Godard in Glasgow, Part 1: 1978-2000

November 9, 2015

Ahead of his show at The Admiral on Friday 13th November, 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:

My history of playing in Glasgow should have started in 1977, when the White Riot Tour came to Scotland. However, in the end we played Aberdeen University 6^th May 1977 and Edinburgh Playhouse 7^th May 1977 – but sadly the tour was banned by Glasgow council. So the first time Subway Sect actually played Glasgow was 21^st October 1978 at the Apollo, supporting the Buzzcocks on their Love Bites Tour: by then our line up had changed, with Colin Scott on bass, Steve Spartan on keyboards, Johnny Britten on guitar and Bob Ward still on drums.

At the start of 1981 I teamed up with a new group,The Subway Sect: Chris Bostock on bass, Rob Marche on guitar, Dave Collard on piano/trumpet and Sean McLusky on drums. (They went on to become The JoBoxers, with Dig Wayne on vocals.)

We ditched the rock songs in favour of what became known as Lounge Music, but which we just called swing, as you can hear in this 1981 demo of Caribbean Blue:

This new combo played at Night Moves Glasgow on 22 October 1981.

The Subway Sect had a reunion on 20/11/2014 at the 100 Club and we’re planning more, this is a taster of the night. ‘Just In Time’ filmed by Tracey Holloway:

At the start of the nineties I met up with Edwyn Collins for the first time when Geoff Travis suggested him as producer for my LP The End of the Surrey People. I joined him on stage several times including at Fleadh Glasgow Green (24/05/1992). We were up against Van Morrison on the main stage, and also on the bill were Kirsty MacColl, Rory Gallagher and Del Amitri.

I’ve been working with Douglas MacIntyre and The Creeping Bent Organisation since 1998, when I appeared live with Adventures in Stereo at the Royal Festival Hall as part of an evening of Creeping Bent entertainment at John Peel’s Meltdown Festival. I’ve also collaborated with Creeping Bent artists The Leopards, The Secret Goldfish, The Nectarine No9 and the association is ongoing: I’m currently working with Port Sulphur on a song. Also 1998, I sang at the Creeping Bent Night (26/07/1998) at the old CCA with The Leopards Mick Slaven, Douglas MacIntyre & Skip Reid, plus Pete Saunders on keyboards and Brian Docherty on bass – he also played bass for Adventures in Stereo who were also on the bill with Secret Goldfish. I sang with the same Leopards Plus line up for the Beat Room TV show (08/12/1998), filmed at The Polo Lounge Wilson St:

In 1999 Creeping Bent released the double A side 7″ ‘Place We Used To Live’ and The Secret Goldfish’s ‘4 Excited People’ (Singles Club #10 bent048).

In March 2000, I came to Glasgow with The Bitter Springs, who’d been backing me as the live Subway Sect for the previous few years, to play at The 13^th Note (Old Stereo, 48 King Street, near the Clyde) with Nectarine No 9. The Bitter Springs and I recorded the songs that I wrote with Irvine Welsh for his musical ‘Blackpool’, four of which we later released as an EP on gnu inc: