Connections, collaborations.<\/p>\n
Everything comes around, agrees Grahame Skinner, probably best known as vocalist of internationally successful 80s funk-soul-pop band Hipsway, but also for an assortment of other Scottish musical outfits:\u00a0The White Savages, The Jazzateers, The Skinner Group, The Cowboy Mouth.<\/p>\n
In most, his partner-in-crime has been Douglas MacIntyre, musician, producer and founder of Frets Concerts at the Strathaven Hotel. The two men met at the latter\u2019s 21st birthday party and formed a short-lived band, White Savages,\u00a0 who were influenced by the New York sound of Television and early Talking Heads.<\/p>\n
The bass player in White Savages was Douglas\u2019s friend Laughlin Allan, who had been in a band at school in Strathaven with drummer Dougie Hannah. Now, Douglas, Dougie and Laughlin join Grahame as the revamped, revitalised The Cowboy Mouth, who play Frets on Friday (June 6).<\/p>\n
The Cowboy Mouth – Dougie Hannah, Douglas MacIntyre, Grahame Skinner and Laughlin Allan (Image: Les Hoggan Photography)<\/p>\n
\u201cThe connections between us all go back years,\u201d nods Grahame. \u201cDouglas and I had drifted apart, musically \u2013 I was in London, he was in Glasgow, but we remained friends. He started up Frets, and said, maybe we should do something\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Around the same time, visionary Glaswegian record label Late Night From Glasgow, which has released assorted albums by Scottish bands of the 1980s and 1990s under its Past Night From Glasgow imprint, re-released The Cowboy Mouth\u2019s first album, Life as a Dog, on vinyl.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thought we might do a wee show, just to cap that off, so we did Frets and it was great,\u201d says Grahame.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really loved playing together.\u201d<\/p>\n
He adds, wryly: \u201cLike most things I do it either happens pretty naturally, or not at all\u2026..\u201d<\/p>\n
Grahame Skinner (Image: Newsquest)<\/p>\n
The band has since performed at gigs in Glasgow and Edinburgh, and recently unveiled their excellent new album, Faultlines, at a Last Night From Glasgow showcase in Cottier\u2019s Theatre<\/a>, to great acclaim.<\/p>\n The new record is a triumph, a mix of upbeat pop and melodic reflection, with Grahame\u2019s voice as rich and soulful as it ever was.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, thanks,\u201d he says. \u201cYou make it for yourself, and you hope other people like it. And anybody I\u2019ve spoken to who\u2019s heard it has liked it, so I can\u2019t really ask for more than that.\u201d<\/p>\n