

Ironically, I reckon this picture of him looks a bit like the kind of photo we used to see on the walls in gents barbers!

Not sure if this hairstyle was one of his own creations though!!

HEY YOU!... WE'RE THE BLUSH

Another band who cropped up on the local music scene around 1980 was The Blush, a polished pop act who played guitar based tunes in a similar style to The Pretenders & Police.
The line-up was - JEFF DORAN, guitar - STEVE DUNCAN, bass - EDDIE ROBERTSON, guitar and STEVE AUNGLE, drums.
The Blush made a demo tape containing 5 original tracks, but the general opinion of it was that it didn't quite hit the mark, lacking the punch of their live sets. They then recorded another track of theirs called "Hey You", which wasn't on the demo tape, but captured their sound better, and this is the one below for you to give a listen to. A lively wee tune with a typical early 80's vibe.
Steve Aungle later went on to work with Billy Mackenzie, ironically, after rejecting an offer to team up with The Associates back in '78!
Photos by Camera Ken.

BREAD POULTICE & THE RUNNING SORES

Here's a couple of amusing items about Dundee punk act - Bread Poultice & The Running Sores.
The top article describes the band presenting their rather unique performance, which is a slightly different take on punk. This is from a book about Billy MacKenzie (who became a friend of the band) and titled "The Glamour Chase".
It also mentions the time when Billy stood in for BP&TRS frontman, Steve Falconer - after Steve dropped some acid and went AWOL!
Well it makes me chuckle anyway.
Keeping the amusement going, I've accompanied the article with a couple of old gig listings I have from 1977, and in it you can see that Bread Poultice & The Running Sores had a couple of shows through in Edinburgh at the end of '77.
The November one asks the question - "Are they as loathsome as they sound?" - while the other describes them as "Those gangrenous punks".. Ha!
At least they were in similar company anyway as both The Sex Pistols and Sid Vicious & The Vicars are on the same list (although I doubt these 2 gigs took place because of their USA tour).
Incidentally, BP&TRS guitarist, Steve Reid, a few years later went on to replace Alan Rankine in The Associates.
Click the top image to read the large version if need be.

THE ASSOCIATES ON JOHN PEEL - 1982

Below is a recording taken direct from the John Peel show which was broadcast in October 1982. This is a "session" track The Associates did, it being 1 of 4 tracks played on the night.
I've always liked Billy's inventive and amusing vocals on this one, as it swerves off in unexpected tangents.
Title of the song - "A Severe Bout of Career Insecurity".
There are 2 Dundee bands mentioned here - Peely at the end of the track says that Billy was in the middle of recording an "LP" with Orbidoig. Anybody any idea if this project was completed? If it was, it must still be tucked away in the vaults of some record company, awaiting to be discovered!!

STEVE REID ON GUITAR

In the mid 70's, local guitarist, Steve Reid, used to get a bit of practise in up at Ardler Community Centre where he was joined by Kirkton High School kids, Murray Tosh (later with Street Level) and Allan McGlone (later with Skeets Boliver). These get togethers were purely instrument work-out sessions rather than group rehearsals, as it were, they didn't actually form a band together.
Steve started off in a bunch of punk rascals called, Bread Poultice and the Running Sores. Billy Mackenzie would check out the band from time to time and eventually the two ended up mates. They also played the occasional experimental gig together, just before Billy moved on to form The Associates with Alan Rankine. By this time, Steve & Billy shared a flat along with a few others in Lyon Street.
In 1981 Steve teamed up with another Lyon Street flatmate, Christine Beveridge, and they became an outfit called Orbidoig. They released a couple of singles as Orbidoig in the early 80's, both featuring Billy. Then when Billy & Alan went their separate ways, Steve was called upon to play in The Associates for a while. As a matter of fact, Steve ended up co-writing half of the songs on The Associates 1984 "Perhaps" album.
Tracking back to Orbidoig though, below you can hear Steve in full flow on the B-side of their "Ice Cream Factory" single, a frantic post punk instrumental called - "Excursion Ecosse en route Koblenz via Hawkhill".
A trip we've all made...!!

BILLY MACKENZIE AT THE DOCKS - 1984

On a snowy winters day back in 1984, Billy Mackenzie was interviewed for TV down at the docks. The show was "The Tube" and Leslie Ash was the presenter.

There were 2 boats used in the 10 minute feature. The one where the interview took place was on a tug boat called Castlecraig, and the other boat was the Unicorn (above) where he performed a song.

Although it was a feature solely on Billy Mackenzie, the song was still by The Associates, and the track was the single "Waiting For The Loveboat".

I reckon the Tube video (below) is much better than the official promo video for the single, which does make me cringe a bit.

Photo by the Scotsman.Tints by GG

.

THE ASSOCIATES - FAT SAMS - 1985

Sometime around the start of 1985, The Associates played live on stage at Fat Sams.
Above is a review of that very gig, written by local journalist, Bob Flynn.
It was a gig I was at too. Absolutely choc-a-block I recall.
A couple of wee extra details I can remember are - on 2 or 3 of their songs they brought on backing singers dressed in black polo necks - they were called Die Zwei, from Germany.
I can also remember occasionally glimpsing part of the show on the in-house TV screens. They had TV monitors in the back room so you could still catch the act when nipping through for refreshments. I wonder now whether the show was ever recorded onto video? If anyone out there has a copy, feel free to get in touch..!!
I do, luckily, have an audio recording of the Fat Sams gig.
So here below is a reminder of that sweaty evening in South Ward Road.
The vid contains a short piece of film of Billy Mackenzie in Fat Sams at the start, but it's not from this gig, it's only the music that's from Fatties. The rest of the visuals are stitched together from various sources.
The track is "The Affectionate Punch".

ANGUS HOTEL #3 - 1980's

On the Angus Hotel reception desk they used to have a visitors book that guests would sign.

Being Dundee's top hotel for 3 decades meant that it did contain quite a few famous names. In there were the likes of Maggie Thatcher, David Bowie, the Queen, Peter Ustinov, Rod Stewart and so on, page after page.

In 1985, The Associates booked in for the night when they were in town for a gig at Fat Sams.

A while afterwards, I managed to get the page from the visitors book the band had signed that night. Amongst the signatures are - Steve Reid, Billy Mackenzie, Howard Hughes and Roberto Soave.

I also attended the Fatties gig too and I'm gonna give that a mention on Retro Dundee next. Stay tuned..!!

Incidentally, on the other side of the page was the signature of songstress, Susan Maughan. She had a couple of hit records back in the 60's (remember 'Bobby's Girl'), and she was performing at the Whitehall Theatre in April that year.

BILLY MACKENZIE'S XMAS SONG - 1984

Better get yer hankies oot..!!
As a special wee treat for Christmas, here is Dundonian, Billy Mackenzie singing a weepy festive song called "The little boy that Santa Claus forgot".
Billy was in The Associates, and it was 24 years to the day that the band performed this song at Londons top jazz venue, Ronnie Scott's. This is the actual recording from that session on 9th December 1984, along with general footage from the gig in the video below.
The song itself was composed way back in the early 50's.

DUNDEE DEMO #2 - THE ASSOCIATES

Before it became the polished piece of pop that appeared in the charts in 1982, here below is how "Club Country" sounded in its raw demo format. A much rougher and edgier performance. Singer, Billy Mackenzie even changed the wording from "Glad to see that you're suffering" in the demo, to "Sad to see that you're suffering" in the finished version. Although it was a pop tune that everyone used to sing along to, most people probably didn't realise how dark the subject matter was. The lyrics are in fact about Liff Hospital, which was a large psychiatric institution on the outskirts of Dundee.

LYON STREET IN THE 80's

This is how Lyon Street looked back in the 1980's. A typical Dundee street that you would pass without giving it a second glance.
In the early 80's, however, something was brewing at number 39.
A wee social gathering of creative musicians were busy producing acts who would go on to record some classy alternative pop music. This is where Billy Mackenzie & Alan Rankine of The Associates were living back then, along with a few others. In amongst the others were Christine Beveridge & Steve Reid who went on to record as Orbidoig, releasing a couple of singles.
A cross-pollination of The Associates & Orbidoig then created a 3rd act called... 39 Lyon Street. They too released a single - "Kites" - which was a cover of the Simon Dupree hit from the psychedelic 60's.
The article under the photo is the band getting a debut mention in an NME dated June 1981.
Below, is rare footage of Billy singing an acoustic version of "Kites" on French TV.
The original vhs tape was a bit mashed, but it's well worth watching anyway.

THE CRYPT - PRINCES STREET - 1978

Opened in the late 70's, the Crypt was a fashion boutique run by Billy Mackenzie.

As its name suggests, the shop had a dungeon-like theme which was evident on the inside as well as the outside decor.

There were coffin shaped changing rooms & dead animals indoors (stuffed, of course), with a wrought iron portcullis on the doorway & window outdoors.

The gear was a mix of classy retro clothing and modern designer garments.

The shop then changed to "Plan 2" in the early 80's when Billy's brother took over.

Below is a short film clip of the shop doorway with Billy saying a wee word about it.

Photo by DC Thomson.