If ever there was a Scottish indie-pop super group, then it's these chaps, the BMX Bandits. Containing, in no particular order or time frame, members of Teenage Fanclub, The Soup Dragons, Arab Strap and Eugene Kelly out of Captain America/Eugenius, not only do the group give me loads more names that I'd forgotten to include, but it also provides a collection of some of the most talented musicians of the generation - and all are from a little bit of Scotland near Glasgow.The problem of course with putting up such a well-regarded, if not particularly commecially-successful band is that there are lots of places around the web for them, probably the best being The unoffical tribute to the BMX Bandits.
A quick delve into Wikipedia shows just how influential the band were:
"Oasis did their first UK tour dates supporting the Bandits as a favour from Stewart to Creation label boss Alan McGee. BMX Bandits admirers include Kurt Cobain who was famously photographed wearing a BMX Bandits T shirt as he had been wearing T shirts of Daniel Johnston and Captain America (later renamed Eugenius) and Cobain claimed on a New York radio show that if he could be in any other band it would be BMX Bandits."So, rather than go over too much old ground, here's BMX Bandits - Little Hands and a picture of Nicole Kidman (see also this page) in the Australian film of the same name...
Oh yes, and needless to say the bit of vinyl pictures above is a promo only copy retrieved from some record fair bargain bin in the mid-90s in the vain hope it would be worth something...
I worked occasionally at Sheffield Hallam Uni Student Union and remember Oasis supporting BMX Bandits. 18 Wheeler were also playing.
ReplyDeleteOasis got paid £50 and a case of Stella. When they'd become huge the ents manager often used to get the contract out and gaze lovingly at it!
Serious Drugs is genius
ReplyDeleteDidn't they have a song called "Kylie's Got A Crush On Us"? It's coming back to me now - free cassette on the front of Select or whatever the other indie mag at the time was called... Had some link to the NME...
ReplyDeleteGreat title, great tune if I remember rightly. Though it's been a few years since I heard it...