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

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

AN OVERVIEW OF THE GRIP - 1982

This piece written by Jock Ferguson is an account of the general state of play with Dundee reggae band, The Grip, who at the time (early 1982) had made changes to the band line-up and were trying out new material live before going into the recording studios.
It includes a bit of background info, a brief interview and a smashing photo of the lads!
Click it to read it.

DESPERATE DAN x STEELY DAN - 1974

The sight of 2 well known Dans teaming up together for an advert, cropped up in the national music press in March 1974.
Yes it's Dundee's Desperate Dan carrying an album by U.S.A.'s Steely Dan.
It could be interpreted as Dan stealing the LP, giving it a visual pun (stealy Dan), especially as it may also be a rogue Dan (bolts in the neck?!).
Anyway, it's quite amusing, and I remember buying Pretzel Logic too.
If I incorporate a 3rd Dan onto the scene, Dundee's Danny Wilson, some of you will know that they were somewhat inspired by Steely Dan's music.
In fact, they even released an EP in the late 80's which gave a bit of a nod to Pretzel Logic - cheekily calling it Strepzil Logic!

CRIPES...MORE PUNK!

This article is taken from an issue of CRIPES, a Bruce's Record shop in-house magazine dated the end of August 1977.
It's just a brief word about a few gigs that were on at the Marryat Hall during the summer of '77.
The Chelsea / Alternative TV gig took place on 19 August 1977.
The Boomtown Rats were due to play on 6 September 1977.
The Count Bishops had already played up at Dundee University on 11 February 1977, so the Marryat gig was obviously to be their second visit.

RUSS PATERSON ON GUITAR

Russ Paterson started playing guitar and harmonica with a Dundee group called the Inn Folk back in the early 60's. Around the same time, he was also involved in setting up the very successful Dundee Folk Club, which went on to organise many a memorable night at the Woodlands Hotel. As well as playing the local clubs, Russ has also performed at the Caird Hall quite a few times sharing the stage with the likes of Tom Paxton, Hamish Imlach, The Corries, Archie Fisher to name just a few.
In the late 70's he joined The Cameron Kerr Three and gigged with them for a couple of years.
From the 80's onwards he has performed mostly as a solo artist but occasionally finding time to sit in as guest with other acts, including a few blues sessions with his sons, Don and Stephen.
Russ now runs the Dundee Folk Club website, which you will find in with the Retro Dundee links down the left. He also has a link to his own blog on the site. Lots of Dundee photos and info from the 60's to view.
The advert above was for a gig at the Royal Centre Hotel in November 1976.
His son Don, is the subject of tomorrows post.

DEAD AUGUST - 1970'S

Dundee band, Dead August, were on the go during the mid/late 70's period.
The only name I have at the moment is the band's main man, Colin Ryan.
If anyone can supply the full line-up, feel free to drop the details into the comments.
A bit of background info meantime...
Dead August had a pretty torturous time at the start of their career.
Their debut gig was in 1975 at a city centre hotel - however, the Bay City Rollers were in town at the time, and their fans were so unruly running amok, it forced Dead August into ending their set midway through the performance.
Next up was an open air concert in Carnoustie - but it flooded and was cancelled.
At an another gig, a big fight broke out in the crowd, which resulted in the band having to pay the hall owner for the damage caused.
Later at another gig, an amplifier blew during the show!
All that maybe would have put a few musicians off continuing, but Dead August kept on going, and by the time they had this Aberdeen gig (ad dated June 1979) they were presented as being "an exciting band from Dundee".
So sometimes you need lots of determination, and not just talent, to help get an act on the road.

SLEAZ BAND - 60'S - 70'S

Dundee's Sleaz Band first started out by calling themselves "Rock Tonsils and the Sleaz Band" when they were on the same bill as Pink Floyd for a gig at Dundee Art College in 1968. Soon after that they opted for a simpler version - Sleaz Band - and a rather lively few years in rock music began.
As their reputation grew, they gigged extensively with top acts such as Deep Purple - Fleetwood Mac - T.Rex - David Bowie - Slade - Thin Lizzy, to name just a few of a very impressive gig list.
Along with their own ad above, I have included some adverts featuring the acts they have supported...
Fleetwood Mac - Glasgow 1969.
T.Rex - Motherwell 1970
Deep Purple - Aberdeen 1970.

They have also recorded. 
An album was in the pipeline but unfortunately it never saw the light of day.
A single, however, was released in June 1974, with the band line-up at this stage consisting of Phil Robertson, Jim Kelly, Clark Robertson & Robbie Stewart, although the personnel did change from time to time.
The band eventually called it a day in the late 70's.
For a wee reminder of their sound, here below is the b-side of their '74 single, a track called "Midnight Man", a tidy little slice of rock, produced by Terry Noon for the Fontana label and clocking in at just 1min 50 secs, shorter than the average punk record!

ELVIS COSTELLO - CAIRD HALL - 1979

Here's my ticket stub showing that on this day 30 years ago, Elvis Costello was in town.

At this stage in his career he was still a bit of a skinny little whippersnapper, having surfaced in tandem with the punk movement, but behind the image lay a big talent, and we got an instant reminder when he started the show off with "Watching The Detectives". After that the hits kept coming, "Olivers Army" - "Alison" - "Accidents Will Happen" - "Red Shoes" and on it went. This tour was to promote his "Armed Forces" album so there was plenty new material too.

He has since gone on to work with just about every musician on the planet it seems and is still touring 3 decades on.

There were 2 support acts on the night.

One was Richard Hell & the Voidoids from the USA. This was the band he formed after he left Television. Richard Hell was the guy who gave the world the "punk look" ie cropped spikey hair with ripped shirt held together with safety pins. The look was later enhanced by the Brit punks to become the more common punk fashion of the late 70's we now refer to.

Also on the bill was big haired Manchester poet John Cooper Clarke.

Urban grit with wit.

I think we got our £2.50's worth!

QUEEN - CAIRD HALL - 13th DEC 1975

 

33 years ago today, Queen were rockin' the Caird Hall... and a gig I was at.

Bohemian Rhapsody was at #1 in the charts at the time and that was the song they opened the show with. The Caird Hall lights were turned off, and out of the darkness a loud mystery voice was heard announcing..."Ladies & gentleman, welcome to a night at the opera"... then out blasted the middle operatic sequence from Bohemian Rhapsody. It was still pitch dark as we listened to the familiar song without the band being present, then as the song progressed it eventually reached the famous guitar riff segment, and out burst Queen onto stage, complete with exploding flash bombs. Quite an intro!

Needless to say they kept these kind of theatrics going throughout the rest of the show.

The items above are the original ticket stub and music paper ad from back then.

Below is a recording from this very concert. 2 tracks in fact with Dundee getting a couple of shout-outs during the chat to the audience.

 

BELLFIELD STREET PANELS - 1985

In the early 80's, the decision was made to regenerate the Blackness area which had become rather dilapidated by then. One of the ways they used to attract attention to the buildings was to use art. The example above was one of the many projects to catch the publics eye. These Dundee transport themed panels in Bellfield Street were the creation of Kenny Munro, and were made using silk screen prints on tiles.
I took this photo of the car in 1985.

WHITEHALL CRESCENT - 1980'S

There were 2 places worth a visit in the mid 80's in this section of Whitehall Crescent. The pub, Jack Daniels, on the left and Manifesto on the right, the fashion boutique which is still on the go.

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.

DUNDEE DEMO #1 - THE POOR SOULS

This tidy wee tune on demo disc is by Dundee beat outfit, The Poor Souls. Recorded in 1965, it is a good example of the kind of pop music that was around at the time, most being strongly influenced by the Mersey Sound.
This particular track (photo above) is actually the flip side to the main song "When My Baby Cries", which, in my opinion, isn't as catchy as "My Baby's Not There", written by Hudson & Lothian.
The Poor Souls line-up was : Johnny (Hudson) Moran - vocal, Doug Martin - guitar, Chick Taylor - bass, Johnny Casey - drums. Co writer of the song, Andy Lothian was a local music promoter who used to run the Top Ten Club on Sundays at the Palais in South Tay Street in the 60's, and needless to say this was also a venue The Poor Souls played regularly, along with the Chalet and other places further afield.
Although the combo appeared on pop TV show, "Stramash", and got a thumbs up on the local circuit, they didn't really break into UK's main pop scene and sadly became a 60's group that slipped through the net.
Here below, is The Poor Souls with "My Baby's Not There".