Penelope Keithstreet RIP

Fans of classic 70s and 80s TV comedy were saddened recently by the passing of screen legend Dame Penelope Keith.  Keith was best known for playing Richard Briers & Felicity Kendal’s snooty Surbiton neighbour Margo Leadbetter in “The Good Life”, and impoverished County aristocrat Audrey fforbes-Hamilton in “To The Manor Born”, and she also appeared extensively in film and radio.

Ultimately, though, Penelope Keith was an old-school thespian with roots in the theatre, and could be found treading the boards even at the peak of her TV fame. 

Closer to home, Dame Penelope may also be remembered for her controversial attempt to open a café in Avoch, near her Fortrose holiday home in the Black Isle. 

Sadly Dame Penelope’s demise eclipsed that of her cousin from Stornoway – a notable actress in her own right – who passed away the same day.

Unlike her mainland relative, Penelope Keithstreet had not (yet) had Damehood conferred upon her in the official sense – but she was nevertheless known as “Thon Dame Penelope Keithstreet” around the town.

Although she always claimed to have been born on Matheson Road, Penelope’s surname was a bit of a giveaway as to her humbler origins.

Keithstreet first got the acting bug in the Niccy Drama Club, and in 1963 she joined the Royal Sheeps-Shear Company, travelling round village fanks to provide entertainment to crofters, performing various plays such as ‘King Shear’, ‘Ramlet’, ‘The Mehhhags of Fences’,  ‘All’s Well That Ends Wool’ and ‘A Mid-souming Night’s Dream’.

Her big break came in the mid 1970s BBC Alba sitcom ‘The Good Living’.  This popular show centered on a middle-class couple  ‘getting away from it all’ by packing in their high powered Comhairle chobs and re-crofting their back garden in Stornoway’s exclusive 1970s stockbroker belt (Stewart Drive). Richard Braigh-ears and Felicity Kennedyterrace played the lead characters, Tormod and Barabal Good-Living.

They were ably supported by Keithstreet, who played the part of snooty next door neighbour Marag-o Leadbetter. 

Marag-o was continually appalled by Tormod and Barabal’s agricultural efforts lowering the tone of the neighbourhood, and audiences were entertained by her tirades delivered in cut-glass upper-class Stornowegian RP: “Fleek’s sake – is it sheeps youse are at now? Yuh would think it was on the other suyde of the cattle grid youse were, ya manky bleigeards. We’re supposed to be Townies here – the creme de la crowdie – no’ fleekeen maws, sgorps an’ country lourags. Fleek off to Laxdale if youse are going to be at thon carry-on…” etc etc.

Marag-o’s long-suffering husband Ferry was played by Paul Skeddington, who later starred as beleaguered Rev Jim Hacklete in “No, Minister, We’re all Fleekeen Off To Join The Breakaway Congregation Down the Road”). 

‘The Good Living’ was hugely popular and ran for several years. The TV production actually used real crops and animals during the filming and so qualified for the Sheep Subsidy and other Agricultural grant funding. Along with the proceeds of selling the produce at local Agricultural Shows, ‘The Good Living’ generated enough income to fully fund BBC Alba for several years (£57.94).

After ‘The Good-Living’ came to an end in 1978, Keithstreet became the lead character in “To The Manor Park Born”

Here she played Audrey fforbes-Halibut, a recent widow forced to sell the ancestral family home (a posh house on Matheson Road) and move into the shed in the back garden. She played opposite Peter Bogha-glas as self-made millionaire poacher Richard de Deer (De Deer kids on he’s from Airidhbhruach in order to fit in with Leodhasach high society, but he’s really from across the Minch and his real name is Bedřich Ullapolouvice).

After “To The Manor Park Born”, although she was not quite as ubiquitous on our TV screens, Keithstreet remained constantly busy in theatre, film and radio.

One of her most critically acclaimed theatrical roles was as Lady Back-nell in the Stornoway Thespians’ 2007 production of “The Importance of Being Arnish”… in which the critics applauded her delivery of the play’s signature line “Mo chreach ‘s a’ HAAAND-BAG?”. 

She also played the title role in Radio Ranol’s popular series about a high-flying townie PR executive who retires to Lochs and ends up solving loads of murders – “Agatha Rànais”.

In later years Keithstreet bought a holiday cottage in the remote village of Milford, Surrey, where she could escape the pressures of her busy urban life in the Hebrides. 

“Oh yus, cove”, she told the Gazette in a 2009 interview, “Thon Surrey place may be on the edge of the world, but it has become one’s spiritual home, and one is very much one of the locals when one is in residence at the cottage.

I’m clerk of the Grazings Committee (which of course one had to set up and appoint oneself to – can you believe the natives didn’t have one?). One is also chair of the local Sabbath Observance Society (the bad bleigeards didn’t have one of them either) and one is constantly busy making hedge fund managers take their washing down and put their lawnmowers away on the Lord’s Day.”

“What’s more – since the bodach started taking his melodeon down to the morris dancing club, appointed himself president and made them switch over to danns a’ rathaid, they’ve had 4 schisms and the polis round twice. One honestly can’t imagine how these people managed before we arrived”

The tiny Surrey village experienced a planning controversy in 2012 when Keithstreet applied to open a petrol station on the site of a tearoom near her holiday home, but it was resolved when she abandoned her plans and gifted the site to the locals as a community gut factory.

ZZ Tup: Every Blone’s Crazy ‘bout a Sharp Dressed Maw (Part Two)

There are many heartfelt tributes on the go just now to Frank Beard, the non-bearded drummer from fun lovin’ Texans ZZ Top, who recently passed away. ZZ Top were hugely popular in the mid 1980’s following the release of their ‘Eliminator’ album and the entertaining videos they made to promote the tunes on it, like ‘Legs’ and ‘Sharp Dressed Man’

Local music fans have also been full of praise for Frank’s second cousin Fank who has also sadly passed away. Fank was the snare drummer in local ceilidh ‘n’ blues band ZZ Tup, who were said to have been a huge influence on their Texan cousins.

Fank was joined in ZZ Tup by Uilly Gibbsonhostel (lead accordion) and Sandy(wick) Hill ( on the bass accordion). They formed in 1971 and the line up remained unchanged for 50 years.  All three were mediocre weavers by day in order to supplement their meagre income from the music business. Many of ZZ Top’s songs were about the State of Texas, and in a similar way many of ZZ Tup’s songs were complaints against the Harris Tweed Authority for regularly withdrawing their Weaving Licence due to the State of their Textiles. 

Originally hailing from the dusty plains of South Lochs, ZZ Tup played a style of music heavily influenced by the closeness of the border with Harris and the Rio Gravir River. This blues-driven ceilidh music won them nearly several admirers as they toured the village halls of the island. Songs such as ’La (Coule) Greinge’ and ‘Duis’ became crowd pleasers, and set them on the road to becoming international rock megastars with fans across the globe from Eishken to Cromore.  

Eventually ZZ Tup cultivated an unforgettable stage image which saw Sandy and Uilly grow long beards (influenced by the fiasags on the coves in old photos of the St Kilda Parliament – which also led to their song ‘Beard Drinkers and Hiort Raisers’). Sandy and Uilly also wore sunglasses (to hide their bloodshot eyes) and topped this off with stylish church Elder hats from Mackenzie & Macsween on their ceanns (which was where they got the name for their ‘Tres Homburgs’ album).

After many years doing no bad as a hard-working rock band, ZZ Tup suddenly became pop stars in 1983/84 after they decided to bring a bit of electro synth magic into the recording studio. This new-found love for modren day musical styles resulted in the huge selling (4 copies sold in DD Morrison’s) album ‘WeeFree-liminator’. Boosted by the still new ‘Maw TV’ video channel, the band’s cine footage of their new songs opened their music up to a whole new audience (4 coves watching the telly in the Lewis Lounge whilst waiting for the football to come on). Soon the band were hobnobbing with the big names of glossy 80s pop like Madonnald, Duran Guirean, The Eoropierhythmics and Island Express.

These songs and cine footage included ’Sharp Dressed Maw’, ‘Cleggs’ and ‘Gimmer All Your Loving’. Who can forget the iconic image of Sandy and Uilly spinning their accordions around and the souped up red and chrome tractor with the large ‘z’ painted on each side?

ZZ Tup’s popular albums included: 

Rio Gravir Mud

Tres Homburgs

Fan-dangit-all

El Leodhas-cove

WeeFree-liminator 

To finish this tribute to Fank, we leave you with the lyrics to one of their greatest hits. All together now!!!

Sharp Dressed Maw

Cleaned dirt, new Arnish Boots

And I don’t know where I am goin’ to

Boilersuit, church tie (church tie)

I don’t need a reason why

They come runnin’ cos they like what they saw

‘Cause every blone crazy ’bout a sharp-dressed maw

Old watch, bobban bling

I ain’t missin’ not a single thing

No Cufflinks, so a safety pin

When I step out I’m gonna look like a bin

They come runnin’ cos they like what they saw

‘Cause every blone crazy ’bout a sharp-dressed maw

Victor Wooll-is RIP

We see that Victor Willis, the lead singer and songwriter in the Village People has gone to the great Discotheque In The Sky.

Village People were hugely popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s, releasing a string of disco-pop hits including ’YMCA’, ‘In The Navy’ and ‘Go West’, and pioneering the sub-genre of disco known as “Hi-NRG”. 

The band are remembered for the costumes of the six members – each one taking on a persona symbolising different forms of American working class masculinity. Willis was best  known for portraying a cop, while the other members were famously a Construction Worker, a Native American, a Soldier, a Cowboy, and a Leatherman/Biker. Over the decades the various band members were replaced on a regular basis, with audiences not realising that the performers were little more than stand-ins.

Willis himself left the band in the early 1980s but had returned with a new line up in more recent years. 

Sadly, just as news of Willis’ passing reached the island, it was announced that his cousin from Newvalley, who was also a musician of some repute, had expired the very same day.

Like his marginally more famous American relative, Victor Woollis began singing at an early age, precenting at his preacher father’s church in the Marybank suburb of San Fran Wisco, and later in a number of smash Broad Bay musicals. 

In the mid 70s, Woollis and ‘French’* disco producer Jacques Murdani were approached by local animal feed co-operative the Lewis Hay and Silage Association (LHSA), who were looking for musicians to write some advertising jingles and go out on tour to promote their products. 

*(Should have read “Drench”)

Woollis and Murdani recruited band members for the project via an advert in the Theatrical Classifieds section of the Stornoway Gazette: “Maw-cho types wanted. Must dance and have a moustache. Wellies supplied but own tractor required”. 

The marketing concept was that the band would be called “Silage People”, with each member and his costume representing a different aspect of the LHSA’s diverse but exclusively masculine clientele. (Blones weren’t allowed to buy bulk animal feed in them days). 

Consequently, the band included: 

A Crofter

A Minister

A Weaver

An Arnish Cove

A Cal Mac Captain

A Comhairle Management Consultant from Away (dabbling in crofting so that he could get grants and write a book about ‘my spiritual journey towards a simpler life’).

A Townie (kidding on to be a crofter so he could flog off a load of house plots in Coulegrein)

Silage People’s first song, ‘LHSA’ was a shameless plug for the Lewis Hay and Silage Association, and featured the band doing a wee dance trying to spell out the shape of the letters. 

Incredibly, “LHSA” became a big hit (five copies sold in DD Morrison’s) and Silage People became well regarded on Stornoway’s ‘Hay Scene’. Hay Discos, where the LHSA had the monopoly of selling hay bales to sit on, became popular, and local Disco artists like Dolag Summer (“Hot Duff”), Sou’wester (“You Make Me Reel, Manky Creel”) and Niall Rodgers’ Chic(kenhead) (“Guga Times” and “Le Freakirk”) were propelled to stardom within the Hay scene. Most of these acts would perform regularly down at the Braighe hollow, giving rise to the particular hay disco genre known as “Braighe-NRG”.

While home from the States on holiday, Woollis’ US Cousin Victor heard a rough demo of a Silage People song called ‘YMCAPC’, which was about the town’s ‘‘Young Maws’ Christian Association (Presbyterian, Continuing)”. This was a hostel type building on Bayhead where Maws could stay if they ever had to spend a night in Stornoway (as long as they had the Cuiream, and it was of the right flavour). 

American Victor was soon taken with his Leodhasach cousin’s catchy tune. Back in the States, Village People’s career was failing to ignite, but Willis was convinced that after a few changes to the lyrics for the US market, “YMCAPC” would set them on the road to stardom… And of course, the rest is history.

Leodhasach Victor was quite happy to lend his American cousin a song at the time, though, because the Silage People themselves were at their peak – busy with a run of smash singles that could be heard on the dancefloors of every hay club and gentlemen-only bothan from Barra to the Butt. As Well as “YMCAPC”, the Silage People scored big with songs like:

“In the Navi-gationclassatlewscastlecollege”

“Go Westviewterrace” (later covered by the  Peat Shop Boys)

“Mach-a-seo Man”

“(Fishery) Cruisin’”

In 1980, determined to capitalise on their chart success and expand the LHSA’s dominance of the “Hay Scene” to the Southern Isles, the band’s management decided to put them in a movie. 

“Can’t Stop na h-Uibhistich” – billed as “‘Singing on Macbraynes’ for the Disco Generation” has gone on to become a bit of a cult classic, but at the time it bombed at the box office (1 ticket sold at the Screen Machine in Iochdar, 3 refunds subsequently demanded) and failed to capture the attention of the hay community in Uist and Barra.

Woollis saw the way things were going during pre-production – the script was fleekeen nonsense and the direction by Nan C Pollochar (the blone who played Rhoda Morgenstearnag’s mother in top 70s sitcom “The Mary Tyler Arnishmoor Show”) was erratic – and so he left the band.   

“Can’t Stop na h-Uibhistich” swept the boards at the 1980 Golden Rapach-ferry awards for “Worsht Fillum of the Year”. Very few people nowadays remember anything about it, except the bit where the cove goes into the Clachan downstairs and tries to chat up all the other coves with the immortal line: “See something ya like, Macs?” 

Woollis went on the deoch for a few years after that, but eventually returned to reclaim the band he’d founded.

In recent years there was controversy when Aird Tong Grazings Committee President  Donald Turnip used “YMCAPC” extensively in his election campaign, and had the Silage People play at his inauguration. 

Many in the hay community were outraged, but Woollis defended the band’s decision to play: “We know this won’t make some of you happy to hear, however we believe that music is to be performed without regard to politics,” he wrote on Facebook. “Also, the fat orange bleigeard is paying us a load of money. So we’re selling out, and fleek the lot of youse”.

Co dhiù, let us finish with a wee singalong in Victor Wooll-is’s memory. Don’t forget to do the letters, now….

YMCAPC

Young maw, there’s no need to feel down, I said 

Young maw, if you’re stuck in the town, I said

Young maw, cause you’ve missed the bus home 

There’s no need to miss the Prayer Meeting

Young maw, there’s a place you can go, I said

Young maw, when you’re short on your dough, you can

Pray there and I’m sure you will find 

Many ways to have a curam time 

It’s fun to stay at the YMCAPC

It’s fun to pray at the YMCAPC

They have everything for young maws to enjoy

You can sneak out for a pint with the boys

It’s fun to stay at the YMCAPC

It’s fun to pray at the YMCAPC

You can get Ness cuisine, though they say it’s obscene

Cos the Guga will turn you green.

Brue-Nellag Scaliscro

The worlds of drama and comedy in equal measure were saddened recently by the passing of long-serving actress Prunella Scales, star of Fawlty Towers, Marriage Lines, Mapp & Lucia and, in later years, the heart-warming “Great Canal Journeys” with her late husband Timothy West.

Scales herself was of course no stranger to the Isle of Lewis, since it is a matter of record that her first big break was when she appeared in Laxdale Hall (it says here) in 1953.

We’ve had a look through the back issues of the Gazette to see what the theatregoers of Laxdale and Newmarket thought of her  “Morag Macleod”, but all we could find was one angry letter from somebody signing themselves “Old Fellow” and demanding “What the fleek sort of Guershader accent was that? Sounded more like fleekeen Newvalley to me. When will the  dialogue coaches at RADA learn to tell the difference?”.  

Indeed, Scales’ original role model, and the person who got her the part in Laxdale Hall, is said to have been her Leodhasach cousin  – a fellow thespian who coincidentally happened to pass away the same day as Prunella herself…

Brue-nellag Scaliscro was born in 1932 on the West Side or in Uig, depending on who was asking.

Her first big break came with a part in the 1953 black and white film ‘Laxdale Brawl’. This charming portrait of island life in the 50s brought the spectacle of fisticuffs at a village dance to a wider audience, and led to other village halls introducing fights as part of the programme of entertainment.   The film also featured a young Full-Tòin Mackay, (later in ‘Oatmeal’ and ‘Local Hearach’) Rikki Full-Tòin (later the Rev I.M Holy) and the cove that briefly played the first Darth Shader in ‘Siar Wars’. 

Scaliscro also gained critical acclaim for her performance in ‘Marag Lines’ with Richard Braighe-ears. 

In a 70-year career, Scaliscro was perhaps best known for her portrayal of Sobhal Fawlty, the wife of manure salesman/dodgy air b&b proprietor John Cliasgro, in BBC Alba’s “Fawlty Todhars”. 

Scaliscro played the bossy wife and spent her time henpecking her husband Baaahh-sil Fawlty.  

The show also featured Andrew Cacs as Manishuel, the Hearach Waiter (“He’s from Bunabhainneadar”) with his catch phrase. “Dé?” and harassed waitress/chambermaid and general assistant, Pollybox Sermon, played by Connie Bùthsheumais.

There was also the minor character of The Major (a retired music teacher who was always trying to round the guests up into a choir for the Mòd).

The opening credits of each episode featured the Air B&B sign with rearranged letters, renaming the premises, for example,  ‘Failte Tawse’, ‘Fleekin Tourists’, ‘Fishy Permits’ and ‘Ferry Cancellations’

Brue-nellag also took a lead role in ‘After Henshed’, a popular Radio Ranol show about a widow dealing with her mother and daughter attending different Church denominations. 

Other notable shows included ‘The Ferry Wives of Windspeedleadingtocancelledsailing’, and ‘Mop and Loose Beer’.

Scaliscro will be fondly remembered for BBC Alba’s popular “Canal Journeys Miorbhaileach” which she made in later life with her husband Timsgarry Westside.

Viewers enjoyed the gentle pace of the show even if the routes didn’t vary a lot due to the scarcity of suitable waterways on the island. 

One week they’d sail their (very) narrowboat from Steinish Pool to Engie’s, and the next week they’d sail back again. And they’d always tie up for the night at Anderson Road Nurseries, whichever way they were heading.

BBC Alba producers enjoyed the show even more than the audiences, because it was cheap as fleek and they only needed to make 2 episodes (one per direction) which they could repeat forever after. 

As a consequence, both episodes of “Canal Journeys Miorbaileach” hold the record for number of repeat appearances of BBC Alba – surpassing even Saturday night favourites “Belladrum 2007 a’ Fleekeen Rithist” and “Thon Programme Where a Bunch of Beardy Folkies from Away Are Playing Bodhrans And Singing Through Their Noses in English and You’re Thinking: What the Fleek Is That Doing on a Gaelic Channel?” 

Diane, John, Ace and Dave

Fleek sakes. We’re way behind schedule the now (especially in our Obituary Department), as we were all away at the Mod. We were pretty chuffed at our performances though – we finished in last place in 6 competitions and were only disqualified in two. If only they had Judges that spoke proper Stornoway Gaelic!

Diane Peatiron

Sad to report that Diane Keaton, the iconic American actress known for her unique, often quirky, on-screen persona and distinctive fashion style has passed on. She won an Oscar for Best Actress for her role in the 1977 film Annie Hall and also starred in notable dramatic roles such as The Godfather films. Her long career in Hollywood included frequent collaborations with Woody Allen. 

Diane often visited Lewis as a young girl (her granny was from the Cearns) and enjoyed attending the Stornoway Thespians ‘Am-Dram’ (with the emphasis on the dram part), where she first got her taste for the stage. She would attend with her cousin Diane Peatiron who sadly has also passed away in recent weeks. 

Peatiron herself made quite a few movies for island-based studios, such as MGM (Mehhhtro Goldwyn Marybank) and 20th Century Flocks.  Indeed, a number (*) of respected Hebridean  cinephiles have claimed that these – especially the films where she worked with director Woolly Allen –  were a major influence on her American cousin’s work. 

(*) Zero.

Some of Peatiron’s less unsuccessful films included:

The Mòdfather trilogy

The Sheeper

Àiridh Hall

Father of the Braighe (with Steve MartinsMemorial)

Play It Again, Psalm

Man Sgadan Murdo Ministry

She also directed a 1991 episode of BBC Alba’s cult TV series “Twin Peats”.

John LodgeFortrose

John Lodge, bassist, songwriter and occasional singer in the Moody Blues has also passed away. He was a key member of the classic line up that recorded ‘Nights in White Satin’ and other hits, and set the band’s course away from straight R&B, towards psychedelic and progressive rock.

As it happens, Lodge’s cousin from Kenneth Street, a moderately successful musician in his own right, expired on the same day as Lodge himself.

John Lodgefortrose was the co-singer in West Side peat combo the Moory Brues, along with Chustin Heycove (who later had a solo hit with “Forever Autumn Gold Cider” from Jeff Stornowayne’s “War of the Wools” musical).

Lodgefortrose joined the band in 1966, when they were struggling to repeat the success of their big 1964 hit “(Coinneach) Gó Now”.

With Lodgefortrose’s arrival, the Moory Brues’ veered away from straightforward peat music towards the emerging psychedelic and progressive sounds of the late 60s. 

Soon the band scored their biggest hit with  “Nights In White Sgadan”, on which Lodgefortrose didn’t play the haunting chanter solo.

One of the Moory Brues’ most successful albums was the prog rock concept  ‘In Search of the Lost Cord’, about a last minute funeral mixup in Sandwick Cemetery.

Ace Freechurch

Ace Frehley, the original lead guitarist and founding member of the rock band Kiss, passed away recently at the age of 74. Frehley was a major figure in rock music and a key part of Kiss’s initial success. He was always associated with the ‘Spaceman’ character and its associated face paint/make-up. 

By coincidence, his Stornowegian cousin Ace Freechurch also passed away that very same day. Freechurch was lead accordion player in Lochie rock band ‘Keose’, who brought glam and theater to the world of ceilidh music, with the added mystery of audiences not knowing who was behind the make-up.

Early audiences in the Lewis village halls were initially baffled to see the four members of the band in their garish make-up and bizarre boiler suits, often with flames shooting out of accordions, but the band soon developed a huge fan base (three blones from Balallan Youth Club and the blone from the make up counter in Kenny Froggans). 

The face paint the band used was an integral feature of the Keose mythology. Each band member of Keose has their own distinct make-up:

Freechurch’s character  was ‘The Feis Man’ and he would wear make-up in the form of a Feis adjudicator.

Drummer Peter CrossInn was the Cearcman and his make-up represented a goc-gaaac (chicken).

Lead singer Trawl Sandeels was the ‘Star Inn Child’ (with make-up forming a black eye, as if he’d been in a pub brawl, which he usually had been)

Wranglerjean Simmons was ‘The DemonDrink’ and sported ‘Bogie’ make up. 

Keose had many ‘hits’ including; 

Craggans Rolls All Nite

Detroit Adabroc City

I was Made for Special Brew

Drench Gun

Licisto It Up

The Mod Gave Trad in Gold To You

Keose also made a reasonable living by ruthlessly selling a huge range of tat featuring the band name and logo. These cunning marketing ideas included selling Keose fish boxes, Keose Catechisms, Keose wellies and Keose Underage carry outs. 

Keose have also had 234 ‘Farewell’ Tours in the last 5 years.

Dave Ballantrushal from Croft Cell

Dave Ball, one half of the synth-pop duo Soft Cell (best known for the hit “Tainted Love”), also passed away recently. His bandmate, Marc Almond, paid tribute to a  “wonderfully brilliant’ musical genius.  Ball also collaborated with many other artists and co-founded the successful electronic act The Grid who had the banjo-infected rave hit “Swamp Thing’. As well as scoring pop hits he was also involved with more avante-garde electronic music, working with the likes of Genesis P. Orridge’s underground collective Psychic TV.

His third cousin from the West Side, Dave Ballantrushal, who coincidentally also died on the same day, was also a well known musician and was the pioneering MIDI accordion player in the synth-pop group Croft Cell. 

Along with vocalist Marag Almond,  Ballantrushal hit No 1 in the early 1980s  with a tribute to the Gut Factory called ‘Tainted Guff’ (originally sung by Gloria Blones). 

Croft Cell also had hits with ‘Say Haoidh-aye, Wave Cheerie an Drarsh’, and released many albums throughout the 80s including ‘The Art of Following A Part (for the tractor on EBay)’, and of course their smash debut album ‘Non Stop Erotic Cabarfeidh’

Croft Cell were one of a wave of new romantic synthpop duos emerging in early 80s Stornoway, including Ya-sùgh, the Peat Shop Boys, Earshader-asure and of course Sh*cky & M*ll, but Ballantrushal always claimed to have been the true pioneer; The day after Kroftwerk’s legendary appearance on Tomorrow’s World in 1974, he was the first one down to DD Morrison’s to buy the only electronic accordion in the shop. This gave him quite a head start, as it left his fellow future synth stars stuck with their button key melodeons (and the occasional go of a Wasp from the Nicolson music department) until five years later, when DD’s finally got around to ordering in another one. 

Ballantrushal also performed as ‘The (Cattle) Grid’ at various times and with various other musicians. 

Like his mainland cousin, Dave Ballantrushal inhabited the worlds of “pop” and “challenging experimental” music at the same time. One day he’d be remixing a track by diminutive chart chanteuse Kylie Lochalsh for airplay on Radio nan Gaidheal, and the next he’d be away on the Uig ferry to make some unlistenable racket with renegade Dunvegan elder Genesis P. Orbost and his sinister occult noise collective Pskyechic TV (Continuing).

Robert RedFordTerrace

The world of cinema is mourning the passing of Robert Redford, the legendary actor and director who died recently. He was widely beloved for his iconic roles in classic films like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, and All the President’s Men, which showcased his immense talent and charismatic presence on screen. Beyond his acting career, Redford was a tireless advocate for independent filmmaking, founding the Sundance Film Festival, which has become a crucial platform for new cinematic voices. His legacy is not only defined by his film work but also by his commitment to, and passionate support of,  the arts and the environment.

Robert had a strong connection with the Outer Hebrides and used to spend many summer holidays at his grannie’s in Tong. It was here that he found his love for acting when he went with his cousin Robert RedFordTerrace to the Stornoway Thespians’ Summer School held in the local YMCA.

Redford and his Leodhasach cousin RedFordTerrace shared a similar career trajectory, albeit that Redfordterrace’s great successes are slightly less well known outside the Western Isles (or indeed outside the Tong and Newmarket area) than those of his American cousin.

Sadly Robert Redfordterrace happened to pass away on the same day as Robert Redford, so his death has been slightly overshadowed by that of his relation across the Pond. But fortunately we’re here to put things right, with a moving tribute to the man and his works…. 

Robert Refordterrace started his career on BBC Alba, acting in long-running TV shows such as ‘The Twilight Disco Zone’ and ‘Alfred Hitchcock Precents’  (where a Church Precentor is mysteriously bumped off each week). 

But his big break came in 1967 when he got the lead role in ‘Barefoot In The Parkend Industrial Estate’ with co-star Jane Flounda.

This was swiftly followed in 1968 by ‘Butch Cass a-dhìth and the Sunday School Kid’, which saw the start of a long friendship with fellow actor Paul Newmarket. The pair of them would co-star in several blockbuster movies over the years. However, their first pairing was perhaps the most memorable. This buddy movie was about two infamous but charismatic outlaws holding up peat stacks. Newmarket played the role of Butch Cass a-dhìth, a one legged peat cutter, whilst Redfordterrace was the Sunday School Kid, an unrepentant truant from the Free Church Sunday School. The soundtrack of the film featured the popular song ‘Pandrops Keep Falling on my Head’. 

In 1972 Redfordterrace took the lead role in ‘The Can Did Date’, a political drama about a tin of herring from Lord Leverhulme’s factory passing its sell by date but still being used to make sandwiches for the 1970 Stornoway Trust Election Night.

One of Redfordterrace’s best known films, ‘The Sing’, followed the next year. This entertaining caper film was set in 1920s prohibition Stornoway, and was about two grifters tricking a Choir Master into thinking he’s won a Medal at the Mod. The film was set in The Clachan’s secret underground ‘Speakeasy’. The film featured period ragtime melodeon tunes including ‘The Centre Strainer’ by SirEScott Joplin. 

The rest of the 1970s saw Redfordterrace in a steady stream of films including:

‘The Graip Gatsby’

‘Three Days of the Comhairle’

‘All The Presbyterian Men’ -two journalists investigate Blackwatergate (who it was that left the common grazings gate open)

‘The Electric Horshaderman’

‘A Bridge Cottages Too Far’(the local Army Cadets overestimate their sponsored walk skills -they should have stopped at Laxdale Bridge).

‘Bru Baker’

‘Out of Lynx Africa’ (chaos at the Twilights Disco as supplies of the popular cove’s deodorant run out).

Redfordterrace also directed many popular films including: 

‘Orduighean People’

‘The (Sticky’s)Mill-aggro Plasterfield War’

‘A Bayhead River Runs Through It’

‘The Horshader Whisperer’

‘Lionel for Lambs’

‘The Legend of Back Common Grazing ‘s Fence’

‘The Company Ewe Sheep’ (co-starring Siarach LaBeouf).

In response to Redford’s founding of the Sundance Festival in Park City, Utah, Redfordterrace founded ‘The Sunday Dance’ Festival in 1981 in Parkend. Sadly Redfordterrace’s festival was never quite as successful as its American equivalent due to a permanent blockade by the L*rd’s Day Obs*rvance Society and a lack of M*rm*ns. 

Watch out for endless reruns of Redfordterrace’s films on Grampian and BBC Alba in the coming days.

Summer of Metal Part 2 of 2

APC/DC

Rock fans on the mainland will be in for a treat at Murrayfield this month, where Aussie rock veterans AC/DC will be making a long-awaited return to these shores. 

Coincidentally our latest entry in the MUHOS “Summer of Metal” series looks at another (not unrelated) mighty rock behemoth from down-under (down under Ardvourlie at least); 

Yus – it’s legendary Hearach monsters of rock APC/DC, who will propaply be packing out Rally Park the very same night that AC/DC play Murrayfield.

This entry is somewhat unique in that a recent Daily Record article can confirm that APC/DC’s Aussie cousins actually came looking for their island relatives and had to make do with meeting S*ndie from the 101 Band in the Harris Hotel. Really. Look it up. 

But our focus today is on the Hearachs themselves, rather than their antipodean relations, so let’s delve into the history of APC/DC…

Formed in Scadabay in 1973 the band consisted of brothers Angus and Malcy Youngsseafoods, with guitarist Larry Van Kreed and vocalist Dave Guireans. 

Their original name was “Underground” but they had to change it when they realised that was the name of I*in D*n’s future shop in Bayhead. They eventually settled on “FP/DC” but after a fall-out over which church was the best, Kreed and Guireans were fired to be replaced by a couple of Leodhasachs – Uig’s Cliof Uilleams and Knock cove Phill Rudhach. 

Band members came and went, but the line up finally settled when Bon Scottroad joined them on vocals. Scottroad was a gravelly voiced singer who could also play the chanter (a bit) and was the epitome of a hard rockin’, livin’ life on the edge, crofter/rock star.

The band then changed their name from “FP/DC” to “APC/DC” after Angus fell asleep at the Leverburgh òrduighean, had a prophetic dream foreseeing a church schism that would arise in the late 80s, and decided to leave no doubt about which side the band would choose when the time came.

Soon, the band had established a firm following in their native Harris (2 coves from Cluer and a blone from Manish) and were making a good impression in the music press (Monthly Record Mirror). They churned out album after album of high octane ceilidh and church music including ‘High Smoltage’ and ‘Dirty Peats Cut Dirt Cheap’ in 1976, closely followed by ‘Let There Be Flock’ in 1977. 

A lot of their success was due to the musical talent of Angus and his stage gear, which consisted of his Sir E Scott school uniform, where he was  still a student, having been kept back quite a few years.

Around this time APC/DC started to venture across the border into Lewis and soon had a staunch following, who would pack out any village hall if the band were playing. 

More albums followed including ‘If You Want Blood (for the Marags), You Got It’ in 1977 and ’Highway to Dell’ in 1978.

They had a memorable TV appearance on BBC2 Alba’s  ‘Rock Goes to (Lews Castle) College’ in 1978, performing live in the Ballroom to an audience of Navigation and Weaving students.

Sadly, shortly after this, tragedy struck. Lead singer Scottroad was found dead on the back seat of his tractor after a kipper overdose.

The band decided to carry on, as they felt that’s what Bon would have wanted. To replace him, the band recruited Brianahuie Johnson, from fading 70s glam rock outfit ‘Geordie(g*lidy)’. Johnson was quite happy to jump ship as his current band weren’t exactly going places – Geordie(g*lidy) had last troubled the charts back in 1973 with “Don’tspendanyfleekeenmoneyontheElectric, Lady” and “All Because of Ewes“.

The new singer settled in and soon APC/DC were churning out hit album after hit album. These included:

‘Back in Bac’

‘For Those About to Croft’

(For the notoriously parochial record buyers of Point, this album was marketed as “For Those About To Knock (We Salute Rubhachs)”).

Fleek Off (The Switch)

Stiff Upper Coll

Thunder Stirk

…and many others.

In recent years, Laxdl Dose from hard-livin’ LA(*) rockers (Drenching) Guns ‘n Doses has deputised on vocals from time to time, especially when Johnson was away at the Òrduighean.

(*)LA : Laxdale Area.

With their Hearach origins, it’s inevitable that APC/DC’s repertoire contains a lot of songs about their native island – including South-of-the-Border classics like:

Baby Please Don’t Govig

Rock ‘n’ Rodel Damnation

Givin’ the Dog a Bunabhainneadar

Waulk All over Cluer

Bad Boy Boghaglas

Who Made Hushinish ( featured in the soundtrack of the movie “Maximperial Overdrive”)

…and of course:

“For Those About To Waulk (We Salute Urgha)”.

But with a couple of Leodhasaich in the band, and 50 years of worldwide touring (from the Castlebay Hotel to the Cross Inn) under their belts, APC/DC’s lyrics are sometimes about stuff on other islands as well.

For example, ‘You Shooed Me All Night Long’ was a moving tribute to Smith’s Shoe Shop when it closed down, giving thanks for providing the band with footwear (mainly platform Arnish Boots) over the decades.

“Whole Lotta Rossie’s Shop” was about their favourite goodie shop in Bayhead, and  “Beatin’ About The Bushwalk” was about falling down Gallows hill through the rhododendrons, while under the influence of a carry-out obtained from Hendy’s.

APC/DC were also a band with a social conscience, writing songs to campaign against injustice or to raise awareness of important issues.

One such was“Rock n Roll Ain’t for Communions”, a heartfelt protest against proposals to “modren-ize” music in island church services. 

(The B-side of this single was,’Craggans Rolls Ain’t Kind to Uisdean’ which helped raise the issue of wheat intolerance amongst Metal fans). 

The band were also keen at helping tourists find their way around the island, and so wrote ‘It’s the Wrong Way to the Cob (if you go by Sandwick Road)’, complete with chanter solo by Bon, to help tourists avoid the deadly quicksands at the Cob and Steinish Pool.

Other popular numbers in the APC/DC repertoire include:

Peatseeker

Back Peat Confidential

This Means Todhar

Spùt To Thrill

Girls Got Cùiream

Let’s Get A Tup

Emissionhouse Control

Co dhiù, let us finish with a singalong to get ourselves warmed up for the big gig… Here’s one of APC/DC’s biggest hits:

“Livin’ Niseach – Lovin’ Free(church)

Season Ticket on a Galson Motors bus

Adabroc’s nothin’ – So’s Eorop-ie

Only one place in Ness for us

No stock fence, sheep limits

No cattle grid to slow me down

It’s got Domhnall Ruadh – livin’ in it

And it’s handy for the bus from town

We’re on a Highway to Dell 

Highway to Dell

Highway to Dell

Highway to Dell

Ain’t got no bothan, ain’t got no guga

But it’s got Àrd agus Tuath agus Deas

Port and Skigersta, ain’t worth a look-a

There’s only one place any good in Ness

We’re on a Highway to Dell 

Highway to Dell

Highway to Dell

Highway to Dell”

Braighe-Iain Woolson RIP (Also Sly Stoneyfield and Frederick Forsyth)

Fans of lovely West Coast harmonies and songs about surfing were saddened recently to hear of the passing of Brian Wilson (the troubled musical genius behind Californian legends the Beach Boys, not the former West Highland Free Press cove). 

In a sad week for music and the arts, Wilson was joined on the other side by funk legend Sly Stone and blockbusting thriller writer Frederick Forsyth, but we’ll come to them later…

Brian Wilson was of course the composer of hit singles such as “Good Vibrations”, “Surfin’ USA” and “God Only Knows”. He will also be remembered for long-playing masterpieces like “Pet Sounds”, and of course the famously unfinished 1966/67 ”Smile” project where he went a bit as a’ chiall. 

Sadly Wilson’s passing eclipsed the death the same day of his only slightly less successful cousin on this side of the Atlantic, a man of whom it might have been said (although it wasn’t) that he too was a musical genius in his own way…  

Braighe-Iain Woolson was born in Branahuie in 1942. His domineering father Murdy had always wanted to run a band called the Beach Boys, and in preparation for this he named each of his children after famous stretches of pristine island shoreline. 

After Braighe-Iain, there was Garry in 1944 and Cliof in 1946, but it all went wrong when young Newton Seafront came along in 1948. 

To make matters worse, Murdy’s bleigard of a cousin “Murry” in America nicked his idea and copyrighted the “Beach Boys” name, so a rethink was required.

Murdy craftily rebranded his combo as the “South Beach Boys”, and changed Garry and Cliof’s names to “Dennisautos” and “Carloway” so that  they would “appeal to a West Coast audience”.

Soon the 3 Woolson brothers were joined by their cousin Mike Leòbag and school pal Al Sardine. (Wee brother Newton Seafront wasn’t allowed to join the band because of the smell).

From the beginning of the 60s a string of hits ensued. In their early days their songs were uncomplicated sunshine-y numbers about life on the croft, such as…

“Surfin’ Saf-àirigh”

“Ba-ba-ba ba-barvas Ram”

“Sun sun sun(day) (When the Cailleach Takes the TV Away)”

“I’ll Get A Round In”

Calbostfornia Gulls”

“Turfin’ U.S.A”

(Written when Woolson went West to help out at his cousins’ peats in “the USA” – aka Upper Shader and Adabroc. 

Woolson had to contend with several legal challenges relating to this song. First he was sued by 50s rocker Chuck Ferry, who not unreasonably claimed it was a big rip-off of his 1958 hit “Peat Little Sixteen”. 

And worse was to come, when those well known singing peatcutters from Down Souss, The Askernishbeach Boys, went to law, pointing out suspicious similarities between Woolson’s 1963 number and their 1961 Radio Garrynamonie chart-topper “Turfin’ Uist Way”.

It was possibly the stress of all the lawsuits that made Braighe-Iain go drol, stop touring with the band and retreat into his studio from 1966 onwards. Woolson found himself grappling with his inner demons, a serious Piper Export addiction and an obsession with outdoing those he saw as his chief musical rivals – the Peatles and “Wall of Sound, cove” production maverick Phil Spealtrag. 

Despite or because of all the being mad carry-on, Woolson continued to churn out the hits during this period – but songs that were darker and more complex than the upbeat pop of their early career – songs like:

“God Only Knows (what you were doing while everyone else was out at the Coinneamh Ùrnaigh)”

“Good Denominations”

“Help Me, Ruairidh”

“Wouldn’t it be Gneiss”

“Carishader, No”

“Hearachs and Villains”

But by the mid-60s, singles no longer provided a broad enough canvas for Woolson’s ever-expanding mind. He looked at other bands pioneering the development of the album as an art form, such as the Peatles with “Sergeant Paibles’ Lonely Ceards Club Band” and decided he wanted a piece of the action. 

Some of the great South Beach Boys LPs emerged in this period, gathering rave reviews in the Gazette and unprecedented sales (occasionally even in double figures) in MacIver & Dart’s and DD Morrison’s… including:

Peat Sounds

The unfinished “Smiler” project, with collaborator Van Dyke Parkends

Smiley Smiler

Turf’s Up

After years living the life of a recluse and falling out with the rest of the South Beach Boys over publishing rights, church splits and  a fence in Balallan, Woolson was persuaded to start playing again because of the huge increase in tourists ‘discovering’ Luskentyre Beach. 

The Luskentyre Grazings Committee thought that Braighe-Iain would be able to scare off most of the camper vans with performances of his more impenetrable songs, thus leaving the village in peace to go about its business. Braighe-Iain was slipped a couple of quid each day to stand in the car park and belt out his hits. This summer job also inspired him to write a wee concept album called  ‘Hearachs and Visitors’.

In 2015, Woolson collaborated again with the South Beach Boys on his final album of new material,  “No 1 Pier Pressure”. 

On the news of Woolson’s passing, tributes poured in from all over some of the Hebrides. 

And to conclude our own tribute, we include the lyrics of one of Braighe-Iain Woolson’s best known tunes (even although it was actually Chuck Ferry’s). All together now……

Turfin’ USA (Upper Shader to Adabrock)

If everybody had an notion (ooh)

Across the U.S.A. (ooh)

Then everybody’d be out turfin’ (ooh)

Cos it’s the first of May (ooh)

You’d see them wearing their wellies (ooh)

Arnish Boots on too (ooh)

A beannag to guard the hairdo (ooh)

Turfin’ U.S.A. (ooh)

You’d catch ’em turfin’ at Dell, math tha (Lower, Upper U.S.A.)

Skigersta bothan, Lionel (inside, outside, U.S.A.)

Santa Ronans and Galson (inside, outside, U.S.A.)

Adabrock’s Edgemoor (inside, outside, U.S.A.)

All over Dun Eisdean (inside, outside, U.S.A.)

And down Habost Way (inside, outside)

Everybody’s gone turfin’

Turfin’ U.S.A.

(ii)

Joining Braighe-Iain Woolson at the great gig in the sky is funk rock legend Sly Stone, who has also passed away. For those of you not familiar with his work he trailblazed the merging of funky music with rock, bringing soul and rock fans together with his high energy groove – on classic late 60s/early 70s anthems  like “Dance to the Music, “Family Affair” and “Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice Elf Agin)”.  Many later exponents of funky soul-rock fusion such as Prince, and of course Island Express, were heavily influenced by Sly’s music. 

Despite living away in America for most of his life and neffer mentioning them at all at all,  Sly Stone had strong island connections that we can only reveal now;  Born Sylvester Stewartscreamothebarley, his original stage name was “Sly Stoneyfield”, after the farm where his granny from Lower Sandwick was a milkmaid. 

The young Sly spent many summers on his holidays home from America learning how to weed turnips, chase sheep and shovel todhar, and it was while engaged in these tasks that he dreamt up the early versions of some of his biggest hits, which he released locally on Maciver and Dart Records.  Check under your bed to see if you’ve got any of these rare grooves gathering dust:

“Danns a’ Rathaid to the Music”

“It’s a Farming Affair”

“There’s an Aiginish Riot Going On”

“Fank Ewe (filletin mehhh be mice elf agam)”

“Every Day Sheep ill“

“I Wanna Take Your Byre.”

“Life (and Work isn’t as good as the Free Church Monthly Record)”

Unfortunately when Stoneyfield returned to America, his US management insisted on his song titles and lyrics being Americanised for a global audience. But Old SYs should have a rake in the loft to see if they’ve got one of Sly’s rare Maciver and Dart original singles – Vinyl specialists at FreeChurchMonthlyRecord Collector magazine reckon they might nowadays be worth up to 14p each.

(iii)

Co dhiù, and as if Brian and Sly’s passing wasn’t bad enough, popular thriller writer Frederick Forsyth (“Day of the Jackal”, “The Odessa File” and many more) has also written his final chapter. 

Not many people are aware of Forsyth’s Stornoway connections, but according to researchers in our Made Up Genealogy Department he was probably possibly allegedly one of the Hugh Matheson’s crowd. In fact it is said that he came up with the first drafts of almost all his most popular novels while slicing the ham at the deli counter in the family business on Francis Street.

Forsyth’s mainland publishers insisted on a number of minor changes to his books, to make them more marketable to a global readership. But if Acair hadn’t rejected them first, and they’d been published locally as Forsyth originally intended, we’d be reading the likes of:

The Mogs of War

Day of the Bacach

The Od-Gressa File

The Fourth Proto-Coll

The Orduighean-dessa File

The Dogs of Todhar

Glamb Rock Icon David J*eBl*ckssen RIP

It doesn’t seem that long since fans of 70s glam rock were saddened by the passing of Sylvain Sylvain, guitarist in the massively influential New York Dolls, the band who scandalised the Big Apple in the early 1970s and bridged the gap between glam and punk. 

And now we hear that Dolls frontman David Johansen has passed away as well. 

After the New York Dolls (Johansen, Sylvain, Johnny Thunders, Jerry Nolan and Arthur “Killer” Kane) imploded in the mid-70s, Johansen went on to forge a solo career as lounge singer Buster Poindexter, sang with his blues band the Harry Smiths and appeared in many films (he was the ghost of Xmas Past in “Scrooged”).

But enough about him. More importantly, island glamb rock fans are also in mourning, following the death the same day of Johansen’s cousin from Mossend… 

David JoeBlackssen made his name in the early 70s as frontman with the New York Dollags, a band of notorious rock ‘n’ roll degenerates who regularly played the Drill Hall and the YM dressed unapologetically in ladies’ clothes – beannags, flowery aprons and glittery nylon overalls. 

The band were originally called the “New York Dòmhnalls” and were secretly sponsored by emigré Tong property developer Donald Chon Trump, who wanted to make sure nobody back home forgot about him. 

Donald Chon promised the band he’d broker “the best ever” promotional deal with exclusive Stornoway gentlemen’s outfitters Mackenzie & Macsween, so that they could kit themselves out for free with cool stage threads from proprietor Ailig Mhurchadh Nèill’s cutting edge collection. Due to an administrative error at Trump Tower, however, the deal was struck with the Cailleachswear Department at Nazir Bros’ Church Street boutique instead. 

Determined to make the most of any  freebie that came their way, the band ran riot in Nazir’s, loading up on communion hats, support tights, goot solid tweed skyurts of a modest length and plenty of these wee boots with the zip up the front and the fake fur round the top. Next, they went round to Kenny Froggan’s to get lipstick, but got told to fleek off because they were coves. Undeterred, their next stop was the Crofters’, where they got round the cosmetics embargo by purchasing a reasonably priced tin of red sheep marker. From that day on, the “Dòmhnalls” were the “Dollags” and there was no going back.

In the late 60s, before forming the band, Joeblackssen’s pal Suilven Suilven had been in the fashion business, running a clothing business with former school pals Billy Ma-shiar and Shonny Thundertakers. Their company made tweed chackets specially tailored for fashion conscious drinkers and poachers in the Keose, Laxay and Balallan area. With extra big pockets for concealing bottles of Cream o’ the Barley or a Salmon or two, “Drouth & Soval’s” fab gear was hugely popular with the stylish 60s mod-about-the-moor. 

But music won out over fashion and the three friends formed the Dollags in 1971. With Suilven on guitar and attitude, Thundertakers on lead guitar and spaced out wistfulness and the exotic “Colombian”(*) Ma-shiar on drums and loom pedal, they were soon joined by JoeBlackssen on vocals and Arthur ‘Killer’ Kraigdunane on the bass. Jerry Dolansshop later replaced original drummer Billy Ma-shiar, who sadly died of a herring overdose in 1972.

(*) “Born and bred in ‘Colombia’ Place, cove”

The Dollags didn’t get on the telly much due to their being highly controversial (and ruppish), but there was one legendary appearance on BBC Alba’s flagship “serious” rock programme “‘Se Ur Beatha” in 1972. After the Dollags blow everyone away with a scorching performance of “Chet Cove”, uncomprehending soft rock hippie presenter Whispering Bobban Harristweed, turns to camera and from behind his dodgy 70s biology teacher beard, sneers: “Maw-k rock”.

The Dollag’s 1st album ‘New York Dollags’ was produced by Toddsmill Rundgren and packed with classics such as:

• Percevalsquaretoilet Crisis
• Freepresbyterianese Baby
• Fankensteinish
• Lookin’ For a Keose
• Lonely Feannag Boy
• Drarsh

… and yet despite critical acclaim (someone in the queue for the Ness bus said it was ‘No bad’), it hardly dented the Isles FM album charts.

Their second album, ‘Too Mulch Too Soon’ came out in 1974 and was produced by Shadow Northton (the cove who produced 60s blone group the Shangri-Laxdales and wrote their big hit “Leader of the Pairc”). 

“Too Mulch…”  fared marginally better in the charts, but with tracks like ‘Bayble-on” and “Who Are The Minister-y Girls?’  it went on to become a cult classic, beloved by hardcore SY punk bands like The Rong, The Subjects, BWB and Addo.

However, by the mid 70s the Dollags were being overtaken by the aforementioned SY Punk scene (centred on low-life Battery nightclub APCBFPGB’s), and the band went into a downward spiral due to their enormous drink and drug intake.

In a last-ditch attempt to revive their career, they let themselves be managed by Malcolm Mawclaren. As he would later do with the Seggs Pistols, Mawclaren  sought to boost the band’s profile by stirring up as much controversy as possible, dressing them up in red boiler suits, holding press conferences where they swore allegiance to the communist regime of Point, and having them play before a giant red hammer and tairsgear flag. (While it may have been mere posturing, it was allegedly all done with their sponsor Dòmhnall-Iain’s blessing, so it might have been for real…)

Despite never hitting the big time themselves, the Dollags influenced countless rock groups that followed, such as Alice Crùbag, the Seggs Pistols, Ciste, the Ram-mones, Guns ‘N’ Keoses, Hanoi Rubhachs, Motley Crüach, The Damped, and especially 80’s indie legends The RoddySmiths, whose frontman Mawrissey was boss of their fanclub before becoming a world famous geehonk. Indeed it was Mawrissey who organized a reunion show for the band’s’ surviving members in 2004.

This prompted a comeback album in 2005 called ‘One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even The Lewis (Public)’ and a number of appearances at festivals (Sandwick Fank, Carloway Communions and one night down at the pier waiting for the ferry to come in).

David JoeBlackssen and his bandmates might not have been commercially successful, but they undoubtedly helped  shaped popular Leodhasach culture (even it was inadvertently just cailleachs’ fashions).

Aside from fronting the Dollags, JoeBlackssen had a busy solo career. His 1978 single “Fanky But Chic” did no bad, and – as suave Rubhach/Bernera lounge crooner and tractor enthusiast “Bosta Pointdexta”- he almost had a top 10 hit in 1987 with “(Air an) Lot Lot Lot”.

JoeBlackssen also indulged his love of rootsier music in danns a’ rathaid combo the Àiridh Smithshoeshops, and appeared in a number of film roles on BBC Alba and Grampian… perhaps most famously as the Coinneach-Gho-st of Christmas Past in 1988’s “Screwtopped”, with Bill Murrayplace.

The Summer of Heavy Metal: The Stornoway Connection Part 1 of 2

(First Published in Ker-Angie Magazine)

Fleek sakes man. If you are a fan of Heavy Metal and/or Hard Rock (and remember that this has been compulsory since 1971  for all young men between ages 12 and 24 according to Stornoway Bye-Laws), you are in for a summer of classic rock and metal.

You’ll no doubt have heard that legendary metal band Black Sabbath are giving their last ever (again) concert this summer in their home town of Birmingham.  

Hot on the heels of that you’ll see AC/DC performing live in Scotland at Murrayfield for the first time in many years. 

And to cap it all, as we go to press there are even (unsubstantiated) rumours going about that headbanging 70s black metal overlords Island Express are (allechedly) planning a one off massive stadium gig at Goathill Park.

So, it’s a lot to take in and a lot to cover, but we’ll start off by looking at where Heavy Metal really started.

Birmingham?

Fleek off, it’s no Birmingham, it was Back!!  Where accordions were once turned up to 11, where (side) drum solos lasted a whole Communion Weekend and where lead singers scared Mod Adjudicators with their long ‘slightly short back and sides’ hair. 

Black Sabbath themselves have often acknowledged that it was a chance encounter in the Tong Hall that opened their ears to the potential of Heavy Metal. The four members of Black Sabbath-to-be (at that time called ‘Earth’ and aspiring to play ‘jazz rock fusion’) were at a Scout Camp in Stornoway in 1969. The four ‘straight A’ students were clean cut, regular church goers and just about to become Queen’s Scouts.

One night they set off on an orienteering course and found themselves outside Tong Hall. Inside they could hear a screeching cacophony of feedback, loud screaming, booming drums and much wailing and gnashing of teeth. This turned out to be an FP prayer meeting, so they nipped across the road to Tong Primary School instead, where Back Sabbath were performing.   

On stage were Ossian Osbourne on vocals, Tony Oh-eye-cove on lead guitar (and piano accordion), apprentice barber Geeper Butler on bass guitar (and button accordion) and Bayble Ward behind the Woolies drum kit.  They were resplendent in their denim boiler suits and Arnish chackets (with ‘Calum Kennedy’ spelt out in metal studs on the back).

Tony Oh-aye-cove was of course famous for having chopped the tips of his fingers off with a tairsgeir while working as an apprentice for Calum Steallag, and subsequently used little rubbery finger caps of guga skin to play the guitar with. The oil seeping from the guga skin had the additional bonus of lubricating the strings and allowing him to play much faster.

Back Sabbath’s genius was to take the subject matter of the average 1960s Lewis Sunday sermon and set it to music in a style that matched its lyrical themes perfectly. Their Brummie cousins – reared on a feeble diet of backsliding wishy-washy Church of England preaching and insipid hymn-singing – were most impressed by the way Sabbath scared the fleek out of the Tong Primary School audience with their trademark mixture of volume, doom-laden heavy riffs, exhortations to get to church and repent all your sins before Domhnall Dubh got a hold of you, and graphic lyrical descriptions of what would happen to you when he inevitably did anyway. 

Ozzy and the coves headed back down South resolved to bring some of that hell, damnation and noise to the masses of the Midlands, and it seems to have gone quite well for them since.

But meanwhile, back on the croft… Back Sabbath had a big hit with ‘Barra-noid’ in 1970,  reaching Number 1 on the Isles FM Singles Chart. This was a hard rockin’, never stoppin’, head banger about a tourist getting stranded on Barra because he can’t find the ferry terminal.

But they were primarily an album band, releasing a string of doom-laden epics from 1969 through to the breakup of their classic line-up in 1978. These included:

Debut album “Back Sabbath”… 

“Barra-noid”

“Maw-ster of Reality”

“Uilleam 4” 

“Habost Bloody Habost”

“Sabhs-potage”

“We Sold Our Soul for Deoch ‘n’ Dole” 

“Texel Ecstasy”.

And in 1978, the ill-fated “Never Say Braighe”. 

To this day, you’re never far from a Back Sabbath fan “happily” headbanging and air-guitaring along to some of the classic tracks from these albums – songs like:

“(Peat)iron Man” 

“War Peats”  (“Generals gathered in their musses/Just like witches on the… Tolsta busses”)

“Peat Leaf”

“NorthofScotlandHydroElectric Funeral”

“Fairies Wear (Arnish) Boots”

“Behind the Wall of Sheep”

“Cnoc ‘n’ Roll Doctor”

“Children of the Grav-ir”

“Lordsdayobservancesociety of This World”, or 

“Hand of Doombraes”

Even some of the songs from the once-derided “Never Say Braighe” album are considered no bad nowadays – tracks such as “Junior’s Ayeayecove”, “Aird Dance”, and of course that old Sabbath favourite… “Chainin’ the Swing”.

It has to be said that the critics of the 60s and 70s scoffed at Sabbath’s churchgoing  image and didn’t rate them as highly as hard rock contemporaries Sheep Purple and Led Sheeplin. And yet Sabbath have probably gone on to have a much greater influence on the development of modren Hebridean metal, with all its subgenres; thrash metal, speed metal, black metal, doom metal, free metal, free metal (continuing), associated presbyterian metal, reformed (continuing) associated metal (continuing) and so on. Latter-day legends of metal from Iron M’eudail  to Napalm Ness, Maw-tallica, Slay-Ur, MegaDell, Offspringfieldroad, Costello and Bad Rep all cite Back Sabbath as a formative influence.

Co dhiu, Ossian Osbourne got the platform Arnish boot from Back Sabbath in 1978, due to his erratic behaviour (going to St Peter’s Episcopalian Church once to see what it was like) and the poor reception for “Never Say Braighe” (1 copy sold in Maciver and Dart’s, but returned with a complaint the same day). He was replaced by diminutive dawn squad regular Donnie Seamus Dee-och, who had recently left Ritchie Blackwater’s Rainbowtrout in an acrimonious dispute over whose turn it was to buy the half bottle from Cathy Ghall’s before they went on tour. 

Undeterred, Ossian set off on his own adventures with ‘Gizzard Of Oss’ (?), and beyond that to stardom in his own reality TV series on BBC Alba – ‘Meet The Ossians’. 

The post-Ossian line-up of Back Sabbath continued, initially with Donnie-Seumas Dee-och. But Dee-och himself was soon replaced by ex-Sheep Purple vocalist Iain GallanHead in 1983. Gallanhead didn’t last long either, as during recording of “Borve Again” he got the cùram and left to go in for the ministry.

Back Sabbath continued through the 80s and 90s with a rotating cast of singers and musicians, most of whom seemed to have been on the run from some lineup or other of Sheep Purple or Rainbowtrout; Iain Gallanhead, Glenn Hughsonslorry, Cozy Trowel, Tony Martinsmemorial… the list goes on, and the only constant was Tony Oh-ay-cove.

Inevitably with such a high staff turnover, the quality of Back Sabbath’s Post-Ossian albums was variable, but there are one or two among them that are well liked by some (mostly Sheep Purple and Rainbowtrout fans). These include:

“Heaven and Dell”

“Maw Rules”

“Borve Again” (With Iain Gallanhead)

“Seventh StarInn” (With Glenn Hughsonslorry, also from Sheep Purple)

“The Eternal Ui Domhnall” (With Tony Martinsmemorial)

“Headless Cross Inn” (With Cozy Trowell And Brian Baidh from Banrigh)

“Decùramizer”

It must be said, though, that Hebridean metal fans breathed a collective  sigh of relief when Tony Oh-eye-cove eventually got fed up with auditioning Sheep Purple’s cast-offs, and started putting the the old Sabbath line-up together for the occasional outing. So we look forward to seeing Ossian, Tony, Geeper on stage again soon. (Sadly it seems that Bayble Ward won’t be joining them, though,  because he can’t get the bits for his drum kit now that Woolies has closed).

Next week we delve down under, exploring the Leodhsach links with AC/DC. But for now, let’s all sign out with a rousing version of Barra-noid. All together now….

‘Ardveenished with my woman ‘cause, 

She couldn’t help me the pier to find

People think it’s in Bagh a Chaisteil because

I’m in Kisimul all the time.

All day long I think of things

But nothing leads to Vatersay

Think I’ll lose my ferry ticket

If I don’t find some way to Castlebay

Can you help me

Occupy McBrayne

Oh yeah’

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