BMX Bandits | Artist
BMX Bandits are a Scottish guitar pop band formed 1986 in Bellshill, Scotland by vocalist and songwriter Duglas T. Stewart. They have shared members with other Bellshill bands Teenage Fanclub and The Soup Dragons. The band has seen many lineup changes over the years, but always with Stewart at the helm. The current day lineup includes Stewarrt, Gabriel Telerman (guitar), Rachel MacKenzie (vocals), Stuart Kidd (drums, guitar), and David Scott (piano, guitar, synthesizer). Starting out in Bellshill, a town on the outskirts of Glasgow, the band emerged from the remnants of The Pretty Flowers, a group that featured Stewart alongside Frances McKee (later of The Vaselines), Sean Dickson and Norman Blake, of the Teenage Fanclub. The band would perform impromptu, happening-style gigs at various locations around Bellshill including local parks, their school and the Hattonrigg Hotel. Before settling on the name The Pretty Flowers, they usually performed under various controversial and outrageous names to attract attention. BMX Bandits formed as a collective of musicians rather than a fixed lineup, with Stewart acting as the leader. Many notable independent Glasgow musicians have passed through the band over the years. Their first studio album C86 was titled as such in reference to the group being unfairly pigeonholed by the music press as a C86-era leftover. The album features many of the band's staples, including "Disco Girl", "Your Class", "Whirlpool" and "Right Across the Street". Their sound was a blend of Twee Pop, Jangle and Indie Rock and their songs mix melodic qualities with humor and pathos. Their sound is heavily influenced by 1960s pop and European composers such as Serge Gainsbourg, Ennio Morricone and Michel Legrand. Outstanding albums include C86 (1990), Life Goes On (1993), Theme Park (1996), Down at The Hop (2003) and My Chain (2006). Singer Duglas T Steward released the excellent solo album Frankenstein in 1996. Legend has it that they were a favourite band of Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, who said "If I could be in any other band, it would be BMX Bandits". In 2011, the band was the subject of the documentary Serious Drugs: A Film About BMX Bandits.
Artist Website: bmxbandits.net
Featured Albums: BMX Bandits
Related Artists: Duglas Stewart, Teenage Fanclub, Soup Dragons