The Supernaturals

You might imagine that there’s something of a Britpop revival going on, with Oasis reforming, and Pulp going one better with new material.

But one of the era’s less well-known acts have actually been back together for the past decade, and have a new album to go with a clutch of live dates.

And while not every music fan will remember The Supernaturals straight away, they will immediately recall their biggest hit, ‘Smile’, which as well as hitting the UK top 10, acted as an earworm jingle for a bank called… well, it’s not for us to provide free advertising.

Anyway, the Glasgow-formed act release new album ‘Show Tunes’ with digital single ‘Don’t Let The Past Catch Up With You’ preceding live shows including, aptly, one at their home city’s Pearce Institute on May 31 as part of Glasgow’s 850th birthday celebrations.
Keeping that theme, the album is released by Last Night From Glasgow – the label having already re-issued their 1997 debut ‘It Doesn’t Matter Anymore’ on its 25th anniversary – with the new 14-track vinyl long-player pressed at Scotland’s only vinyl pressing plant, Seabass in East Lothian.

After releasing their third LP in 2002, the band entered a decade-long hiatus before reuniting in 2012. The group have released three albums since reforming.

The current line up sees singer James McColl and keyboard player David Currie joined by original bassist Mark Gurthie and drummer Gavin Crawford plus Joe Greatorex, of Colin’s Godson and The Hector Collectors.

<a href="https://thesupernaturalsofficial.bandcamp.com/album/show-tunes">Show Tunes by The Supernaturals</a>

In an interview with The Herald, Currie said: “James (McColl) has written all the songs on it. We basically started off with an iPad and drum machine and built songs up from there. I think the fans will really like what they hear when it’s released”.
Currie described the album as “a little bit darker, many of the lyrics talk about life and about things like that happening but recording it, I have to say, has been quite a relaxed process.”

The album’s mood will also have been influenced by the passing in 2022 of the band’s original guitarist Derek McManus who, the band say, “always encouraged us to write, what he called “Show Tunes” – the album, and its title, a fitting tribute.

‘Show Tunes’ is out now via Last Night From Glasgow. This article originally appeared in the Edinburgh News.