Godard In Glasgow, Part 2: Sounds In The Suburbs and the Great B&B Fiasco

November 10, 2015

Ahead of his show at The Admiral on Friday 13th November (tickets) , we asked Subway Sect legend and all round post-punk muse Vic Godard if he would like to write us something about playing in Glasgow over the years. In response Vic has composed the definitive guide to Godard in Glasgow…Vic’s Here:

A long association with Glasgow promoter Alan Hendry & Sounds in the Suburbs began in 2006. Alan has promoted our Glasgow shows ever since, previously at Stereo or the Accies, and is trying somewhere new this year at The Admiral. Alan also promotes a cornucopia of other acts, many at Woodend Bowling and Tennis Club.

The first two SITS gigs in 2006/7 were at Stereo and the Accies. A new Subway Sect line up with Mark Laff on drums, Paul ‘Trigger’ Williams on bass and Leigh Curtis on guitar had been put together to record and promote 1978 Now, a collection of songs from the punk era. We were very pleasantly surprised to see that the gig at the Accies with Bricolage (22/06/2007) was a Critic’s choice in the Scotsman.

In 2006 we were doing a session for Vic Galloway at BBC Scotland before the gig and were running late, in our haste to make it on time to the studio we had a bit of a B&B mix-up with hilarious consequences. Trigger tells the tale here:

When we left the B+B the next day Mark Laff said he was going to report our host to the Scottish Tourist Board, the rest of us just fell about laughing!!

The next two Subway Sect SITS gigs in Glasgow were 15/11/2008 and 5/12/2009 both at Stereo and I had another Subway Sect line up. Mark Laff left (for the second time!) and drummer Gary Ainge (Felt & Gokart Mozart) joined, together with two more new additions, Mark Braby on bass and Kevin Younger on guitar/keyboards. The 2008 gig was recorded and produced by Murray Robertson with live sound by Shona Marshall for ‘Live in Stereo’ (gnuinc0001 2009), gnu inc’s first limited edition release.

Sadly Gary Ainge had to retire from the group in 2010, halfway through the recording of the LP We Come as Aliens, due to an ongoing back problem: Paul Cook stepped in to the breach and played drums on the rest of the album. Meanwhile our live line up changed again, with bassist Mark Braby taking over the drumming and Bitter Springs bass player Dan Ashkenazy guesting with the Sect for the next year, including SITS at the Accies in 2011.

We had a very enjoyable gig at the Old Hairdressers (27/08/2011) with a special line up put together for Love’s Rebellious Joy – A Tribute to Paul Reekie. The night was hosted by Sounds in the Suburbs & We Can Still Picnic with The Sexual Objects Davy Henderson on guitar, Graham Wann on guitar, Simon Smeeton on bass, Douglas MacIntyre on guitar bass, Gareth Sager on guitar, Russell Burn on drums and me!

I came up with a new arrangement for Parallel Lines for the occasion:

A more traditional Nobodys Scared, except with 4 guitars! Both filmed by Lee McFadden:

Photograph of Subway Sect The Accies 23/03/2012 courtesy of Brian Mackie

After we finished recording We Come As Aliens Paul Cook and fellow Professional Paul Myers (also the original Sect bassist from ’76 to ’78) agreed to do some live gigs to promote it with Sect stalwarts Mark (on guitar now) and Kevin, including SITS at the Accies 23/03/2012. This line up started recording 1979 NOW! (AED Records 2014), recorded and produced by Edwyn Collins and Seb Lewsley, a collection of Northern Soul numbers I wrote in 1979 for Bernard Rhodes’s latest protégés, The Black Arabs, who had been asked to support Dexy’s on their first tour, but didn’t have any songs.