BIS
King Tut's. Glasgow. Thu 1 May
Bis are splitting up. The band. you will remember. rocketed to fame and bore the brunt of a vitriolic backlash in the music press in the time it takes most groups to record that difficult second album. all on the back of a genre-busting mess of music that was. for the most part. downright peculiar. Now. the trio of Amanda McKinnon and brothers John and Steven Clarke are keen to put their strange career as Bis behind them with a final tour.
‘We've been talking about splitting up for a wee while.‘ McKinnon explains. ‘The main reason is that no matter how good the music we're doing now is. people listen to it and say: “That was good. who was it?" and as soon as they find out it's Bis. they‘re not interested. What kind of future do you have when that happens?‘
‘We nearly split up around the second album.‘ Steven Clarke continues. ‘ but then we got over that particular hurdle, and then nine- tenths of the purpose of the band was to prove the people who hated us wrong. That‘s why we didn't put any boundaries on how we should sound, and that cost us. because the more records we made, the less our fanbase understood what we were doing. and it was hard to get a new fanbase because of the name. The big days of Bis have been and gone, so we thought it was best to wipe the slate clean and start afresh. I don‘t want to be playing ‘Kandy Pop‘ when I‘m 35 on some reunion tour!‘
Not that Bis are bitter. ‘We can‘t really regret a lot of that stuff.‘ Amanda says. ‘It was the early years of our life. and we lived more in those years than some people do in their whole lifetimes.‘
‘l'm proud of what we did.’ Clarke agrees. “We‘re probably the last genuinely independent thing you‘ll see on Top of the Pops. And I think we‘ll be retrospectively rediscovered. I‘m not being bigheaded. but our sound was really fucking weird. It was unique. It would be nice to be like one of those obscure no- wave bands who sold about five records in their lifetime, and now you have to buy their records on Ebay for £100.‘
Bis fans needn‘t start scouring the internet for rarities just yet. however. The three are already working on material for a new group. tentatively titled Dot Dot Dash. and the fruits of side-projects Dirty Hospital and the Kitchen have been met with the critical acclaim that Bis were denied.
‘It’ll be great to go back to making music together without thinking about the commercial impact of doing something.‘ Clarke admits. ‘Now, it‘s that old cliche: we‘re making music for ourselves. and, you know. if people like it that‘s great.‘ (Jack Mottram)
They flourished in the face of critical snobbery
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~ '.‘ r. . THE LIST 47