SUPERCHARGE - BOWLING ALLEY - 1978

Below, is a rare live recording of a gig that took place at the Bowling Alley - AKA the Students Union in Marketgait.
This was the first of 4 visits by Supercharge, captured on reel to reel on 21st April 1978.
Supercharge were a decent funky disco band, but this track here called "She Moved The Dishes First" is something completely different to the rest of their musical output.
For some reason they thought it a good idea to include a comedy cabaret routine into their set, but I really don't think they did themselves any favours with this mix of soul doo-wop, laced with student rag mag humour. I suppose after 12 pints it might have been amusing - it seems to have gone down well with the crowd anyway - and the band did return to the venue 3 more times after this.
Anyway, after playing all those shows here , there's bound to be someone who can recall something of their visits to Dundee.
We'll wait and see..!!
Thanx to Brian Wilson - Bowling Alley DJ.

SAXON - MARKETGAIT GIG - 1979

Saxon's debut gig on Scottish turf took place on 21st September 1979 and the venue was the College of Technology Union in the Marketgait - or the Bowling Alley as we all called it.
The show was recorded by resident Bowling Alley DJ Brian Wilson and he has passed on this rare track to me from the gig, featuring the vocal delights of the Dundee crowd as an added bonus!
So here are the heavy metal rockers going back to the old style rock 'n' roll days with a song called "Bop Shoo Wop"...and getting all interactive in the process!
A lively wee beastie!
Big thanks to Brian.

HILARY - PUBS AND PUBLISHING - 80'S

Many of you who socialised around town in the 80's will recognise this colourful lass - it's Hilary.

I remember her from pubs & clubs like Chequers, Slickers, Tayside Bar, Fat Sams...actually, come to think of it, she was a right wee boozer!

As well as being a regular in the drinking dens of the city, she was also a familiar face on the local music scene. In fact, Hilary was involved in Deadbeat fanzine, contributing lots of articles and artwork.

The photo above is of Hilary at the Bowling Alley, circa '84, there to see local band Circus Of Hell.

Below it is her feature on the band in Deadbeat mag, including her skilful sketch of the guys.

She managed to get an amusing quote from Steevo in her piece - he says of COH "We're going to put the plooks back on the face of music" - charming!!

By the way, the 2 lads with Hilary on the photo are unknown, so if anyone knows who they are, feel free to reveal all in the comments.

You may need to click on the COH item to enlarge it if you can't read it as it is.

Thanks to Joe Ogilvie

THE ORIGINAL BOWLING ALLEY - 60's





When Dundonians of my generation talk about the Bowling Alley, it's usually on the subject of drunken nights out at the Tech Students Union disco, or discussing the bands we saw play there, but it's sometimes forgotten that the reason it was called that in the first place is because the premises was once an actual Tenpin Bowling Alley.

You can see in the photo above, taken in the 60's, that the original Bowling Alley premises was in the exact spot as the Students Union we used to visit in the 70's & 80's - the same doorway and stairwell on the corner of Guthrie Street.

The advert showing the interior, appeared in the Tele on 18th August 1966, a significant date because that's when the Tay Road Bridge opened, hence the references in the ad.

From the image, it seems to have been a popular place in its time, and although I have not been to this version of the Bowling Alley, I guess that it could be the same floor space which later became the disco dancefloor in the 70's.



THE REVILLOS - BOWLING ALLEY - 1979

I was raking through an old NME from September 1979 and spotted this Revillos ad. It has their tour schedule for that month, and in it, it has them playing at Dundee - Technical College (Bowling Alley) on 28th September 79. The reason I've put it on view is because in my earlier item about the Bowling Alley (see Feb 09 Archives) there was a bit of confusion in the comments as to whether it was The Revillos (with a V) or The Rezillos (with a Z) who made an appearance there, with the resulting opinion being that it was The Rezillos. Putting 2 & 2 together, I would suspect now that they have probably been at the Bowling Alley in both of their name formats.

TECH COLLEGE UNION AKA BOWLING ALLEY



This building on the corner of Marketgait & Guthrie Street, once had a real tenpin bowling alley in the 60's. So later, when it came to be a Students Union in the 70's, us lot who went there still generally referred to it as the "Bowling Alley".
The students in this case being from the College of Technology rather than University.
It's heyday was the mid 70's to mid 80's period, and was always a really good buzz.
Card carrying students got in free and they could each sign in 2 paying guests.
I remember you had to be signed in before 11:00 pm - then the doors closed! This often lead to a rush of people vacating the pubs between 10:30 & 11:00 for a mad dash along the Marketgait to make it on time, otherwise they'd be locked out.
The rooms were upstairs, 3 areas all on the same floor.
A wee recreation room with darts, pool table & table football to chill out in.
Then the main hall itself that had the disco and bar (see 2nd photo above).
Finally, a back room with a stage area where bands played.
The DJ was Brian Wilson, who played a diverse range of music, an aspect that made visiting the Bowling Alley such a big draw. The original name was Deepwater Disco and then it later became known as Brian's Disco.
The Bowling Alley also had the comfiest seats in town, so much so that sometimes you were reluctant to get up off them to dance!
Quite often at the end of the evening there would be an amusing beer fight. Typical student fun really, never any trouble.
Along with the disco and cheap beer, the other attraction was live music.
Like the University circuit, this was a good place to catch an act at the beginning of their career...
The Sex Pistols, Dire Straits, Simple Minds, Motorhead are just 4 of the acts who performed there before going on to greater things.
Rock, punk, pop & new wave were all represented, with the likes of Saxon, 999, Joe Jackson, XTC... too many to mention really.
Needless to say it was a hot venue for local bands too, e.g. Colossus, Friction, Skeets Boliver...and on it goes.
Examples of the venue cropping up in the music press back then are displayed in the above cuttings...
The first one is from an NME and shows Lemmy's Motorhead there on Saturday 9 October 1976.
The one under that is from the Melody Maker and the date XTC performed there was Friday 27 January 1978.
The last one is from an NME and has the Dire Straits gig dated as Wednesday 21 June 1978.
The place then had a bit of a make-over (UV lights etc) in the early 80's which is shown on the 3rd & 4th photos above.
Although the building is still there today, it has since gone through further transformations - but not necessarily an improvement made to it!.

Thanks to DJ Brian Wilson for first interior photo.
Thanks to David Pentland for the other two interior images.
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The Bowling Alley now has its own website - go visit Bowlin' Alley