For one of Scotland’s top live acts to celebrate their 10-year anniversary by taking Xmas off, seems a little unconventional. However, when you learn that the band in question is 18-legged ska machine the Amphetameanies, you realise that you’re not exactly dealing with the norm.
But yes, the 9-piece (and even the number of members is unpredictable) Glasgow-based ska troupe are indeed spending the festive season with their feet up, for the first time in a decade.
Perhaps they’re due a rest. After all, the band originally formed for a one-off gig, a fundraiser for striking Liverpool dockers, at the (old) 13th Note. And it was indeed a bit of fun, some Specials and Damned cover versions in a set played by 8 people from bands such as The Stanleys, Pink Kross and The Karelia.
Of course, the few songs they’d written especially for the show went down so well, the rest is history. Sell-out shows at King Tuts, opening T in the Park, touring Europe, and now, 10 years on, a new album, Now That’s What I Call The Amphetameanies. Just in time for Christmas.
“Yes, we’re celebrating our 10 year anniversary by having a holiday!” laughs bassist Gordon Davidson. There is a more practical reason for their missing out on the chance of a festive knees-up. - trombonist Lindsey works for Ann Summers. “Christmas is their busiest time - the things she could tell you,” laughs Gordon.
Lindsey isn’t the only member juggling day jobs with the band. Singer Stan drives trucks for a living - though he can’t be persuaded to indulge in a busman’s holiday when on the tourbus. “When he’s in the band he’s up the back with a bottle of whisky!”
Stan’s look - that of a younger and slimmer Buster Bloodvessel - is perhaps one of the few conventional images in the band. “Most ska bands we meet are all 40 year old guys with no hair and a slight weight problem, with the same records at home and all working roughly the same jobs… the Meanies would never socialise together if they weren’t in the Meanies!” Even the fact that there are several women in the band goes against the ska stereotype, as keyboard player Helen Lloyd confirms.
“I can keep up with them fine!” she laughs. “It’s like a Variety Sunshine tour - you get to go bizarre places with a big group of people - it’s like a grownup school trip.”
Helen’s other role is band archivist - a natural choice for the role given that her day job is librarian at Glasgow University. Among the website documents on display at www.amphetameanies.co.uk is their manifesto, which states that they should “have a laugh / start a Two-Tone Revival / make a fortune.”
The latter of these is still ‘pending’, hence the dayjobs most band members keep on. Although, a couple are, conveniently, working as full-time musicians in their own right - Belle and Sebastian’s Mick Cooke, and Bis / Data Panik guitarist John Disco who currently runs a recording studio with brother Steven. “Mick’s got the keys for the B&S studio and John runs 7a - so we can work from 10pm-2am,” Gordon reveals. Though the ‘have a laugh’ edict can get in the way. “There’ll be lots of nonsense - which is why the album took us a year, it was recorded on a budget and in half-hour bursts!”
For many members, the ‘meanies are a break for the day job - even for Mick. “Stuart Murdoch writes most of the Belle and Sebastian songs - Mick does a lot of the arranging but with us he gets to write songs that aren’t about being sad and drinking tea.”
The songwriting credits also detail a former member - previously in John Disco’s guitar slot was one Alex Huntley, who following a namechange left to join the rock’n’roll circus with Franz Ferdinand. His contributions include the ‘original’ version of Franz track This Boy.
It was Mr Kapranos who initially backed up Gordon’s suggestion that they form a ska band as a fun antidote to the rather serious Glasgow scene of the mid-’90s. “Alex just wanted to be Jerry Dammers from the Specials - in a suit, doing that threatening thing with minor chords.” Sadly Alex’s ‘other job’ was making him late for Amphetameanies practices. His departure was on good terms though - according to Gordon “he gets us the odd guestlist and send us food parcels, and in return we don’t release any of the photos.” He alludes to a tour snap of Alex clad in “a pair of really tight rubbish green briefs”. “When the times get hard Max Clifford’ll get the phone call, but we’re still friends so that’d be a terrible thing to do,” he says, giving an evil cackle.
Despite the lack of an Xmas show, things should work out nicely. The album has just secured UK-wide distribution, with new-fangled ways of getting hold of it - even as a download. However, there’ll be a vinyl version - as Gordon says, “you can’t beat the smell of 12” vinyl,” says Gordon.
And with the band launching the album properly next year, they’ll eventually gig with a show at King Tuts in March celebrating “10 years of anarchy, chaos and perspiration”.
(This article originally appeared in the Evening Times, January 2007)
//Stuart McHugh