The second in a series where artists bands playing the 20th Jockrock Anniversary show step back in time, Kylie-style, to 1997.

David_MacGregor

This time it’s the turn of David MacGregor out of Kid Canaveral:

What were you listening to / what were you doing around 1997?

And were you on the web then? If not, when did you arrive?

“I was but a wean in 1997, coming to terms with the horror of puberty and trying not to get battered at secondary school – I was a skelf of a boy.

“I definitely wasn’t on the internet then and wasn’t until I left home four years later. I got a CD player for my birthday in September of that year.

“What Scottish music was I listening to? I can’t really remember much about 1997, to be honest. I had a copied (sorry) cassette of Good Feeling by Travis and all its associated B-sides (my best pal got it from his dad, and his pal claimed he had it because he had done some work at the studio – this raised a chuckle because it was recorded in upstate New York, I think…).

“I did buy the CD when I got my first part-time job, I promise. I got Pop by U2 from Fopp for a fiver. Something about mental techno-flecked stadium rock and a giant glittery lemon disco ball appealed to the 13-year-old me. I was a super-cooI, obviously.

“I picked up The Best of REM (all the old IRS stuff) on a definitely legit cassette when I was on holiday and I think I almost wore the tape away with how much I listened to that.

But it’s not just about 1997 – what about Scottish indie acts who inspired you?

“I was hugely inspired by the DIY ethos of Chemikal Underground when I was a teenager in Glasgow. The excitement of reading about their bands in the ‘big’ press and being able to nip into what is now LOVEMusic on Dundas Street or Missing on Wellington Street and grabbing their latest releases was much better than yr streaming pish.

“I remember hearing They’ll Hang Flags From Cranes Upon My Wedding Day by ballboy on Vic Galloway’s show in about 2000/1 and loving it. It was a scramble then to write down what it was. I have definitely ripped off Gordon by way of the occasional extremely long song title.

“100 Broken Windows came out when I was 16 and I was absolutely obsessed with it. I barely listened to anything else the months after it came out. In fact, probably nothing else at all. It’s a treat to return to.

How about your favourite gigs over the last 20 years?

“I saw Joe Strummer at the Barras in 1999. That was amazing. I got KBed from At The Drive In at the Arches for being obviously not 18, which I’ve never quite gotten over.

“I first saw Frightened Rabbit at the 13th Note at an Is This Music? night in 2007, that was pretty special. Aereogramme at The Reading Rooms in Dundee in 2003 was a belter.

“I saw John Martyn in the Roisin Dubh in Galway in 2005. I feel very lucky to have been at that. I was sat only four feet away from him as he played on a foot-high stage.

“Acoustic Arab Strap supported by Stuart Braithwaite at Triptych in St Andrews in the Square in 2002 was not too shabby at all.”

David MacGregor plays the Jockrock 20th Anniversary show at Glasgow’s Stereo on Friday 20th October. Kid Canaveral’s third album ‘Faulty Inner Dialogue’ is out now.
More at www.kidcanaveral.co.uk.