THE INFAMOUS ZEEK & GIZ - 1982

 

I've already mentioned Zeek & Giz in the 2009 archive, when referring to the Snap-On Brothers, the mad comedy...er...music ensemble, let's say.
When the Snap-On's went their separate ways in the early 80's, the main part of the act kept going and renamed themselves The Infamous Zeek & Giz.
So the recording below is kinda like the second incarnation of the Snap-On Brothers, the duo version.
You should get a gist of their lunacy by the song title... "My Brain Is Infested With Mince"....

EXALT DEMO TAPE - 1987

 

Exalt made this demo tape available for sale back in 1987.
Titled "Support Your Local Police", the DIY cassette cost £1 and had around half a dozen tracks on it.
Hedgy McFadyen in Lochee was one of the main guys involved.
Below is a sample from the demo - called "Glenochil", it's a fully energized beast of a track.
Not for the faint-hearted..!!

PETE HOROBIN ARTWORK

You may recall I put a piece up on Retro in Feb this year about Pete Horobin's "DATA" project, so I won't bother repeating his background details, you could check that out yourself if you need a reminder.

I do have more of his work though.

The top image is a postcard designed by Pete and was published in 1978. Called "One In A Million" - it's kind of romantic, but without being soppy!

He kept the black, white & dab of red look going well into his DATA project with the second items, a couple of pages taken from the 1983 Dundee book - "View From Urban Dwellings - 2".

If you look to the bottom right of the hand, you'll see what appears to be, another heart (or 2) too!

So I'll use this opportunity to include another audio track of Pete's - this time under the name of Principle Player.

The title is "The Weight Of Your Work" and it has a simple, yet catchy, minimal synth loop over which Pete talks in and out of in a repetitive loop along the way.

DUNDEE v UNITED ON RECORD

 

In 1962, Hector Nicol released a football themed single on the Scottish Gaelfonn record label.

The band accompanying him was The Kelvin Country Dance Band.

On one side it has The Dundee Song.

On the other side it has The Terrors Of Tannadice.

There is no official A & B side preference as such, so I'm displaying them in alphabetical order.

Of course, most Dundonians would have bought it for one side or the other, but I must admit, I rather enjoy both sides.

Dundee won the League in '62 and so their song has a kind of celebratory feel to it.

The United song has more of a defiant, motivational vibe to it, in their pre-tangerine days.

So if you've not heard them before, or not for a while, here they are below...

RINGER - MOVE ON DOWN - 1982

 

It's almost impossible to discuss Ringer without also mentioning The Beatles.
Not because they are on the same creative level, but because Ringer made a point of sounding like the Fab 4.
Ringer presented 3 different versions of themselves - first as a popular covers band, then as a Beatles tribute act, and finally being themselves with their own material.
Out of the 3 they were probably best known as a Beatles tribute act, having played at conventions around UK and abroad.
The band also went through numerous changes with various members coming & going.
Some of the guys who have done Ringer stints are Steve McDonald, Ian Murdoch, Grant Roberts, John Lunan, Dougie Martin, Lyall Duncan, Alan McGlone and no doubt a few others.
One of the things not so well known about them is that they released a couple of singles.
Although the tracks are their own compositions, they are still very influenced by you know who.
So the single they released in 1982 was a double A side and below you can tune into the AA side called "Move On Down" - an upbeat boogie-styled power pop type of tune.

SLEAZ BAND DEMO #3

Sleaz Band demo number 3...

SLEAZ BAND DEMO #2

Sleaz Band demo number 2...

SLEAZ BAND DEMO #1

A rare compilation of unheard demo tracks by Dundee act, Sleaz Band, was unearthed recently.
20 tracks in total, all of which were recorded during the 1969 to 1974 period.
Although the Sleaz Band did release a proper record in 1974, none of the demo tracks made it onto vinyl.
Sleaz Band seemed to share the same musical arena as bands like, Jo Jo Gunne, SAHB, Geordie, Blackfoot Sue etc - not quite full-on rock and not overtly commercial pop, but all lurking around the same in-between territory in the early/mid 70's.
Don't know why Sleaz Band didn't hitch on board the road to success, they certainly supported many big names and so would have been in touch with plenty influential contacts in the biz - but sometimes that's not always what the bands themselves are looking for.
Perhaps they just enjoyed the booze more than the biz!
Anyway, I'm gonna put up 3 of their demo's, all if which are untitled.
Here's the first of the batch...

PETER & ALISON'S TAY BRIDGE RECORD - 1966

To coincide with the opening of the Tay Road Bridge in 1966, Dundee duo Peter & Alison, released a single called "Highway O'er The Sea".
It came out on Andy Lothian's ALP record label.
For the record cover photo-shoot, it seems they got the brand new bridge all to themselves!
The advert for the single was published in a national music paper in August 1966.
To read a bit about them and the record, you can click onto the article above which dates from September 1966.

THE SWING CLUB DEMO - 1983

 

The Swing Club didn't follow local music trends, they took their own path, even although it seemed to lead to a kind of time-warp destination.
The sound they created was a bit like Aztec Camera's styling but trapped in the Savoy in 40's London!
The Swing Club line-up... Forrey Rosscraig (ex Quick Spurts) lead vocal - Martin Lowe, guitar - Roberto Soave, bass - Ewan Parry, drums.
They played at the places like the Tayside Bar, Barney's in St Andrews and their gig at Teazers was actually as support to Aztec Camera.
At the end of 1983 however, Martin and Roberto had trial workouts with Billy Mackenzie, with Roberto then ending up joining The Associates going onto record and tour with them.
Roberto, after that, even landed a job as bass player for The Cure for a short while.
The track below is a 1983 demo, and it's not as polished as a proper big production would be, but it's good enough to hear how their own unique approach sounded.
The song is titled "All I Ever Do (Is Dream Of You).

NOVUS - DESIRE - 1989

 

At the tail end of the 80's, Mike Kane, Gerry Mitchell and co, formed Novus, a kind of post punk free-form trippy experience.

They released a single in 1989 and the track "Desire" is the one you can tune into below.

INCA RHODES - MID 80'S

 

Inca Rhodes were part of the local music scene in the mid 80's.
Line-up - Colin Knight, vocals - Kenny McIntosh, bass - Grant Laing, guitar - Frank Smith, keyboards and drummer, Doug Hopton, who isn't in the photo above.
Other members have included Dave Dawson and Colin Stewart.
Played local venues such as Fat Sams & Duck Slattery's and out of town gigs in Aberdeen, Glasgow & Glenrothes, with the Glenrothes one having been captured on video.
Inca Rhodes then split in August 1987.
They did record a single which came out in summer 1986 and below you can tune into the main track called HideAway.

MILLIONS LIKE US - 1987

 

Millions Like Us was conceived in Dundee in the mid 80's and was the brainchild of John O'Kane.
John sent a demo tape into Circa Records in 1986, got a reply, and went down to London to get the record deal.
He then teamed up with an English guy called Jeep Hook to record the Millions Like Us album in the USA in 1987.
John has stayed in the States ever since and later went on to record a few solo albums in the 90's as well become a composer-songwriter for other well known acts.
The Millions Like Us album was a one-off project and a track from it called "Ideal World" can be heard below.