Features

Seonaid Aitken

in the mood for love
on Valentine's Day

Usually we introduce our interviewee with ‘singer’, musician, DJ. In the case of Seonaid Aitken, we require all of these – and many more. more… “Seonaid Aitken”

Bis

major reconnection
with Manda Rin and Sci-Fi Steven

‘This Is Fake DIY’ – less a tune from 90s popsters bis and more of a manifesto. Now they’re back and while still doing it themselves, they have a little help.

Thanks to a chance meeting with a local record label, ‘Slight Disconnects’, the trio’s first new recording since 2003, will appear on Last Night From Glasgow, a not-for-profit crowd-funded label.

And although a far cry from the major label days, it’s a step back to when they were famously the first ‘unsigned’ band to play Top of the Pops.

“It’s certainly DIY again in terms of recording, it’s been a no-budget affair with everything done at home,” agrees ‘Sci fi’ Steven Clark, who founded bis with brother John (Disco) and school friend Amanda Mackinnon (aka Manda Rin).

When ‘Kandy Pop’ was on TV and radio across the UK the Glasgow-based threesome were with indie label Chemikal Underground – itself something of a homespun operation – but soon moved on.

“It was just amazing to be endorsed by the Beastie Boys, who were and still are total idols of ours,” says Clark of their time on the New York rap trio’s Grand Royal imprint. “But though we were extremely hot property for almost a year, once we had failed to make a truly worldwide breakthrough we were downgraded to an obligation (by the Beasties’ parent company).

Since the band split in 2003 the brothers Clark have worked as Dirty Hospital and Batteries, while Mackinnon has been most active musically, recording with The Kitchen and solo as well as a stint as a Radio Scotland DJ, and running her music merch company, Wee Badgers,.

“I feel we’re very privileged to have had the label experiences that we’ve had,” she says of their time in the spotlight.* “Not many bands get to be wined and dined, or flown the the USA, picked up in a limo then stay in hotels like the Sunset Marquis,” she says.

However, there is a downside to (near) fame and fortune, as Clark recalls: ”We still had good times but, without being too cynical, we were chewed up, spat out and left with unrecoverable debt.”

Those good times included providing the theme music to the Powderpuff Girls cartoon, and selling 100,000 of their debut album in a week in Japan.

The band are wary of the machinations of the industry – but happily, they are well-versed in self-sufficiency.

“It’s easier to do more DIY recordings these days with how advanced technology has become,” agrees Mackinnon – aka Manda Rin. “If it wasn’t for this then we’d have struggled for budget, time, and being in the same room, as John’s in Inverness,” John now contributing to the creative process remotely.

While the band worked together in five-piece Data Panik, and sporadically appeared for bis reunion shows since 2007, there has been no full collection of new material since their split in 2003. However, their new label focused them – as Clark says: “After examining our collective idea pot, we realised that a short, snappy new-wave pop album was how we wanted to re-introduce ourselves.”

That is ‘Sight Disconnects’, the 10 songs capturing both that classic bis energy but at the same time sounding more mature. “Growing up means we don’t have to care what anyone thinks,” Clark insists, “and have made a total pop record that hopefully has the essence of what made us unique in the first place.”

They’ll not be giving up the day jobs though. “It’s really just a hobby that pays a wee bit here and there and maybe funds a new microphone or a synth repair!” he laughs. “We’ve all been working jobs for at least three times as long as the band was our full-time employment.”

A sobering thought for fans who have also grown up, but also the chance to relive their formative years with the new record, and also reconvene for a string of live dates in their home city.

Although, the shows probably comprise as long a ‘tour’ as they’re likely to undertake – the band playing three smaller venues in a row, with fans able to buy a ‘bis pass’ to take them to the venues.

But despite the nostalgic feel, this is all about the new record. As Mackinnon says: “We get lots of offers to play era-themed festivals or all-dayers but accept rarely.

“We’re having one more go at staying relevant!”

‘Slight Disconnects’ launches on February 15th with three shows in Glasgow – more at bisnation.com.

This article originally appeared online in the Glasgow South and Eastwood Extra.

Making movies of life

with Horse Mcdonald
with (bracketed)

Regular readers will know we like to offer celebrity health advice, so when Horse Mcdonald admits to suffering a “hideous cold”, we have to ask how she got through her gig the previous night in Lanark. “I’ve skills from singing all those years so I picked my way through,” she confesses.

Playing for more than two hours can take its toll. However, the Fife-born singer’s followers put the ‘fan’ in fanatic’. “The minute I walked on the stage, people were screaming and yelling – I put my heart into it, but if I’m not singing as well as I’d like, they don’t notice”.

Next stop is Great Yarmouth, with KT Tunstall also on the bill – who revealed recently her preference for (superpriced) superfood manuka honey in the fight to relieve tired vocal chords. The two may have a backstage disagreement on that score. “The only thing that touches your chords is steam,” she insists. “I won’t even have menthol –plus it doesn’t cost a penny apart from boiling a kettle!”

This tip comes second-hand from Cyndi Lauper, who Horse met three years ago. “She steams before and after, but also does a vocal warm up and warm down – I’m usually running about getting things ready to go as I don’t have a big crew running about for me…. it’s tough at the bottom!”

This (enforced) independent spirit also extends to her record label, the real subject of our chat. The classic album ‘God’s Home Movie’ is getting a re-release, 25 years on. But there’s more cause for celebration than a mere anniversary. Out of print for 15 years, the record has finally been wrested back from the original record label, after much wrangling with the beancounters of the music business.

“I’d say ‘these are my babies’ and (the label’s lawyer) would say ‘So how much you going to give us?’” The demands left the singer exasperated. “I went away angry every time.”

But the imminent anniversary prompted one final push. “People would ask ‘where is it?’ – these songs are soundtrack to people’s lives – there are grandchildren coming to shows that listen to that album.”

The reunion with her master tapes was, therefore, an emotional one. “When the originals arrived I sat in the living room for an hour crying my eyes out because of the joy of hearing that album again.”

The CDs should be around for Xmas and then a vinyl edition in January – in time for Celtic Connections, but more of that later.

And a download version should follow. Horse is, like many musicians over the age of 16, in two minds about digital music. “I was asked a long time ago when tech was beginning: ‘isn’t the internet going to be great?’ but all I could see was going from being a drop in the ocean to a speck in the universe!”

“But today’s tech is wonderful,” she counters. “When we were young you could only go back so far, but kids now can access music from generations ago.

“Or maybe that’s what happens when you get older – you’ve not got the time or energy to explore.”

Maybe, though Horse isn’t lacking in energy, which given her recent diary, is just as well. “Constantly spinning plates,” she’s also an ambassador for music therapy charity Nordoff Robbins, and finds making a difference to lives ‘thrilling”.

And sees her add another string to her bow – even if it’s more work for herself.

“There’s a cycle – make an album, tour, make an album… it was my wife who said ‘you should diversify, how about a play of your life?’ ‘Me, act?’ Anyhow, it grew wings, or legs…” A year forward, ‘Careful,’ written with Lynn Ferguson, was playing at the Edinburgh Fringe. “So I can add actor to my CV,” she smiles.

“This feels to me like a platform to move on again,” she enthuses, “I’m so excited about writing this next bit!”

But first, ‘God’s Home Movie’ at Celtic Connections. “We’ve got some very different musicians that I’d not normally have – we’ll run through the albumin order, but there’s a handful of things that are going to be incredible – but hopefully not too different that the fans will go ‘whit?’” This carrot of special guests my standard ‘dream collaboration’ question, though she reels off Billy Mackenzie and John Martyn as two who would have otherwise been on her wishlist. She’s also sent an invite to the album’s lyricist, Angela McAlinden – “she is Bernie, I am Elton!”

The gig and reissue tie in perfectly, as does another anniversary. though it will surprise and probably terrify many that Horse recently turned 60. ‘Outed’ in a birthday message by her pal Lorraine Kelly, the cliche that age is just a number applies more than ever.

“I think I look and feel better now than I did 30 years ago, Back in the day, people at 60 were at the end of their lives. I have no intention to stop any time soon.

‘God’s Home Movie’ is re-released in December. More at horsemcdonald.com.

The reissued ‘God’s Home Movie’ is out now. This article originally appeared in the Fife Herald.