Sinister: The article, and other insignificant stuff

[M223CMellan]

Okay folks. It's like this. I'm putting the PAPER ARTICLE to the list,
because so many people mailed asking for it, so I thought that It would be
easier to do this.
I'm too tired and sad to comment on it right now, although some of the
quotes were quite amusing.

I've got more to say now. The whole 'likes' thang with the gurrrrlll. I
believe that it isn't just a 1 way thang (sorry for adopting the texan
drawllllll) Sometimes, when we talk, there will be strange looks and I
don't know what they mean. I can talk about serious things to her - death
(don't worry, I'm not going to get morbid) , life, worries, fears,
problems, and all that, stuff that we can't really discuss with anyone
else, not even my parents, family, or other friends. I've even given, and
recieved a hug to and from her. However, sometimes it's just hard to tell
what everything means - you don't know what is intended by a certain
comment, or or look - and someone suggested that I get drunk and tell all,
as I'll be able to  blame it on the drink - well I'm only16 - would you be
suggesting that I do a bit of underage drinking? I thing that there might
be somthing, but how can I be sure - I keep onn thinking that I'll say "I
think you're great, really great, the greatest ever", and then I'll see her
and think "I can't do this - this is stupid - I know what the answer will
be - a big fat no". I have already said that there are some strange looks
that are given (not strange as in (you are a bloody nutter), but possibly
'I want to say somthing but can't, (but not cause my mouth is taped up) or
even looks which are perfectly innocent, but I can't tell what is what.

Yeahhh -  also, I'm a scotsman, and I have a kilt, but I am in no way
foolish enough to wear no underwear - sometimes, when it is cold and windy,
it could be rather embarassing. However, us scots chase haggis (you know,
the three legged furry animals), round hills , throwing spears and rocks at
them, shouting "ARRRAGH -  YABASTARRRD!!!!!!!!!"

the article follows. (It is very, very, very long - took me an hour and a
half to write up last night. Ooohhh - my hands - Aggghhhhh - the pain)

Chris Mellan
"CRYSTALBALLS" -  the original and best.

M223CMELLAN at holyrood.gla.sch.uk



BATTLE OF THE BRITS            Sunday Times - Ecosse Section - 7th March
1999
---------------------------                    
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

They are the best newcomers to British pop, but Belle & Sebastian have
found
themselves in the middle of a pitched battle, they tell ALAN BROWN


It was fitting that Muhammed Ali, the greatest fighter of all time, should
have been a
guest of honour at the British music industry's annual beanfeast, the Brit
Awards, at
the London Arena last month. There he witnessed the most unlikely knockout
in the
history of British pop, as an obscure band from Glasgow triumphed in the
Best British
Newcomer category.
	Against the commercial might and boisterous appeal of teeny bop acts such
as
B*witched and Steps emerged Belle & Sebastian, a band known, if they were
known
at all, for their collective timidity than for their music. One look at
them - at their
Jesus sandals, librarian V-necks and unattended hair - would have told the
former
champ that not only did this lot float like butterflies, they stung like
them too. That
night in Docklands it was unlikely that even Ali, a perennial champion of
the
underdog, would have predicted success for the flyweight Scots.
	Nobody could have predicted what happened next. As their celebratory
hangovers lifted, Belle & Sebastian became enmeshed in controversy, amid
allegations that the vote had been rigged in their favour. The British
Phonographic
Industry  (BPI), the body that organises the Brits, was quick to vindicate
them, but the
row rumbled on. Just as it began to subside, Billboard magazine claimed on
Friday
that Belle & Sebastian might be stripped of their award, not because the
vote was
rigged but because they did not qualify under BPI rules as newcomers,
having had
several singles reach the top 40 last year.
	One irony is that this unwanted attention has focused on a band who have
made reticence an art form, shying from exposure and maintaining their
distance from
the London music business by recording for a tiny independent label from
their base
at a church hall in the west end of Glasgow. But there are other curious
twists to the
Brit affair. While Billboard claims that Belle & Sebastian contravene the
BPI 's
definition of a new band, the BPI says that this is untrue and accuses
Billboard of
publishing a distorted summary of BPI rules. An on-going Billboard
investigation is
considering the possibility that commercial interests within the record
industry are
influencing which performers are nominated and triumphant in the Brits.
	As Mark Solomons of Billboard admits, much of it's information comes from
BPI board member Pete Waterman - the record producer who first voiced the
vote-
rigging allegations: "Pete tipped me off that commercial interests are
being brought to
bear on the Brits," Solomon says. "And he seems to be talking a lot of
sense".
	Waterman insists that the Belle & Sebastian affair is not closed. "There
are
just too many anomalies that remain unanswered". He says he will raise the
issue of
corruption at a BPI council meeting on March 25. As producer of Steps, who
lost out
in the Best Newcomers category, Waterman's crusade might reek of sour
grapes.
Equally, the modest victory of a Scottish band could become a landmark in
Brits
history, for all the wrong reasons.
	Safely ensconced back in Glasgow, the band are happy to let the furore
play
itself out. Mark Jones, managing director of their record label, jeepster,
says the band
will "happily give the award back without loosing any sleep over it".
Stuart Murdoch,
Belle & Sebastian's front man, is more reflective: "I thought the only way
I'd ever
feature on the cover of The Sun would be for things that involved a
six-year
sentence." 

FAMOUSLY, the band did not attend the awards en masse. An eight piece
collective,
Belle & Sebastian found themselves so strapped for cash that only their
drummer and
trumpeter could afford to go. When the award was announced, the boozy cheer
of the
evening gave way to much bemusement, and not just in London: sitting at
home in
Glasgow, already drunk, the rest of the band listened to the ceremony on
the radio.
Drummer Richard Colburn was halfway through his acceptance speech when
singer
and songwriter Murdoch, the gravity of the situation dawning on him slowly,
woozily
cried: "I think we've won something!"
	If the award surprised the reticent Glaswegians, it proved more
disquieting for
some at the highest levels of the London music industry. Shortly after the
ceremony,
Waterman unleashed his claim. Known for his work in the 1980s shaping the
careers
of Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan, Waterman now guides Steps, an act whose
ABBA-derived pop had made them chart fixtures and, some claimed, a certain
shoo-
in for the Best Newcomer gong. Certainly this was the impression Waterman
had
formed, claiming that before the ceremony Brit insiders briefed him that
the award
was in the bag. The subsequent events left him splenetic.
	Belle and Sebastian won, he claimed, because their fans had unfairly
influenced the voting, which was done by the public through telephone and
internet
polls. A cabal of computer-literate Belle & Sebastian fans at Strathclyde
University
was blamed. The band's donnish demeanour, which had made them the heroes of
bedsit-bound adolescents round the world, had been turned against them.
	The affair has proved the latest bizarre chapter in a career marked by
perverse
singularity. They had rejected a multi-million pound offer from American
recording
giants Sire; it was considered too big a challenge to their downbeat
lifestyle.
	Rigorously avoiding publicity, the band prefer to stay in Glasgow's west
end,
leading the same lifes they had before their rise. Their folksy, whimsical
albums are
recorded in the nave of a church hall where the front man works as a
janitor. Touring
is avoided; concerts in community centres are much preferred.
	The Belle & Sebastian story began four years ago in Glasgow's Grosvenor
Cafe, a haven for the city's bohemian fringe of writers and musicians.
Here, Murdoch
dreamt of forming a band that combined lyrical sophistication with a
delicate, wistful
musicality. By nature a loner, he would approach likely looking strangers
in the cafe
with invitations to join his quest.
	A nucleus eventually coalesced round Murdoch: Stevie Jackson, a veteran of
the Glasgow band scene who works as an occupational therapist; Colburn, a
former
semi-professional snooker player; and Isobel Campbell, a classically
trained multi-
instrumentalist. Their debut album, Tigermilk, was released thanks to a
music project
run by Stow College. Two more albums appeared to widespread critical
acclaim,
compounded by selective live shows and minimal promotion.
	Musically, the band are wilfully old-fashioned, drawing their inspiration
not
from guitar rock but forgotten 1980s acts such as Felt, Orange Juice and
The Go-
Betweens. Album sales have followed an upwards curve: their second
collection If
You're Feeling Sinister has earned a silver disk for more than 60,000
sales, while its
successor The Boy With The Arab Strap recently went gold, reaching no 12 in
the
album charts.
	Success at the Brits meant that last week the album re-entered the Top 40
seven months after its release. Their sales worldwide total 300,000, an
amazing
amount considering the almost word-of-mouth manner in which their
reputation has
spread. The band's real genius may have been to use the full potential of
the internet
rather than conventional media to market themselves: their official web
site receives
100,000 hits a week. It is complemented by a rash of unofficial sites which
dissect
Murdoch's lyrics as if they were the first drafts of The Waste Land.
	There is an interesting paradox in a pastoral entity such as Belle &
Sebastian
finding themselves at home in cyberspace. Yet the web is a perfect forum
for insular,
fact-obsessed fans to dissect the objects of their affection, while Belle &
Sebastian
throw up much that requires dissection.
	One music biz insider believes that Belle & Sebastian's alliance with the
Internet played a part in the Brit debacle. Claims that their fans had
weighted the e-
mail poll reflect a wider unease within the music community. The insider
said: " The
music business wants nothing to do with the Internet. They realise it poses
a threat to
the way they work, the kind of investment that's put into new stereo
hardware and
reselling back catalogues in new formats. There's a suspicion of bands who
are
comfortable with the Internet."
	The point is underlined by Alan McGee, president of Creation Records:
"There will be no record companies in five or 10 years' time," says McGee.
"Artists
will just download their music direct to consumers via the Net."
	Back at the Brits, Colburn remembers how he went with modest ambitions: "I
genuinely thought we were here to make up the numbers," he says.
"Obviously, there
was the slight hope at the back of my mind that we might just win it. I
thought I'd
enjoy a night out then return to obscurity the next day, a bit like
Cinderella."
	If Colburn and trumpeter Mick Cooke entertained any hopes winning, they
were put into perspective when they entered the Arena.
	Colburn walked in behind the girl band B*wiched: "I thought that it would
be
a good policy to sneak in behind them. There was all this noise and fuss.
Then as
Mick and I walked by, the noise died down, the flashbulbs stopped. There
were 100
photographers muttering ' who the hell are those two?' under their breaths.
Almost
everyone looked utterly confused. One executive apparently thought that we
were a
music law firm."
	Alan Parks was among a small band of Scots executives at the awards, there
in
his capacity as A&R man for All Saints, New Order and Echo and the
Bunnymen. He
dismisses the idea, however carefully cultivated, of Belle & Sebastian
against the
world.
	"It's slightly disingenuous to suggest that nobody knew who they were," he
says, "The London Arena is a strange venue where you can't really hear
anything. I'm
sure that most people were genuinely pleased that they'd  won, if perhaps a
little
surprised. The only people who would be genuinely disappointed are the
other
nominees in their category."
	Amongst them, of course, was Waterman. A music industry insider suggests
Waterman's ire was provoked because he had his fingers burnt through
believing a
tip-off from a BBC producer.
	If he has learnt a lesson it is that, unlike Belle & Sebastian's devoted
fan base,
the audience for Steps is characterised by teenage fickleness: just 1% of
the band's fan
membership voted.
	Belle & Sebastian have refused to hit back at Waterman. They have taken a
decision (collectively, of course) to put the row behind them. The band
will say only
that justice was seen to be done: "Both the Brits organisers and Radio 1
were satisfied
that there were no illegalities following their enquiry. The whole thing
was
scandalous."
	They remain determined that the award and their curious notoriety will not
affect the manner in which they work. "We have this reputation for not
playing the
game," says bassist Stuart David, "but that's not really the case. Working
within a
democracy, it's difficult  to act as a spokesman for so many points of
view. In some
cases less is more. Now we've won a Radio 1 award, voted by for their
listeners, you'd
expect they'd play our records on the radio during the day. I suppose in
some ways it's
a victory for the small man, and speaking as a relatively small man, I hope
people
take encouragement from that."
	Steve Farris, of Sony Music, one of the many majors whose advances the
band
have rejected, believes Belle & Sebastian were destined for success. "They
are under
the microscope at the moment, but I can't imagine they'll be ordering
dancing girls
and drinking champagne," he says. "The recognition will help them sell a
few records.
I've no doubt that Stuart Murdoch will be hailed as one of the great
songwriters of the
decade. But there are five exceptionally talented songwriters in the band,
and for that
reason alone I think that they were always going to be massive."
	With the band seeming more like a Quaker sect that a conventional rock
act,
Belle & Sebastian's attitude can infuriate as much as their music delights.
Their
refusal to gage in self-promotion is explained as a sign of modesty but
there is also
something slightly precious about it, an elitist reluctance on the band's
part to sully
themselves by mingling with the unenlightened.
	If nothing else, their success is proof of something that many have wished
for
but few have seen: a Scottish band that can prosper outside the clutches of
the
metropolitan music industry, operating on their own terms in their own
place.
	In this respect, as in several others, Belle & Sebastian are a true one
off. Given
the controversy that still surrounds their win, they haven't let it rush to
their heads.
"We haven't really bought anything to celebrate," reflects David, "although
I have
decided to march boldly into the 1980s and buy a video recorder. I've
bought some
shelves and some sofas, but they'll take 10 days to come so the excitement
will have
died down by then."
	"Does modernising the house count as a celebration? We haven't maxed out
the AMEX, but I suppose I've gently battered the Switch card."


THE NEWCOMERS AND THEIR PAST

1993-94 - singer/songwriter Stuart Murdoch forms a band by approaching
strangers in
	   a Glasgow cafe. Releases several solo demos.
1995 - meets drummer Richard Colburn and bass player Stuart David
January 1996 - eight-piece is formed: Isobel Campbell (cello)
				         Sarah Martin (violin)
				         Stuart David (bass)
				         Richard Colburn (drums)
				         Chris Geddes (keyboards)
				         Stevie Jackson (guitar)
				         Mick Cooke (trumpet)
				         Stuart Murdoch (lead vocals and guitar)
March 1996 - Limited edition vinyl-only run of 1,000 copies of first album,
	Tigermilk, released. Radio 1's Mark Radcliffe hears and loves it; he gives
the
	band a session on his show.
1997 - Follow-up release, If You're Feeling Sinister Band turn down Top of
the Pops
	invite and offer of support slot on Radiohead's world tour.
Autumn 1998 - Third Album, The Boy with the Arab Strap, is released.
February 1999 - Best British Newcomer at Brit Awards. Accused of vote
rigging by
	Pete Waterman, but cleared by the BPI of all charges
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