THE MEGAZONES AROUND TOWN - 1980'S

Elsewhere on Retro Dundee you'll find features on The Megazones single and a gig review, so now it's time to unveil the guys in action!

Here they are strutting their stuff around various venues in town during the 1980-81 period.

The band consisted of - Jim Farrell, lead vocal & guitar - Cliff (Smith) McAulay, bass - Iain Carnegie, guitar - and they had 2 different drummers, Kenny Farquharson and Kev Devlin.

Top picture is at the Tayside Bar, Seagate.

Middle snap is The Windmill, Hilltown.

Bottom image is in the YMCA up the Conshie.

All photos were taken by Ken Cummings.

You can backtrack on the previous posts via the search box where both Cliff and Kenny have supplied further details about the band.

Many thanks to Derek.

THE MEGAZONES SINGLE - 1980

When I posted a feature about The Megazones on Retro last November, I mentioned that they had released a single in 1980, but I didn't have a copy of it in my collection.
Well lo & behold, a couple of days later, a copy of it was sent to me, straight from the vault of Megazones main man himself, Jim Farrell.
So here it is below - the A-side of the record "Never Been So Lonely" - an upbeat, tuneful piece of pop with a slight hint of Split Enz, The Cars and The Beatles swirling around inside.
In the November feature, the drummer named in The Megazones gig review was Kev Devlin, however, on this recording the guy behind the kit is Kenny Farquharson, who later went on to have a very successful career as a journalist and is presently Deputy Editor of Scotland On Sunday.
Big thanks to Jim and Craig.

THE MEGAZONES - RECORD & REVIEW - 1980/81

2 wee bits of info on Dundee band The Megazones.

They brought out this vinyl single in 1980 - A side was called "Never Been So Lonely" and the flip was "Circles".

Unfortunately, the record has escaped my clutches, so if anyone has an MP3 version of it you can pass on to me, I could put the audio up on Retro later and that would help put a sound to their name.

Meanwhile, the following year, The Megazones played their final gig at the Barracuda.

This short review of the evenings event was written by accomplished alliteration aficionado, Rikki Rimshot, and appeared in the first issue of Cranked Up.

There is mention of the possibility that the band may resurface later with new band members, but having looked through all the local fanzines I have from 1981/82/83, The Megazones name doesn't crop up afterwards, so I think this gig probably was the last thing they did.

A little footnote - I know there is also a recording of a collaboration with Megazones man, Jim Farrell and ex Scrotum Poler Craig Methven, but again, I haven't been able to get my mitts on that either yet.

So you never know, there may be more to come on The Megazones and related material, in the New Year.

The large version of the review will be easier to read - just give it a click.