Do you love live music?
Are you (or were you), like me, a regular gig-goer, and some of your best live experiences were in the small venues where you can see the whites of the eyes of the bands?
Did you attend club-sized gigs in the late seventies or eighties early on in a bands career?
Do you just like music and are interested in seeing pictures and other memorabilia from club gigs around Scotland?
If you answer yes to any of these questions, then there is a book for you in the off-ing. Read on to find out more, but consider as you read, the success of this venture is down to you… and you…and you…Don’t just read this, think “that sounds great”, then continue surfing the net or scrolling through facebook. Stop and click on the 16 Years link to add your name to those who are going to make this happen…
Scottish Club Gigs – Relived
I caught up with Chris Bee who had the initial idea, started a Facebook page, Scottish Club gigs – relived, to provide a platform and started gathering content for the book, which is now at the stage of ensuring sufficient funds are available to produce the book
Chris Bee
Chris, you are currently crowdfunding to raise the money required to publish your book “16 Years – Gigs in Scotland 1974 – 1990”. I’ve been following your journey to this stage on your Facebook page “Scottish Club Gigs – relived”
Tell me, what was your inspiration to start this project?
My Facebook page ‘Scottish Club Gigs-Relived’ was started specifically to see if I could source the right material for a photo-book.
I was inspired by The Cramps/The Fall tour playing the Stagecoach Hotel in the village of Collin, a few miles east of Dumfries, one Sunday night in 1980.
Otherwise, a pal had a frame full of tickets and photos of gigs he’d been to, I liked the look of the montage, and it went from there. I wanted to produce something which looks good and is accessible, and that folk would like.
The very mention of The Cramps has me hooked. I too had a big frame of tickets on my bedroom wall, as I’m sure many of us did.
What to expect from the book…
As a music fan who attended many small gigs in the period your book covers, I am excited by the prospect of looking back at some of these gigs, so I’ve already pledged for a copy, what can I (or indeed anyone who pledges for a copy) expect from the book?
A 500-page photo-book containing over 2,000 live gig photos, and memorabilia (tickets, posters, autographed material, set lists etc) largely from private collectors. Thus, much of it is unpublished.
It’s a comprehensive survey of Scotland, during a key period (1974-1990). I wanted it to start pre-punk, and finish in 1990 when I lost interest in what was happening and stopped going to gigs for a while. It’s arranged alphabetically by town/venue and contains photos and memorabilia across the spectrum, from household names to backroom gigs.
I wanted most of the images to be amateur/unpublished crowd shots, because these are the ones which will be lost to us when people move-house, die and so on. I love their immediacy, placing you right in the action, and the energy and atmosphere of these shots in many cases outweighs technical shortcomings.
I wondered what it was like to stand in front of Malcolm Owen in full flight, for example, and now I know. I also asked selected pro-photographers to contribute, and they all agreed. I think the different types of image complement each other very effectively.
Research…
Were there any wow moments during your research and collation of information, things that took your breath away, if so tell me about a couple?
Yes. Early on, I got in touch with Ross who was one of the first wave of punks. He and his pals were very unusual in that they took turns to bring a camera to gigs, which could be hazardous.
Thus, we have images of Damned/Dead Boys tour in 77, Banshees, Slits, Stranglers, Vibrators, Adverts, Mekons, Gen X etc. I knew at that point that we had something precious to hang the whole project on, and give it the kudos required.
Likewise, when I went to see Jim and was given access to his incredible visual archive of the early-mid 80s period…off we went!
Do you have any favourite gigs that are covered in the book? Which ones and why?
There were key gigs/tours that I knew I had to cover, such as Sex Pistols’ only Scottish date (Dundee Tech, Oct 76), The White Riot tour, The Clash/Suicide/Coventry Automatics, Buzzcocks/Joy Division, The Cramps/The Fall, Sonic Youth at Daddy Warbuck’s. (TGQ – I think we get the picture some legendary names/gigs/tours in there…)
Happily, one way or another we have done so and it’s fortuitous that these are some of my favourite bands. To unearth photos of others such as Birthday Party, Virgin Prunes, Ants, Bow Wow Wow etc was even better.
Crowdfunder
I’ve had a couple of people mention to me being stung by pledge/crowdfunding projects in the past and this puts them off laying out cash up front. What would you say to them regarding this project?
That’s most unfortunate. In our case, I’ve chosen a reputable CF platform to handle it and was advised to make it an ‘all or nothing’ scenario. Thus, if we don’t reach the full 18k it will require to cover the bare bones of production costs, then all monies will be refunded to people’s credit cards and I will have to think of a Plan B.
I would certainly consider sponsorship, and/or relevant advertising, but such pledges would have to be discussed and then the funds deposited onto the platform or we will have to start from scratch.
I’m aware it’s an ambitious project but to my mind it has to be comprehensive, and the book is definitely more than the sum of its parts. I think to separate Glasgow from Edinburgh, Paisley from Greenock etc, weakens the concept, a key small venue like the Stagecoach Hotel near Dumfries encapsulates what the whole book is about.
Why sign up?
There isn’t long left for people to pledge and pre-order the book. What is your elevator pitch to encourage people to sign up for a copy of the book?
I would reinforce the message that this may well be a one-chance-only scenario. Otherwise, all of these photos and rare items will return to shoeboxes/albums, and be lost to the public. It has to be done now- even as I’ve been putting the book together over the last few months we have lost key contributors (150 have given us material) and more venues are being razed.
Clearly, it’s not ideal to be funding it in the summer, but a book like this has to be on shelves by December to be viable (for the Christmas market).
Thanks to Chris for taking the time out to share his thoughts with me.
If you haven’t already done so, give the Facebook page a follow, but more importantly, if you want to see this book published, head to the pledge page and pre-order your own copy: