CHECKING OUT THE SCROTUM POLES

One of the local account holders at the bank featured in yesterdays item, was The Scrotum Poles.

They may not have had much money to burn at the time mind you, but 30 years on their music is still creating interest..!!

Just this year they have been played on Gideon Coe's show on Radio 6 and I even heard them get an airing on WFMU in New York this summer. Also had write-ups in The Word magazine and Record Collector magazine this year.

Anyway, a good time to include this rare photo of the band caught in rehearsals up at the Coffin Mill, with a couple of mysterious onlookers dressed in black.

Were The Stranglers in town?

Big thanks to Craig.

HAVE A SAY WITH RADIO TAY

The top item is a good example of what I was saying earlier about getting an idea down when it hits you. These are the original lyrics to "Radio Tay", the song written by Craig Methven when he and the Scrotum Poles were in an Edinburgh recording studio in 1980. Just scrawled on the back of a flyer that was lying around, with an ad for B & R Rugs on the other side! Radio Tay was one of the tracks on their Revelation vinyl EP which has now gone on to become a bit of a collectors item, almost cult status in fact judging by the amount written about it on the Net! Even just recently word came through that the Revelation EP is to be re-produced by an American company, complete with a replica of the original sleeve insert!

Not a record that would have been played on Radio Tay itself of course, but just a couple of years later, Craig found himself making an appearance on the station along with Jock Ferguson after being invited on to have their say on a show called "Not So Much Kid's Stuff" hosted by Sally Masterson. This was in 1982 when Craig & Jock were doing Cranked Up, a time when the fanzine published a few scathing articles about Radio Tay! So they got a wee guest spot which allowed them to mention a few things about the local music scene that the station didn't touch on.

Radio Tay - so near and yet so far away!

Click on the Cranked Up item to read the large version.

Many thanks to Craig.

THE SCROTUM POLES ROCK FAMILY TREE

The line-up of Glen Connell (Burt Spurt) - Craig Methven (Smeg Pole) - Colin Smith (Stripey Sleep) & Steve Grimmond (Sid Gripple), was the last and most well known of the Scrotum Poles unit.
As you can see in the Scrotum Poles family tree, this is referred to as SP3, which is dead centre of the layout.
I thought it was interesting finding out how the band reached that stage and discovering what happened when the lads all branched off afterwards.
Steve joined SP2 from a band called Tinned Atmosphere, who had Johnny Walker and Brian Anderson in the line-up.
Glen went straight into SP3 after his time playing in Carnoustie based bands.
When the Scrotum Poles time was up, Steve joined AAGA, a band who've been well covered on Retro.
Colin moved on to the Arbroath band, Synthetic Dreams, who have been described as a cross between Ultravox and Talking Heads.
Craig formed Pigs Are Cute, again an act who's had a few mentions here.
After that, when Craig moved to London, he was in a band called The Summerbees, which included bassist Ali Friend who later worked with top acts in the 90's such as Red Snapper, Beth Orton, Chemical Brothers and many others.
Glen, who was also in Pigs Are Cute, joined a band called Twice, who were on a bit of a disco-punk/Pet Shop Boys kind of trip.
He then became a member of cow-punk act Boonie Rats, who released a single at some stage.
Glen got involved with the Hodge twins, Les going on to form Coco And The Bean, and Simon concentrating on DJ work.
The tree could probably be extended even further if you saw it through to the present and included what all the other musicians went on to do, but as it is, this is a neat pollarded version of the Scrotum Poles segment covering approximately the 1978 - 1989 period.
The graphic is quite large, so you can click onto it, zoom in, and have a wee journey along all the connections.
Thanks to Craig for the history lesson.

SCROTUM POLES FAREWELL GIG - 1981

The Tayside Bar was the place to be on 19th June 1981, as this was where the Scrotum Poles played their final gig.

As well as the band live on stage, they also presented their short film "The Epitaph".

And if that wasn't enough entertainment, there was Major Longhorn on DJ duty.

The item underneath the poster also refers to the farewell gig and gives a brief overview of the band's history. It appeared in local fanzine, Le Sinistre.

Getting back to the poster - see the cartoon characters - well they are a take-off of creatures drawn by Savage Pencil (aka Edwin Pouncey) who had a cartoon strip in music paper, Sounds, at the time. You can tell it isn't a Savage Pencil original though because Oor Wullie is stuck in the middle of the freaks looking as if he wants out of there!!

Thanks to Drew Ramsay

S...... POLES RADIO INTERVIEW - 1980

Let's go back to 1980 and find out what's on radio...
(Twiddle knob)...Radio 1...Tommy Vance...naaaaaah...Radio 2...Richard Baker...oh sod off...skip past Radio 3 & 4...oh ho, what's this...flippin' heck it's Scrotum Poles guitarist Colin Smith being interviewed on Radio Tay!
Well even if the presenter did seem to be a bit unprepared, it was typical of the kind of chat that cropped up on local radio back then.
A speedy round-up of the band's activities then back to the show!
They don't use the word "Scrotum", so I assume they must have deemed it too strong for Dundee's housewives at the time!!
Big thanks to Craig

RICKY ROSS IN DUNDEE

Ricky Ross's music career took off when he moved to Glasgow and formed Deacon Blue. There is plenty of information about Deacon Blue's history on the net already, but not quite so much about Ricky's early Dundee days, so I thought I'd drop a few bits & pieces of the lesser known stuff about him.
RR actually lived near Dawson Park I recall (my old roll delivery patch) and was a Dundee High School kid. He then went to Dundee College of Education to become an English teacher.
Ricky was also involved in the local music scene around this time too (late 70's) - one aspect of which was playing in a band called Cahoots. Another connection with the Dundee music scene was his friendship with the Scrotum Poles, going to all their early gigs and helping them out behind the scenes, which included travelling to London with the the band, sharing driving duties on the way down, when it was time for the Scrotum Poles to cut their "Revelations" EP.
RR also ran a youth club in town called The Other Door Cafe, in a city centre church. A place where local bands could play and teenagers could grab a few soft drinks.
He even dabbled in a bit of acting on stage, along with Scrote, Craig Methven. There is photographic evidence for that one!!
Anyway, these wee snippets of his youth spent in Dundee, all eventually lead up to him going west in the early/mid 80's - and the rest is well documented.
I had a sift through some old music papers I have and found the above item in an NME from June 1987, an early tour schedule which shows a Deacon Blue gig at Dundee's Dance Factory (Fat Sams) on 5th July that year.
2 years later, the band put on a show at the Whitehall Theatre, and as if by magic, I have a track from this gig, below, the concert having taken place on 1st March 1989.
Apart from a bit of sax near the end, it's pretty much a Ricky Ross solo spot. A track called "Thunder Road".

THE SCROTUM POLES NEW ALBUM

A new release by The Scrotum Poles has arrived. The album called "Auchmithie Forever" is a collection of rare and previously unreleased material from 1979/80. The tracks, taken from stoory old tapes, have been given a wee clean and can now be heard in all their original D.I.Y glory. The homemade lo-fi sound is part of their allure of course (a bit like slipping into your favourite old grungy jeans), with the tracks on it done in a bedroom in Balunie Drive and at rehearsals in the Coffin Mill.

The fact that the Scrotes original recordings are pretty impossible to track down these days, makes the album good value, being able to have a large batch of their songs at not too much expense. And that's not hype...I watched a copy of the SP "Revelations" ep fetch a price of £134 on Ebay 2 weeks ago.

There is a vinyl LP version (which has almost sold out) and an MP3 version available, with no plans for a CD. 

The LP, having a gatefold cover, has the added bonus of lots of photos, notes and lyrics.

The Scrotum Poles are particularly popular with the present generation of young American dudes, making main man, Craig Methven, in demand with the music press in the States right now!

Yes, the retro sound of punky Dundee is selling very well, and a track from it called "You Can't Say Anything Nowadays" is one for you to tune into.

Don't forget to crank up the volume!!

Big THANX to Smeg.

THE FINAL CRANKED UP FANZINE - 1982

In this very last issue of music fanzine, Cranked Up, main man Jock Ferguson reaches the end of his tether and he puts the boot into those he sees as the major factor to blame for the lack of enthusiasm towards the alternative music scene in Dundee. He blasts out at the likes of Radio Tay, big brewers, DC Thomson, the Council and Dundonians in general, and as the cover depicts, renders them all brain dead!!
Even contributors to the mag don't escape his wrath as Scrotum Poles, Craig Methven, who wrote for Cranked Up under the name Fabian Bell, also gets on Jocks hit list!
It's not only Jock having a work-out at the punch bag, another Scrotum Poles member who contributed to C.U, Sid Gripple, has a pop at Billy Mackenzie for being "pretentious" and "nauseous"!!
But once the backlash has settled, here's what we find inside.
Bands who get a mention are - SYNTHETIC DREAMS - THE BLUSH - THE GRIP - PARADES - THE JUNKIES - AAGA - HEY ELASTICA - LITTLE WOLVES.
Places that are mentioned are - I&N - ROCKPILE - BRUCE'S - TAYSIDE BAR - OUTPOST - WINDMILL BAR - THE UNIVERSITY.
A candid little snapshot of life in Dundee '82.

YEP, IT'S SCROTUM POLES

When the punk tidal wave crashed down over the UK around 1977, it washed away most of the cliched concepts that had previously been associated with the music biz, most specifically the level of musical ability required, and how to sell records.

So seizing the moment and armed with this new D.I.Y. outlook & punk attitude, groups of locals made a grab for their instruments as they set about grabbing Dundee's attention - and one such group was Scrotum Poles.

After a short period discovering what they can do with their instruments, 3 chord tunes began to take form, and the task of getting them recorded commenced.
The first bash went down on their own tape recorder, and were sold as cassettes with a limited edition of 100.

The next attempt had them splashing out some dosh when they pressed up 1000 vinyl E.P's, complete with homemade covers, which sold across the UK. Both the cassette and E.P. have now become rare collectors items.

The band line-up went through a couple of tweaks in the early stages, but soon settled for the following as the main members - CRAIG METHVEN (Smeg Pole) vocals - STEVE GRIMMOND (Sid Gripple) bass - COLIN SMITH (Stripey Sleep) guitar & GLEN CONNELL (Burt Spurt) drums.

They played locally around community centres, youth clubs, pubs and college, as well as venues in Carnoustie, Blairgowrie and further afield in Edinburgh.
However, by the early 80's, the Scrotes time had come to an end and they went out with a bang with their final gig, aptly, at the Tayside Bar.

30 years on, and for those of you who are finding it difficult to get yer mitts on the original recordings, there is to be a compilation CD to be released shortly. Called "Auchmithie Forever" it catches up with their back catalogue and chucks in a few rarities as well. I'll keep you posted on that.

You will also find 2 great videos on YouTube of the lads muckin' aboot around Dundee and Broughty Ferry, filmed back in the day, by Jock Ferguson. Plenty music on both and a good wee chuckle too!!

Below, is a little taster for those who are not familiar with the band, and a reminder for those who are. The track is called "Put An End To It All", from 1981.

Big thanks to Craig.