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Before she opened her well known record shops in town, Cathie McCabe herself was a performer.
She was a pianist & singer and often performed at events in the Caird Hall and other such evenings like this one at the The Royal Retreat in Forfar in November 1962. In the mid 70's, I once went into the shop in Murraygate wearing a T-shirt with an image of a grand piano on it. Cathie spotted it and mentioned that she collected pianos. Startled, I replied "Just how big a mansion do you live in?". After laughing, she explained that she meant she collected things like ornaments, paintings and trinkets - with a piano theme! |
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Local act, Stan an' Deliver, played soul, funk, R&B, and the occasional pop tune.
They are most well known nowadays for being the band Billy MacKenzie was in, a couple of years before The Associates started up. This gig along at the Sands was in November 1976, and also on the bill was the Phil Trailer Band. |
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The Mystery Men became as well known around Scotland for their image as well as their sound. They came up with the gimmick of the band all wearing eye masks.
The ad for a gig in Keith, is dated October 1961. By March 1963, they were one of the bands on TV show, "Teenbeat". Incidentally, the show was presented by Dundonian, Andy Lothian, and also in this episode were 3 other locals, Tony Vincent, Sheila Mitchell and Johnny Hudson. |
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September 1981 and the Cranked Up disco was entertaining the Tayside Bar crowd with an "alternative" selection of sounds.
It is advertised (tongue in cheek) as a "Disceaux", because in '81 the new wave "futurist" genre had also been termed Dance Nouveau in the UK music press, producing acts such as Classix Nouveaux. |
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Ken Blair used to be in local reggae band, The Grip, in the early '80's, but after he departed he decided to get himself a music & sound recording degree at Surrey University.
It turned out to be a good career move. Part of the course required a one year training stint in Montserrat at the famous Air Studios. These studios were originally set up by George Martin and were usually only used by the biggest names in the music world because of how exclusive, expensive and luxurious they were. Also in the 80's, Ken composed a rock musical with a Christmas Nativity theme, complete with orchestra and choir. He now runs BMP Sound Recording Company. |
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This Aberdeen gig took place in April 1980.
Dundee act, Friction, were one of the support bands, but headliners, the Rude Boys didn't show up on the night so Friction ended up top of the bill! Strangely, Friction weren't a full-on ska band, they just had a couple of tracks that sounded a bit like it - and the band themselves didn't want to be known as a ska band, but here they were heading a 2 Tone night! |
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A decade before the Saturday lunchtime jazz sessions started up along at the Sands, they were having Saturday jazz sessions at The Top Hat in Princes Street.
The ad is dated April 1966 and the jazzy outfit were the T.J.Q. Not sure yet if The Ravens were a Dundee act. Definitely not the pre-Kinks lot, but there was a group called The Ravens started up in 1965 around the Falkirk area, so it could possibly be them. More research needed. |
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