FEATURE MIKE SCOTT
Scottish rover Mike Scott
Into the mystic
Back in the land of his ancestors, Waterboy MIKE SCOTT is fulfilling his spiritual needs out in the wilds. But, as he told Alastair Mabbot, he has no plans to sacrifice rock’n‘roll yet.
hen that ancient roving urge
habitat. the only method understood by Mike Scott. it seems. is to take the most extreme option available. To get
back ‘into the mainstream‘ after a couple of
pastoral years in Ireland — his ["1'3'lzcl'nzmz'sBlues days — he threw himself into the throbbing metropolitan bustle of New York. Tired of that trip. he settled into a fishing village in Grampian.
For the last few months. Scott has lived in Findhorn, famous for the religious retreat locatedjust outside the village and the oversized fruit ‘n‘ veg that flourish in its devotional conditions.
Scott had known of the place for ten years. but it was only when he attended a one-week introductory workshop in 1992 that he decided he wanted to move there. He doesn‘t actually live in the Findhorn Foundation‘s 30-year-old community of caravans and wooden houses — and his commitments in the music business preclude him from becoming a full member — but he’s thrown himself into the life ofthe place.
Most Friday nights. there is a community concert and rock star Scott has found his talents in demand as a supporting musician. backing locally-based singers. ‘And I‘m getting involved with the recording studio that they have at the
awakes and calls for a change of
Foundation,’ he says. adding vaguely. ‘in some g
sort ofexecutive role.”
The Findhorn Foundation. founded in 1962 by Peter Caddy and Dorothy Maclean. is non- denominational. but there is a core around which people of different faiths can unite. ‘Speaking for myself.‘ explains Scott. emphasising that he‘s not a spokesman for the organisation, ‘what I’ve taken from it is the philosophy that God is in everybody and I can access that in myself, or that I can see God in other people. And that‘s what I‘m working with personally: seeing God in everything. Kind of like Jab Wobble‘s record.’
It transpires that Wobble. with his growing spiritual concerns. is one of Scott‘s favourite listening pleasures these days. along with Kate Bush. lan McNabb (‘the tracks with Crazy Horse are brilliant‘). Enigma. Michael Marra. Prince and Julian Cope.
Talk of Archdrude Cope. and his obsession
14 The List 12—18 August 1994