I'm Free by the Soup The Soup Dragons was released 36 years ago today Its story is one of THE big music injustices so I wanted to set the record straight; not only perceived press reaction but its place in pop history - and its unexpected afterlife grantmcphee.substack.com/p/injustice-...

50 Years of Scottish Punk : The Questions - a Q + A with songwriter, Paul Barry. Edinburgh new-wave teenager to international number one hits. grantmcphee.substack.com/p/50-years-o... #thequestions #paulbarry #someotherguy

Davy Graham and Archie Fisher, Edinburgh 1962

For the record there was nothing audacious about it at all. We thought it was funny that someone would say that about our band and we put it at the start of the record for a laugh 🤷

Sylvie Vartan

The Waterboys 3CD/3LP ATLANTIC RAIN is out July 17. It contains some of our best music - lost for almost 40 years. Pre-orders and pre-saves here: thewaterboys.lnk.to/atlr

'Jerks set off protests' The Sex Pistols 1978 tour of America has been extensively covered. Surprisingly, there was a lot of space dedicated to the band in 1976, from their earliest days. I've compiled a chronological look at what was written then. grantmcphee.substack.com/p/sex-pistol...

49 years ago today the Sex Pistols didn't play Clouds, Edinburgh, due to the fall-out from the Jubilee boat-trip. Emergency Exit were due to support and Jim Kerr was due to attend. Edinburgh was more open to punk than Glasgow and pressure rarely applied. Generation X would see similar weeks later

This is what I was getting up to at the weekend. And lovely to meet Allan Williams' children. Not only did Allan effectively start MerseyBeat when he replaced local bands for the departed Eddie Cochran slot, he told Bill Drummond to start Big in Japan www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/whats-on/mus...

Joy Division were booked to play here, 46 years ago today.

50 Years of Liverpool DIY #12 : Bill Drummond joins the Liverpool School and Illuminatus! grantmcphee.substack.com/p/50-years-o...

50 Years Jung order of screenings for the event on the 6th of June at Mathew St. These will be playing in the former O'Halligans Parlour all afternoon. So, plenty of time for everyone to have a chat, share memories and reflections; have food, a drink, go and come back or watch some rare films

Proof that music can change people and cities On the left, 50 years ago today: Sex Pistols at Lesser Free Trade Hall (Paul Welsh) On the right: Tony Wilson Place, 40 years later With lots of money and great records made inbetween. Hopefully new footage gets released today

6th June 1976. Liverpool's Lesser Free Trade Hall moment : The 1st Jung Festival. A new Substack article grantmcphee.substack.com/p/50-years-o...

49 Years of Scottish Punk: Glasgow's Burning. An extended story of when the Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads and Television spent a weekend in Scotland. grantmcphee.substack.com/p/21st-22nd-...

50 Years of Liverpool DIY #9 Dream. The two dreams which changed a city and the very strange story of how they opened a warehouse on Mathew St. grantmcphee.substack.com/p/50-years-o...

Norman, Sean & I are in the Paper today about a special screening and Q&A event happening in our old home town of Bellshill. @hifisean.bsky.social @grantmcphee.bsky.social www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/scottis...

The double helix parallel evolution of Scottish 80s/90s indie music. Despite the 1992 subtitle of Scene Within a Scene they both effectively start in 1983. Same God but different prophets.

#PetSounds by the #BeachBoys was released exactly 60 years ago today, on the 16th May 1966. Or was it? The preceding week, from the 11th of May to the 15th of May certainly suggests otherwise, showing record stores having it available for purchase. grantmcphee.substack.com/p/happy-60th...

Article 58 and Creeping Bent 100. Get your order in for both of these straight away - essential purchases for anyone vaguely interested in Scottish post-punk, and related friends of Scottish post-punkers such as Alan Vega and Vic Godard. Get them on Creeping Bent/LNFG. And get them now!

What if Donovan Actually Did Invent Everything? A new Substack article for Donovan's 80th birthday. grantmcphee.substack.com/p/what-if-do...

50 Years of Scottish Punk: The Fannylips Fife's all female punk band. A new Substack article grantmcphee.substack.com/p/50-years-o...

Scottish indie-music and Nirvana 2 Nirvana's connection with Scottish indie superstars The Vaselines, Teenage Fanclub and BMX Bandits is rightly celebrated. The band's first Scottish love though was the excellent Cateran and here's a fine photo of Krist Novoselic sporting a t-shirt while their tour

50 Years of the Pool of Life # 8 : The Decline and 3rd Rebirth of the Cavern The real-time press story of the transition of The Cavern to Eric's 1973-1976 : The Cavern to Eric's grantmcphee.substack.com/p/50-years-o...

"One of the greatest health advocates in rock music is Lou Reed" 23rd October, 1970 -The Republican This and many, many more Velvet Underground news clippings in The Velvet Underground Myth Archive thevelvetundergroundmyth.com

A vast new online resource: The Velvet Underground Myth Archive: A free, publicly accessible database of hundreds of rare press clippings documenting the rise of The Velvet Underground, methodically organised month by month. Enjoy thevelvetundergroundmyth.com #thevelvetunderground

A new Substack: Were the Sweet really in a Ballroom Blitz in Kilmarnock? grantmcphee.substack.com/p/the-sweet-...

One of a few other new reviews for Something For the Longing with some nifty select highlights www.godisinthetvzine.co.uk/2026/04/23/v...

One of the heroes of Scene Within a Scene is RM Hubbert, without whom there almost certainly would be no Kazoo Club, F&J Records or a producer for half the bands featured. The book wouldn't exist without him. And of course, the wonderful genre bending records he made! www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WG_...

Scene Within a Scene. When Postcards From Scotland was being put together it was written at the same time as this. Not a sequel but an alternative timeline of Scotland's late 80s to 90s independent music scene, tracing a different evolution. Out - 6/8 from @OmnibusPress

Quick shot! Two different books. One from @grantmcphee.bsky.social I got mainly for me, but available to others. A related 3CD set is about to come out and on my order list. And new in store, In Your Mouth from @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social, a fine addition to our poetry collection. #booksky

An Italian review of Something For the Longing - which is good as having it heard on far flung shores was the idea. And it has ten of the article writer's picks, including some really interesting or more obscure choices - which is also good. www.indieforbunnies.com/2026/04/20/l...

First review for Something For the Longing compilation is in. Thanks to Andrew Neal and Silent Radio. Some nice highlighted mentions of Stretchheads, Yummy Fur, Lung Leg, dawson, Mogwai, Badgewearer, Amphetameanies, Stanleys, Long Fin Killlie and Spare Snare! www.silentradio.co.uk/04/19/album-...

Last Train To Tucktonia : The KLF and Model Villages grantmcphee.substack.com/p/last-train...

1976 and 1977 Liverpool punk bands that were not the Spitfire Boys and Big in Japan Substack. grantmcphee.substack.com/p/50-years-o...

Day 10 - Something For the Longing bis- Kandy Pop One of the great moments of Scottish music - bis on ToTP Of course, they were not an unsigned band - they were on the mighty Chemikal Underground but this was a moment which demonstrated a different 90s to Britpop www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Qah...

Something For the Longing Box Set - Day 8. Here's one of the very, very great bands from Scotland - The Shop Assistants and I Don’t Wanna Be Friends With You. And an excellent photo of David Keegan taken by Paul Groovy in Brighton - 15/12/85 www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OxX...

You can catch me talking about Scottish 1976 and 77 punk and Caledonia Screaming on Alistair's excellent ScotsWhayHae podcast. Give Alistair a follow too if you haven't already as he's the man! www.scotswhayhae.com/post/alterna...

I've put together a timeline of the Sex Pistols two failed attempts to play in Liverpool on their December 1976 Anarchy Tour. grantmcphee.substack.com/p/50-years-o... #sexpistols #liverpool #anarchytour

Scottish Rockabilly! The confusing and intertwining story of Cube Libre Records and The Shakin' Pyramids. grantmcphee.substack.com/p/cube-libre...

Something For the Longing Day 5 The Orchids - Something For the Longing The song that gave the box set it's title - thank you Orchids. And it is one of the greatest songs from Scotland www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqrE...

Stuart Sutcliffe was born 85 years ago today grantmcphee.substack.com/p/stuart-sut...

Something For the Longing Day 4 Belle and Sebastian - Lazy Line Painter Jane A band who have done more for Glasgow's worldwide image than Visit Scotland ever could. Something For the Longing released on the 28th of April www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7Zb...

Postcards From Scotland has it's paperback release today so I'm sharing the film it was based on, Teenage Superstars for the day and night. www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCn2...

50 Years of the Pool of Life #5: A Trip to Zurich A very, very strange story of the links between alchemical stones, Swiss psychoanalysts and Liverpool post-punk grantmcphee.substack.com/p/50-years-o...

The Inevitable World of Eric's Records. A new Substack article grantmcphee.substack.com/p/50-years-o...

50 Years of The Pool of Life and Liverpool Punk: The O'Boogie Brothers. The missing links between Deaf School and Big in Japan. grantmcphee.substack.com/p/50-years-o...

The Pool of Life at 50 #1 : O'Halligan's Parlour In Liverpool, it’s not just the legendary Eric’s club that will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2026. And this is A LITTLE of the story of how one of these others , O'Halligan's Parlour came to be. grantmcphee.substack.com/p/the-pool-o...

New Substack- 50 Years of Scottish Punk : Dunbar's Wasted State. grantmcphee.substack.com/p/50-years-o...

My new album. Out in July: 'Izzy Wizzy Let's Get Bizzy' How magic became...Magick. @cherryredrecords.bsky.social will be available on vinyl/CD and digital trash