Some of Scotland’s most talented rock musicians and filmmakers are teaming up for an ‘Inter-Creative Collaborations’ project that will raise money for the mental health charity Tiny Changes.

Bobby Bluebell and Port Sulphur are among the first acts to reimagine the music that means most to them, recording covers of songs which have stayed with them since they were young.

Scottish arts review site Into Creative has also persuaded filmmakers such as Grant McPhee (Teenage Superstars and Big Gold Dream) and Prof Ross Sinclair (formerly of the Soup Dragons) to create a video to accompany each song.

The collaborations have no brief other than for the musicians to record the music however they choose and for the filmmakers then to respond visually however they please.

To date, three songs and videos have been made in this ongoing project that will raise funds for the Tiny Changes charity set up by the family of Frightened Rabbit’s Scott Hutchison, who took his own life after years of battling with mental health issues.

Bluebell Robert Hodgens contributes to two of the first collaborations – as well as recording The Marmalade’s ‘Reflections of My Life’ for a video by Grant McPhee, he also goes behind the camera to make a film to accompany a version of ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’ (a hit for both The Flamingos and Art Garfunkel), recorded with his Fat Cops bandmate Chris Deerin.

Port Sulphur chose to cover Josef K’s ‘It’s Kinda Funny’, and Douglas Macintyre (also of Creeping Bent Records) said: “Josef K were a massive part of my life, especially at that crucial juncture when you’re 18, which is when I first saw Josef K performing at Glasgow City Hall supporting The Cure (as were Altered Images).

“The guitarists at that post-punk period in Scotland were as unique and original as the groups they played in (Scars, Orange Juice, Fire Engines), but my favourites were Josef K. It was a thrill when JK guitarist Malcolm Ross (along with Alan Horne) produced the only single released by Article 58 (released on Josef K manager Allan Campbell’s Rational label).

“I decided to do a Port Sulphur version of ‘It’s Kinda Funny’ for these dystopian times. The song is as soulful and relevant now as it was on its release 40 years ago.”

Of the video, Ross Sinclair adds: “It’s a very simple film, just one continuous shot, perhaps like those films they used to show on the Old Grey Whistle Test, some kind of discarded found footage in a rusting film can that seems to fit the bill. The images want to support and hold the song, without distracting. They reflect a feeling that is out of time, eerie, as the song has evolved, a cover version but not brought up to date, if anything made older, more antediluvian.

“The water you see is the Clyde Estuary, midway between Faslane and Coulport. I walk up here often, watching submarines, listening to audio books about philosophy while reflecting on the weapons of Global Annihilation hidden in the hollowed out mountains just a few miles away. The best and worst the human race has given the universe…Sometimes it’s hard to reconcile that we make them both. It’s Kinda Funny.”

The songs will be released for free download at the Into Creative Bandcamp page – with a request to donate to Tiny Changes.

The music videos so far released can be viewed on Into Creative’s YouTube channel:
Reflections of My Life‘ – music, Robert Hodgens (Bobby Bluebell); video, Grant McPhee

It’s Kinda Funny‘ – music, Douglas MacIntyre (Port Sulphur); video, Prof Ross Sinclair

I Only Have Eyes for You‘ – music, Chris Deerin and Robert Hodgens (from the Fat Cops); video, Robert Hodgens (Bobby Bluebell)

More at the Into Creative website.