Tunstall performs an acoustic set for Radio 1’s Colin Murray as part of the station’s Big Weekend
Tunstall. Growing tip in St Andrews with adoptive parents - she recently made contact with her half-Chinese birth mother but her lrish biological father remains untraced — she enjoyed a supportive upbringing and was for a while shacked up with Ian Anderson. better known in Scottish music circles as Pip Dylan. brother of Kenny (King Creosote) and Gordon (Lone Pigeon) of Fence Collective infamy. When the pair's relationship faltered. Katie took it upon herself to take her music out to the general public. After sundry higher educational stints she ended up taking her show to London. the route so many artists try to resist.
‘I would have loved to stay in Scotland.‘ she admits. ‘It was with a certain amount of pain that I left and I felt defeated somehow because I just played and played. When I moved to Edinburgh it was incredibly difficult to get gigs. partly because I was a girl. It was all indie boy rock bands and people didn't know what to do with slightly prog. female-fronted trio that played mainstream music. I remember Vic Galloway [who was a friend from the early Fence days] coming to one of the gigs l was like. “Vic! Fucking play me on the radio!" He was like. “No. I can‘t. It‘s too accessible. My show is about playing stuff that can't get elsewhere on radio." When I speak to him now I’m like. “OK. you were right.”
Just try to find a station now that doesn’t have singles ‘Suddenly I See‘ and 'Black Horse and the (‘herry 'l‘ree‘ on heavy rotation. Her music. she freely admits. is ‘unashamedly mainstream‘. But it was cutting edge enough to garner a Mercury Music Prize nomination and a Q Award for 'Black Horse . . .‘
t'p against ()asis. Coldplay. James Blunt and [72 for best single. Tunstall was unsurprisineg nonchalant about the whole thing. She admits to wearing her high heels that day. as she knew she wouldn‘t be getting up to collect anything.
‘ln 45 minutes I met Coldplay. the Gallagher Brothers. Yoko Ono. Jimmy Page. Damon Albarn and the Prodigy. who turned out to be massive fans! Keith Flint was going [adopts growa lissex drawl] “Ain't she lovely. ain‘t she just fucking lovely'.’ Love your album." You know you're doing something right when the
20 THE LIST 5') ‘.' NU; 2:)05:
Prodigy are into your singer/songwriter album.‘
But things have come full circle. The warm glow supplied by her newfound rock icon pals was momentarily replaced by some familiar faces. After the many moons spent chittering round the fire with the Anderson brothers. Katie is back. supplying vocals for KC Rules ()K. the breakthrough album by King Creosote.
‘I have been so influenced and inspired by Kenny's attitude.‘ she says. laughing at the thought of herself down among the Fence Collective mob. ‘lt‘s been a beautiful reunion musically coming back to him.‘
While a part of her will always remain in the
Scotland‘s North East — manifested here. of
course. in the vision of her parents as they show up at the front door of the bus — she‘s preparing to turn her attentions to America. Tunstall spent time studying music at Kent College in Connecticut and has since expressed a hankering to return. She obviously feels at least a little part of her music was born and nurtured there. and she’ll spend the first half of next year proffering her wares up to that most fickle of audiences. Franz and Travis succeeded where others floundered and. given that her own take on rock‘n‘roll comes in somewhere between Fleetwood Mac. Radiohead and Joni Mitchell. chances are she‘ll be clutched to the nation's collected bosom like a puppy on Christmas morn.
So time is up. the sneakers are pulled back on and she makes a B-line for her folks. but not before revelling a little in the joys of being — for a debutante in the pop game at least — old.
‘I get the feeling people want me to go. "AAAAARRRRRGGGGHHH! FUCKING HELL" and fall over. If I were 23 I’d probably be in rehab after if I had a mediocre record. But I’ve had time for my tastes to develop and to grow up. basically. One of the most important things is working out what I don’t like. People ask. “Has it sunk in yet?" It can't sink in because I‘m in it. You either do it yourself or watch other people do it.’
Barrowland, Glasgow, Fri 4 and Sat 5 Nov; Corn Exchange, Edinburgh, Sun 6 Nov and Edinburgh’s Hogmanay at Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh, Sat 31 Dec.
HEDGE YOUR BETS
We rate the chances of various Fence Collectees ‘doing a Tunstall’ - ie hitting the big time, shifting shedloads of records and being championed by Terry Wogan.
I King Creosote
He's the overlord of all things Fencular. and Kenny Anderson's latest album. KC Rules OK. was his first to be released on a major label. A buffed-up thing of melodious. folky
wonder. it was recorded with Mancunian psych- noodlers the Earlies. met with universal acclaim and now only needs airplay to make that commercial breakthrough. Odds 5/1
I The Pictish Trail Johnny Lynch is Kenny Anderson's right hand man at Fence Towers. and is set to record some tunes with the Earlies himself. A man with strummy melody flowing through his veins.
he is perhaps a little too maudlin for mass consumption, more fool the masses. Odds 10/1
I UNPOC Already signed to Domino. Tom Bauchop has played at a Franz Ferdinander wedding. so he's within at least bouquet-tossing distance of fame. His music is full of fragile Brian Wilson-esque
moments. but he's distinctly not arsed about the
big time. Odds 25; 1
I HMS Ginatore The glamorous face of Fence. Jenny Casino delivers occasional snippets of understated and coy sea shanty beauty. A reluctance to play live outSIde Fife's borders and
an unwnlingness to take herself too seriously hamper commercial prospects. Still. she's
fantastic. Odds 33, 1
I Lone Pigeon Kenny's brother Gordon is a maverick genius. He was in a formative Beta Band (and was apparently responsible for some of their best stuff). but since then his approach has
been scattershot — moments of jaw—dropping melancholic brilliance amidst some distinctly uncommercral madness. Odds 50,1 1
I Things in Herds More slow melancholy. this time from the Brighton outpost of the collective. Pete Lush and Miss Ping make beautiful. sleepy leSIC. Not exactly the stuff of Top of the Pops
appearances. but great nevertheless. Odds 100/ 1