THE ASSOCIATES ON JOHN PEEL - 1982

Below is a recording taken direct from the John Peel show which was broadcast in October 1982. This is a "session" track The Associates did, it being 1 of 4 tracks played on the night.
I've always liked Billy's inventive and amusing vocals on this one, as it swerves off in unexpected tangents.
Title of the song - "A Severe Bout of Career Insecurity".
There are 2 Dundee bands mentioned here - Peely at the end of the track says that Billy was in the middle of recording an "LP" with Orbidoig. Anybody any idea if this project was completed? If it was, it must still be tucked away in the vaults of some record company, awaiting to be discovered!!

STEVE REID ON GUITAR

In the mid 70's, local guitarist, Steve Reid, used to get a bit of practise in up at Ardler Community Centre where he was joined by Kirkton High School kids, Murray Tosh (later with Street Level) and Allan McGlone (later with Skeets Boliver). These get togethers were purely instrument work-out sessions rather than group rehearsals, as it were, they didn't actually form a band together.
Steve started off in a bunch of punk rascals called, Bread Poultice and the Running Sores. Billy Mackenzie would check out the band from time to time and eventually the two ended up mates. They also played the occasional experimental gig together, just before Billy moved on to form The Associates with Alan Rankine. By this time, Steve & Billy shared a flat along with a few others in Lyon Street.
In 1981 Steve teamed up with another Lyon Street flatmate, Christine Beveridge, and they became an outfit called Orbidoig. They released a couple of singles as Orbidoig in the early 80's, both featuring Billy. Then when Billy & Alan went their separate ways, Steve was called upon to play in The Associates for a while. As a matter of fact, Steve ended up co-writing half of the songs on The Associates 1984 "Perhaps" album.
Tracking back to Orbidoig though, below you can hear Steve in full flow on the B-side of their "Ice Cream Factory" single, a frantic post punk instrumental called - "Excursion Ecosse en route Koblenz via Hawkhill".
A trip we've all made...!!

DAVE SIMPSON ON GUITAR

There were quite a few bands in Dundee in the early 70's who specialised in the social club, private function, weddings circuit, and one of the better ones was Hunters Key. The band line-up changed from time to time, one of the members at one stage being well known guitarist, Jim Kelly. The steady drummer in the outfit was John Lunan, who has also played in quite a few other bands. On this photo though, the guitarist in front of the Hayman kit on this occasion for Hunters Key is, Dave Simpson.

Dave now owns a bar in Thailand.

The photo was taken by my brother around 1973/74 but he can't recall where in Dundee the band were playing when he snapped it.

A typical ad for the band from this era is the example above which comes from an Evening Telegraph dated March 1977, and is for a Hunters Key gig along at Doc Stewarts.

Perhaps you were even there?!!

DEEP PURPLE - CAIRD HALL - 1974

On this day 35 years ago, Deep Purple were in town.

There was a real buzz around the Dundee gig because this was the first night of a brand new UK tour after having a huge success touring the States prior.
Deep Purple also had 2 new members making their British debut live on stage, David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes.
This in turn attracted the attention of the national music press, the show ending up receiving major coverage in both the NME and Melody Maker the following week.
Both music papers go into a lot of detail behind the scenes while following the band around. Interviewing them in the Tay Hotel for example.
I've chosen to showcase an edited extract from the MM write-up which concentrates just on the gig itself.
You can click on the review above to read the enlarged version.
Both Deep Purple and the Dundee crowd are highly praised on the night!
Incidentally, support band from New York, Elf, were also making their UK debut on stage.
Although I wasn't at this concert, word next day in school was that Deep Purple were so loud, chunks of plaster fell from the ceiling!
I do remember buying their single "Fireball" in 1971 when I was 13, after seeing them perform on Top of the Pops.
You don't usually think of such monsters of rock having been in the pop charts!
The singer in Elf was Ronnie James Dio, who a year or so later teamed up with Deep Purple guitar legend, Ritchie Blackmore to form another rock outfit, Rainbow, who I did manage to catch live at the Glasgow Apollo.

THE POOR SOULS - LIVE - MID 60'S

Dundee band The Poor Souls formed in 1964.
Band line-up : DOUGIE MARTIN bass - CHICK TAYLOR guitar & keyboards - JOHNNY "Hudson" MORAN guitar - JOHN CASEY drums. All 4 did vocals.
Locally they played at venues such as the Chalet and the Palais but often the band would be based down South, where the above photo was taken.
In addition to recording 2 singles, one on ALP and the other for Decca, the band also appeared on the TV pop show, Stramash. The TV guide above, dated January 1966, shows it was broadcast at 6:30 at teatime.
They performed 2 songs, and I have an exceedingly rare audio recording taken from that very show.
So below are the lads on Stramash, getting the crowd going with a track called "He's Just a Playboy".
Big thanks to Mac & PH.

THE BARRACUDA INTERIOR - LATE 70'S - #2

The 2nd image taken upstairs in the Barracuda shows one of the bars on the far side. This little corner just one of the many nooks & crannies scattered throughout the interior.
You can see other pictures of the Barracuda in my October 2008 Archives.
Photo by Nicholl Russell Studios.

THE BARRACUDA INTERIOR - LATE 70'S - #1

Here's a top notch shot of the Barracuda which I think should help revive one or two memories of nights spent there.
You see that big black spotlight on the balcony, top right of the picture, I remember a few of us, who were a bit tiddly by then, gathered around it and took turns to shine the beam on the girls dancing below, and because of the drink, we of course found this funnier than it actually was. Our fun was eventually stopped when the heavies came over and gave us a ticking off!
Been there dozens of times though, but very rarely went in on a Friday & Saturday, my visits always seemed to land on a Thursday, Sunday or Monday, when they either had students nights or bands on.
Photo by Nicholl Russell Studios.

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.

WHO'S ON THE TAYSIDE BAR?

A nice wee snapshot of the Tayside Bar noticeboard taken in Feb 1983. Not a particularly hectic week on this occasion but local electronic whizz-kids, Altres, were performing on stage that week, as were Portable People the following night.
Altres, as I'm sure most of you will know by now, are still going strong, gigging and recording regularly. Don't forget to check out the Altres website for more info and goodies, including original Tayside Bar recordings & photos - http://www.altres.co.uk/

Big thanks to Kevin & Brian.

DANNY WILSON IN DUNDEE - 1980'S

Collectively they were known as Danny Wilson, individually they are (L to R on photo) Kit Clark, Gary Clark and Ged Grimes. This image of the band signing autographs in the Coconut Grove in Marketgait was taken in December 1987. Getting the bar all to themselves, just a perk of the job!

The band's first small step began by busking around Dundee in the mid 80's, and it was quickly followed by the giant leap of charting around the globe in the late 80's.

Although the band called it a day in the early 90's, all 3 are still involved in music today. Gary, who now lives in Los Angeles, is a composer & producer working with a variety of well known recording artists. Kit is doing his thing with his band, The Swiss Family Orbison, and Ged composes music for computer games as well as playing bass in the present Deacon Blue line-up.

 

Getting back to 80's Dundee, below you can hear a recording of the band at a gig in the Caird Hall on 16th September 1989. The track, their hit single, "The Second Summer of Love".

Big thanks to Eddie and the DW3.

Photo by DC Thomson.Tints by GG

SAMANTHAS - SOUTH TAY STREET - 1970'S

The exterior shot is of the doorway, but how's about this as an example of eccentric interior design!

It's Samanthas - the disco the old Palais turned into in 1976.

Its main entrance was in South Tay Street, but you could also get to it via a pub connecting to the back of Samanthas called, The Stage Door Bar, which was in the Marketgait.

The Stage Door Bar itself had a small dancefloor called Stage 1.

One of the resident DJ's at Samantha's was Sandy Martin, although they would also bring in big name DJ's from time to time.

Samanthas put bands on too - some being of the soul-funk variety, then later the punky new wave variety.

The end for Samanthas came around April '78, and was later remodeled into another disco called Bloomers in October '78.

Exterior photo by Hes.

Interior photo by Nicoll Russell Studios.

QUEEN - CAIRD HALL REVIEW - 1975

I have already mentioned the Queen gig at the Caird Hall in my December 2008 Archives, which also includes an audio clip from the show.
Here is the review of the concert that appeared in the Courier on Monday 15th December 1975.
The band were on a crest of a wave at the time, having released the most expensive album ever recorded "A Night At The Opera", as well as being at No1 in the singles chart with "Bohemian Rhapsody", and the write-up reflects the success they were having that year.
There is also a word about the support act, Mr Big, who I forgot all about until I read this. I do recall the band had pop chart hits a couple of years later around 1977/78, "Romeo", being one.
You'll probably need to click onto the image to read it better on the large version.

HANK LOCKLIN & HUMBLEBUMS - CAIRD HALL - 1970

I was flicking through an old Courier I have, dated 11 April 1970, and I spotted this review of a concert that had taken place in Dundee the previous night.
Country & Western singer, Hank Locklin with his backing band Country Fever were top of the bill. Not a show I was at but he seems to have gone down rather well judging by the FIVE ENCORES he got!
Sharing the bill were the Scottish duo, The Humblebums, featuring Gerry Rafferty and Billy Connolly, who played a selection of hill-billy music, rock, folk and "comedy".
Yeah that Gerry Rafferty is a really funny guy. Not sure what happend to the other one though!!

BUDDIES DANCEFLOOR - BROUGHTY FERRY - 1985

In 1985, The Sands in the Ferry was transformed into Buddies.

No change to the outside of the building but as you can see from the photo, the interior decor was modified. Out went the bright curvy spacious look of the Sands and in came a dark monochromatic claustrophobic replacement!

However, Buddies did win Scotland's New Club Of The Year in 1986, as the advert reminds us.

The date of the ad is June 1986 and it also mentions Buddies were hosting a couple of heats of the annual World Dance Championship that same year.

Photo by DC Thomson.

THE SANDS INTERIOR

Here's an excellent colour shot of the interior of The Sands in Broughty Ferry... and a great reminder of how it looked in the late 70's before a couple tweaks to its décor took place in the 80's.

Now for a quick guided tour - you'll see in the centre of the picture the yellow coloured doors with what looks like a "T" on them, that was the only entrance to the disco. These doors were at the end of a wee corridor just off the main outside entrance area and opposite to where you'd hand your coats in.

There is a serving hatch next to the doors where they'd put on hot snacks halfway through the evening - lots of paper plates involved!

On the right hand side of the photo, out of view, was the main bar, that is also where the windows onto the Esplanade were.

To the left, just off of shot, if you went down a couple of steps, that would take you to the dancefloor and the DJ's corner area.

Behind where the photographer took the picture was a seating area on a raised floor in the corner.

They also laid on a bus back into Dundee city centre at the end of the night.

If I was asked to name 1 track that summed up The Sands on a Sunday, it would have to be the track "Shante" by Mass Production.

There are other images of The Sands to be found in my September 2008 Archives.

Photograph by Nicoll Russell Studios.

THE SANDS AND STEVIE WONDER - 1980

As I've mentioned on Retro before, Sunday nights for my mob was "Sands" night, where we'd go to get our weekly dose of funk and soul.

Here's a wee story to accompany one such visit in September 1980.

Every Thursday I used to get 4 music papers - the NME, Sounds, Black Echoes and Melody Maker. This particular Thursday I read in all 4, brilliant reviews on Stevie Wonder's shows at Wembley Arena. He was playing 6 shows there and this very same weekend was to be his finale. However, it also stated elsewhere in the papers that the shows were sold out.

When I got my wages next day on Friday, these reviews were still running around in my mind, and so on the spur of the moment I made a decision to hop on a train to London that night. Keeping in mind that the shows were sold out, I opted for a single fare to the capital with intent to hitch-hike back because I thought I'd need all the dosh I had to purchase a ticket from a tout. So, when I arrived in London I thought I'd try my luck at the ticket agencies first just in case someone had a spare, and after searching all day, I did indeed eventually get one from an agent who had a ticket returned that day. Delighted at having beaten the touts, I made my way to Wembley Arena for the show. It really was as brilliant as the reviews had said it was.

After the show, my mind then turned to the Sands. I now had spare cash because I didn't splash out on tout prices and I discovered I had enough to get back to Dundee. However, that was going to leave me skint, so what I did was keep a bit of Sands money aside and got the train only to Newcastle. I arrived in Newcastle mid morning and then hitched back from there. Did it in 3 lifts. Got back into Dundee late afternoon, had a bite to eat, a quick wash & brush up then off to the Ferry to meet up with my mob at Brookes. When they asked where I had been all weekend, and I told them, they just burst out laughing. I did that kind of thing regularly back then!

Anyway, made it to the Sands that Sunday as normal. To top it off, they played "Masterblaster" that night, and so obviously I had to get up to dance to it, just 24 hours after watching it live!

Incidentally, I've still got my ticket, programme and the original cuttings that triggered the weekend. One of the reviews had the amusing headline "Rockin Stevie plays a blinder", so thought I'd include it here.

Photo by DC Thomson.Tints by GG

THE REZILLOS - MARRYAT HALL - 1978

 

Here's a crackin' picture of The Rezillos doing their thing down at the Marryat Hall in 1978.
This band of B-movie punks changed their line-up around this period so I'm not 100% certain who was in the group on this particular occasion, except for Fay Fyfe of course who is definitely out front wearing the silver gear.
To go with the snap, I also have this ad from back then which not only informs us that the Marryat Hall gig took place on Monday 21st August 1978, but earlier that day, the band made an appearance at Bruce's Record Shop in Reform Street, where they signed autographs and met their fans.
There was a large queue to see them at Bruce's and a good turn out for the gig too.
Their well known single "Top Of The Pops" had just been newly released at the time.

Incidentally, also on that evening dropping some vinyl was Deepwater Disco.

Photography by Mike Gallacher.

THE MARRYAT HALL

The Caird Hall's wee sister next door. Room for around 400/500.

In the mid 70's this place was bustling with Soul crews who organised Northern Soul All-nighters. The Marryat then gained quite a reputation for being one of the better venues on the Soul circuit and was visited by enthusiasts from all over the UK.
The advert is one example of the kind of thing they used to put on.
This was in March 1976 - an Alldayer presented by the Scottish Soul Society.
No mention of Northern Soul for this one and with the main attraction being The Miami-Detroit Roadshow, it may have been a funk/disco/r&b kind of session.

Moving into the late 70's - early 80's, the Marryat hosted a spate of indie and rock gigs. Some of the acts that performed live were - Theatre of Hate - Echo & the Bunnymen - Girlschool - Rezillos - Hanoi Rocks, to name just a few. And finally, a wee reminder for all vinyl addicts - yes we've not been killed off just yet - there are regular Record Fairs held at the Marryat Hall too. What better way to spend your time, and dosh!!

STIFF TOUR 78 - DUNDEE UNIVERSITY #4 - WRECKLESS ERIC

The last of the University gig images from the 1978 Be Stiff Tour. The one and only, Wreckless Eric.
This was actually Eric's 2nd Stiff tour as he was on the original tour the previous year, along with Elvis Costello, Ian Dury & co.
Wreckless Eric released a belter of a single in 1977 called "Whole Wide World", a classic piece of pop produced by Nick Lowe, which has since gone on to feature in a couple of movie soundtracks.
Big thanks to Mike Gallacher for the photos.