SCOTTISH BANDS
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DJQ
It‘s been a cracking year for Glasgow-based D] Q. otherwise known as Paul Flynn. with his new take on disco cut-up house. He‘s been DJing at clubs around the world. from Singapore to Australia to New York — but strangely the ex-ceiling fitter has yet to play a single date in Edinburgh. Remix projects included Mogwai and Urban Soul. but had to be cut back while he built his own studio. Now it is complete. and a single on Go Beat is in the pipeline for release early in I999. For the next four months. Q intends to con- centrate on another album for Filter records and his fortnightly residency at The Arches. (TD)
Slam
The first people to run an organised. legal. all- night rave in Scotland. Stuart McMillan and Orde Meikle were the face of Glasgow club- bing for ten years. running nights at the Sub Club and Arches. Their [)Jing skills are now in demand around the globe. they were the peo- ple who discovered Daft Punk and. for the last two years. they‘ve programmed the dance tent at T in the Park. They‘ve since been in the stu- dio involved in the recording of a techno-style album as Pressurefunk and are about to embark on a more housey outing as Counterplan. Both have albums due out next year on their own internationally successful
label Soma. They intend to spend the first half
of 1999 recording a new Slam album with live bass and drums — and even some singing — before stepping up to playing live. (TD)
14 THE lIST 17 Dec 1998—7 Jan 1999
The Supernaturals
Defiantly uncool and completely unbothered about the fact. The Supernaturals fly the flag for pop music in Scotland. Scenes come and scenes go but — like taxes and death. only more enjoyable — The Supernaturals always seem to be around. It‘s a relatively rare month that they don‘t play a gig and their hard work is paying off with dates at increasingly larger venues as well as very respectable sales for their two albums It Doesn't Matter Anymore and A Tune A Day. March sees a new single from the album and another support tour with their soulmate in mischief. Robbie Williams. (JT)
Texas
Winner‘s of the 1997 Lazarus-like Miraculous Resurrection Award. Texas saw their previously ailing career hit unimagined heights with their White 0;: BlomIe album. A mix of blue-eyed soul. nods towards hip hop and a repositioning of the band‘s image led to hit single after hit single. heavy radio rotation and a sell-out world tour. Two years ago. Texas couldn‘t get arrested. Now. Shirley Manson aside. Sharleen Spiteri shifts more records than any other Scottish woman. The band are currently at work mixing a follow- up which should see the light of day around about March. A tour around the album is expected. (JT)
Tommy Smith Tommy Smith is Scotland‘s leading jar/.7. musician by some distance. as well as the
Clockwise from top left: Tommy Smith, D] Q, The Supernaturals. Slam. Urusei Yatsura and
Texas
most productive. His saxophone playing alone earns that distinction. quite apart from his exceptional talents as a composer (jazz and classical). and his imaginative direction of the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra. Smith plans to move ahead on several fronts next year. with a blues album with guitarist John Scolield and a classical disc with pianist Murray McLachlan both due. and a Scottish premiere of his Third Saxophone (‘oneerto scheduled for the autumn. He‘ll be touring Europe with the Duke Ellington Orchestra in April. and expect further devel- opments with his own bands and the SNJO as well. (KM)
Urusei Yatsura
Along with The Delgados and Mogwai. Urusei Yatsura were at the forefront of Glasgow‘s underground musical renaissance in the mid-90s. The quartet are named after a Japanese cartoon which has a number of translations including ‘noisy aliens‘. They look to science fiction. Japanese culture and their own fertile imaginations for lyrical and visual material. and to left—field US guitar manglers like Sonic Youth for musical inspira- tion. An explosive live band. they literally brought the house down last year at a Spanish festival when a collapsing lighting rig nearly killed them. but their charmed existence con— tinues as they prepare to record their next batch of material. All being well. a new single should appear in May with an album later in the year. (FS)
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