LOCAL PUNK GALS - 77 & 83

 

I have 4 names of Dundee punk girls who were friends in 1977, but only 3 are on the photo above.

Gabrielle Zoom, The Cripple, Aerial, Barbra Eagle.

If anyone can match up either of these names to the image up top, drop the info in the comments.

The photo underneath it is of an unknown local lass on her way to Whitfield, and is dated 1983.

It may be tricky to recognise who it is as there were lots of gals who had this post-punk look at that time.

Typical of the kind of look that was popular down at the Tayside Bar and Club Feet.

ROCKPILE RECORDS - 1980'S

3 adverts for Rockpile Records published in local fanzines in 1982.

A neat wee shop, selling a mixture of new and second-hand records.

Very aromatic too I remember!

I never actually bought any records from there mind you, my visits were only when I was off-loading parts of my collection from time to time.

And, it was also the only shop in town who dared to sell bootlegs!

RONETTES RIOT - DUNDEE - 1964

In 1960, there was a riot in the Caird Hall during a Gene Vincent / Eddie Cochran gig that lead to rock 'n' roll concerts being banned for a couple of years.
That gig has now become quite well documented as a consequence.
This gig here, however, seems to have been completely forgotten about.
It took place on 24th January 1964, again at the Caird Hall, this time the headline act was an all female group, The Ronettes, from USA.
With the Vincent / Cochran gig, you could understand that there would be rockers & teds in the crowd, which may explain the aggro.
A crowd fighting on stage when a girl group is performing?
That is a bit embarrassing!
The Ronettes still managed to sparkle through the riot, so well done them for ignoring the numbskulls.

LONG FELT WANT - 1966

These guys here messing about with a steamroller, were a beat group who got together at Dundee University in 1966.
Long Felt Want was the band name and the line-up consisted of -
George Robertson (lead guitar)
Nick Cronin (vocals)
Mick Gate-Eastley (rhythm guitar)
Drew Jones (bass)
Rob Syers (drums)
It didn't take long for them to get gigs as they supported The Kinks at The Palais in April 1966, then a couple of days later they were on home turf playing at a University charity ball.

Thanks to Martin Dudley

DUNDEE'S DUFF PISTOLS POSTER - 1976

It has been in circulation as a fact that, the Sex Pistols cancelled this 1st December Dundee gig "at the last minute" to appear on the infamous Bill Grundy TV show.
Well here below is a factual timeline sequence published in the music press that suggests otherwise...

On 13th November 1976 the music press published details of a punk tour to be co-headlined by Sex Pistols and The Ramones, with Talking Heads, Chris Spedding & The Vibrators the other acts.

The Dundee date arranged being 1st December.

Then on 20th November 1976 the music press published an announcement that all of the acts had pulled out of the tour except the Sex Pistols. The tour was then revamped with Sex Pistols the headline act and support bands being Johnny Thunder's Heart Breakers, The Damned and The Clash.

The 16th December was now the date for Dundee as a result of the revamped tour.

As you can see, the 1st December date on the poster has the second choice of bands (Sex Pistols, Johnny Thunder's Heart Breakers, The Damned and The Clash), but these acts weren't confirmed until the revamped tour dates for 16th December.   

If the gig poster WAS for the 1st December, it would have had the first choice of acts on it (The Ramones, Sex Pistols, Talking Heads, Chris Spedding & The Vibrators).

This confirms the Sex Pistols did not cancel the 1st December Dundee gig "at the last minute" to appear live on the Bill Grundy TV show because the revamped dates were confirmed 2 weeks before the TV show aired.

The only reason Sex Pistols appeared on Grundy was because Queen had to cancel their scheduled appearance the day before the show and Sex Pistols replaced them at the last minute.

There is no Dundee gig connection with Pistols on Grundy.

Furthermore, a different music press article from 13th November had Newcastle the date for 1st December punk tour package, so there was never anything definitely secured for that date. 

The real Anarchy In The UK tour officially started on 3rd December after the first attempt was scrapped.

The poster's date and support acts don't go together at all - the information is meaningless.

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The above is only a small sample of evidence.

There is much more wrong with the poster than just the date & support bands.

To read the detective work about it, you can download the full 13 page PDF in the link below.

Confirms that the poster is not connected to a gig, Tech College, Caird Hall or Pistols.

It's FAKE..!!

Pistols poster PDF

Or if you would prefer to read about it online, here is the link to Grant McPhee's summary of it.

Pistols poster online

Click items to enlarge images above.

GROUCHO'S FAKE RECORD - 1979

In 1979, Groucho record shop created a parody of an album by the Specials.
They called themselves the Mundanes - but they were not a real band, so no Mundanes record inside.
The fake sleeve was actually a party invite to celebrate the 3rd year of Groucho being in biz.
They also tweaked the 2 Tone logo to resemble Groucho Marx and changed the song titles - one being "I Don't Like Mundanes".
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Forward-wind 4 decades, and Groucho's are involved in more piss-takes, this time fake gig posters for the film, Schemers - complete with venues & bands that don't match the fake dates.
They're all as fake as Groucho Marx's moustache!

HARD COPY FANZINE - 1982

 

Hard Copy fanzine appeared on the scene in summer 1982.
However, in the above debut issue, it states that it was not a fanzine but the first computer-related music magazine.
True, it was all done neat & tidily on a word processor rather than the usual cut & paste method, which was quite innovative, but magazines legally have to be registered. They require barcodes or ISBN numbers for official reference identification, Hard Copy did not have any. The British Library require copies of a magazine to document and archive. Were they sent any issues of Hard Copy?
Anyway, the fanzine was mostly the work of Dundee music journalist, Bob Flynn, although there was a team of assistants involved in the write-ups, illustration and photography too.
The content was well written - plenty of gig reviews, some local band info and general coverage of the UK music scene.
A very nice piece of work actually.
A local fanzine with a magazine price tag!

A SHOT IN THE DARK - 1980

Here's a rare wee Dundee band relic, with an amusing twist.
This is an original ticket to a Scrotum Poles gig at Dundee College of Education in Gardyne Road, dated 9 Oct 1980.
However, the college wouldn’t let them perform under their own name so for one night only they became - A SHOT IN THE DARK..!!
Some other entertainment on the night thrown in - disco, raffle...boat races...that kinda thing!!

Big thanks to Graeme

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"....

THE ORIGINAL DA VINCI'S - EARLY 80'S

 

This is Da Vinci's when it first appeared in Westport in the early 80's.
The interior shots show the central balcony it originally had.
I remember it like this, but also have a memory of it not being kept like this for too long, as shorlty after, they floored over the space upstairs and had a dancefloor instead.
When you went through the main entrance you'd either choose to turn left and go upstairs, or go straight ahead through the western saloon-style swing-doors into the ground-floor lounge.
Either way, it was usually good fun had.

MUSIC PUBS IN 1988

Here's a few youth-styled pubs from 1988 who put on music.

Morgans in North Lindsay Street had discos and various promotional nights.

Shaft was part of Angels in Ward Road and were playing upfront dancefloor grooves.

The Underground in Seagate were showcasing local bands and had their own DJ.

Woodies in Hilltown ran discos in the lounge at weekends.

PHIL LYNOTT & DENNIS THE MENACE - 1982

Thin Lizzy front-man, Phil Lynott, was a big fan of comics when he was a school kid, with Dennis The Menace a particular favourite.
When the band were playing in Dundee, Phil was wearing a Dennis The Menace top during their sound-check and was approached by a young local lass who told him it was her father who drew Dennis The Menace for the Beano.
Phil gave her a bundle of Thin Lizzy t-shirts, badges and so on, then told her to ask her father if he could do the band a drawing.
Sure enough, his request was fulfilled when a Dennis The Menace cartoon arrived through the post.
The photo is of Phil showing the cartoon which has Dennis & Gnasher holding a large scarf with Thin Lizzy on it.
And Phil's pet dog was also called Gnasher..!!

DAVID BOWIE & DENNIS THE MENACE - 1973

In October 1973, Top Of The Pops celebrated their 500th episode, which was an hour-long special.

They had 4 DJ's present it, had special guests and so on, making it a bit different from their usual half hour weekly show.

At the time, David Bowie's "Laughing Gnome" had been re-released and made it into the top 10.

For this episode, they didn't have Bowie make a studio appearance but instead, BBC commissioned a promo film to accompany the track.

So on the night, it was the Laughing Gnome film they broadcast.

Bowie doesn't appear in the film either but an actor looking like a cross between Aladdin Sane & Marcel Marceau, was the main character, along with animated gnomes.

There is a short scene in it where a gnome is reading the Beano, with Dennis The Menace the page displayed on screen.

Only around half a dozen clips from this TOTP episode survived, but luckily, The Laughing Gnome film was one of them.

That's the background story - and the images above are...

The credit caption at the end of the programme confirming the screening of the David Bowie film.

2 images from the film with gnome holding the Beano.

I managed to track down the exact issue of the Beano, so have put the page up in full.

Click images to enlarge.

SHAM 69 & DENNIS THE MENACE - 1978

 

In 1978, Sham 69 released their well known single, "If The Kids Are United..." and the music press advert they had for it was presented like a comic page.

They used some of the song lyrics to form the storyboard, and in the centre panel it had Dennis The Menace & Gnasher.

If you look closely at the bottom panel too, a couple of other Dundee comic characters make a guest appearance in the crowd.

Click image to enlarge.

1985 FASHION PHOTOSHOOT

This is a rather unusual Dundee fashion photoshoot.

The location is quite unusual because it took place indoors on the stairs of the Museum and Art Galleries in Albert Square.

The choice of garments is also quite unusual because 5 of the 7 dresses were from the local Oxfam shop.

They somehow managed to make the 2nd hand gear look pretty classy.

Dated 1985.

DESIGN BIAS - WESTPORT 1980's

The Design Bias shop & studio in Westport was part of the textile department of Duncan Of Jordanstone Art College.

Each year, different students were given the chance to test their designs out in the commercial world.

So they would design their fabrics and garments in the studio area, then display and sell them in the shop area.

Design Bias started up in 1985, and the first students to use the premises were Elizabeth Byrne & Anne Kelly.

The photos show some of their colourful funky ethnic-styled designs being put to good use in the shop, with the duo at work in the studio.

In 1988, it was the turn of Susan Allan & Helen Colville to take over Design Bias for a year which is the date of the advert and the B&W photo.

THE WRONG STRIP - 1970's

 

One of the quirky things about being part of the very first intake of pupils when Craigie High School opened was that we had to start our school sports teams from scratch.
Teams for football, netball, hockey etc obviously didn't exist at CHS which meant we were the ones who had to start them up first.
When the time came to form a CHS football team, a bunch of us went to an after school meeting with a couple of teachers with the agenda of getting a team up & running.
As we neared the end of the meeting, one of the teachers suggested that it would be a good idea to design our own strip, and told the pupils that if we come up with any such ideas, feel free to present them, and the best design would be chosen.
This was just the kind of thing that I liked doing, so when I arrived home I grabbed my sketch pad, got busy and did, not one, but around a dozen football strip designs.
The shirts, shorts and socks all various designs but all done using the school colours of green & orange.
So I handed them in to the teacher and they went into the pot for consideration.
A couple of weeks went by, during which team trials had taken place until they finally chose which players were to be selected for the team.
Soon after, when this newly formed team started playing together, they were given school football strips to wear.
Much to our amazement, they were not the green & orange of our school colours, but were yellow..!!
Not only that, they were rugby shirts..!!!
Even then, it was just the shirt - the pupils had to supply their own shorts & socks, all of which varied..!!!!
Yes this was what Craigie High's school football team had to wear playing against other schools when they first began.
How could our team display school team loyalty wearing someone else's colours whilst in attire representing a different sport?
Very much an own goal by the teachers.

SUPERTRAMP BOUTIQUE - 1970's

 

A nice reminder of the Supertramp shop who were another popular 70's boutique located in the Overgate.
It had clothing ranges for guys, gals and kids.
Being the 70's, there's lots of denim on sale of course as you can tell by the names on the adverts - Wrangler, Levi's, Lee and so on.
But it sold most clothing items not just jeans, including footwear and accessories.

Both ads are dated 1979.
And you'd then carry your purchase back home in one of their bags just like the one above.

ROD STEWART - CAIRD HALL - 1977

Rod Stewart was back in town for a 2 night performance on 7 & 8 January 1977.
The Caird Hall looked as if it had been freshly whitewashed for the concerts, with the large white backdrop drapery, white stage, white piano and PA system to match!
It made the colourful chiffon and satin of the band's outfits stand out even more so.
As you can see in the photos, which were taken on the 8th, Rod certainly seems to be enjoying himself.
Incidentally, the impressive drum-kit belongs to well known rock musician, Carmine Appice.
And don't worry, the guitarist in the last shot hasn't been airbrushed out, he is in fact hiding behind the drapes!

Photos by Derek High.

BRAIN DAMAGE CASSETTE - 1983

Dundee band, Brain Damage, recorded this cassette called "Death To Timmy Pop" in 1983.
Drummer, Cody, has the actual original master recording on reel but it hasn't been digitised yet.
So from the 7 tracks on the audio tape, I've plucked out a tune called "Believe In Me".
A brash breakneck speed hardcore punk sizzler!