Scene Within A Scene: Scottish Independent Music 1992-2001 by Grant McPhee
Out 6th August
Scene Within A Scene follows the authors excellent Postcards From Scotland, this time with labels such as Chemikal Underground and acts such as Belle and Sebastian, Bis, and Franz Ferdinand joining the party.
In the aforementioned compelling and dynamic oral history, McPhee chronicles the radical transformation of Scotland’s independent music scene from 1983-1995. With a slight bit of crossover, Scene Within A Scene takes hold of the baton and runs with the story, again including archival photos and drawing from over 100 interviews with the key players of the time. Gone are many of those who laid the path, such as Cocteau Twins, Shop Assistants, Teenage Fanclub, The Jesus and Mary Chain, etc. This time it’s the new breed: The Delgados, Camera Obscura, Mogwai and many more.
Positioning the book and setting the tone, the blurb explains, ‘SCOTLAND, 1992: the music industry is experiencing a comedown from the mid-eighties Scottish indie explosion. Key labels have collapsed; dance music and rave culture have stormed the charts. Guitar-led indie faced a reckoning: adapt or die. But from this wreckage came reinvention. Around the country, new bands distanced themselves from the jangling guitars typified by the NME C86 cassette. Drawing inspiration from eclectic, transatlantic influences like anarcho-punk, hardcore and no-wave – these new groups were closer to Captain Beefheart than the Byrds. However, inspiration also arose from closer inspection of the ‘other sound’ of the C86 cassette, specifically the roster of Big Flame, A Witness and The Mackenzies. These bands’ angular and abrasive sounds emulated earlier post-punk heroes such as Josef K and Fire Engines’…
Quick note at this point: a great accompaniment to this book, providing the perfect soundtrack, is the recent Cherry Red compilation, Something For The Longing, which was also curated by McPhee and includes all of the bands mentioned.
The great thing about oral histories, and possibly the most important thing too is that they preserve the firsthand experiences of those involved, filling gaps in what may have been perceived by the press or commentators at the time, revealing how the key individuals felt, even though occasionally people may not always remember things the same way. They are also a great way to get some of the lesser known names, those not generally courted by the media, to tell their stories, which are equally as important and valid.
They are also evidently readable and easy to dip in and out of, depending on if you want to follow the story through from the beginning, or just head straight for chapters on your favourite bands. I’ll admit I did exactly that, heading straight to the moment for which many, I imagine, at least South of the border, realised what was happening up North, as Bis appeared on Top Of The Pops in 1996. A good friend of mine was already one step ahead of the game and aware of this new scene and soon provided me a healthy education, with each Chemikal Underground release becoming as essential as Factory once had and Mo’ Wax had been a couple of years earlier.
It’s perhaps the ‘early years’ though which are the most interesting, the importance of the likes of David McArthur, Richie Dempsey, Craig Tannock, doing the groundwork a decade earlier and being instrumental in creating the ‘scene’ and in which others would later flourish…
Another tome of essential reading delivered by Grant McPhee for all music fans, and one which will have you digging through your late 1990s CDs and vinyl.
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All words by Iain Key. See his author profile here or find him via his LinkTree
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