McCool eMusic

Contact Hoose Page   Coinneach Musicã 1999

The Making of Painted People Painted People!: Whit dae ye say when something has taken up maist o' yer life. I am sure that it was runnin' through ma heid for about 15 years before I caught up wi' it. There was always something stoppin' it's inception, usually booze and sex, which would lead to marriage, which in turn led to divorces, wi' wee weans thrown in as casualties alongside the combatants. I use to say that I had Martial Problems, and I wisnae kiddin'. A true slip of the Freudian tongue. Efter three bashes at it, ye become jist a wee bit disenchanted wi' playin' at hooses and Spot the B&Q at weekends. Again, I land oot oan the street wi' a couple o' plastic bags, this is a 'Social Treatment' that am supposed tae learn all sorts of guid citizen lessons from, like how tae sleep up closes in Glesga in winter in style, and pick up soggy fag ends fae the wet pavement etc. I wisnae known as 'The Drunk in The Dressing Goon' for nothin'. Even when I surfaced in middens, I always had a silk dressing goon on. Painted People, got 'born' in 1989 in a similar situation doon in a pigsty in Winton Street Ardrossan. The room ah lived in had only hauf a ceiling, and hauf o' the plaster oan the wa's (The Pakistani Chentleman that oaned it didnae charge me hauf-rent fur this privilege), and ye could run the elephants in ma DT's through the windae cracks, which faced onto the sea that winter. I had been dry for aboot 3 years (I think) and I had tripped over a nWhisky bottles again. In an oot o' useless NHS hospitals again, I contemplated the moves to come. Very shakily, I switched on a four-track recorder and reached for a keyboard. I needed a life-or-death convincer other than the soup. 2 hours later I had completed what is now known as 'The Annexe' or Painted People Part II The Talking Stones of Arig, and I liked what I heard, because at this stage it's bugger the World. Over the next two years and a move tae Kilmarnock, very ill, an' in and oot o' hospitals like a yo-yo, trying to hing oan, I completed writing and recording the first four parts. I always get a mental snapshot of this time in Kilmarnock, hingin' oan tae a mixer and trying to complete my daily quota of writing and recording, which was five minutes of Painted People a day. My desperation when this was finished was such, that I sold all of my equipment for the price of a few drunks and later landed oot oan the bluidy streets, again. I never sent Painted People away looking for publication. Only a select small band of people ever heard it. No one ever said to my face that it was crap etc. Most said the reverse. I had a vague plan to perform it all over Scotland but this never came to fruition due to a permanent state of poverty. Painted People has been developed over the years. It now is in eight parts. Part VIIII is being thrashed aroon ma heid the noo when I cin escape fae Poxy People, Poxy compugas, Pox Tax collectors and ither sundry pains in ma heid., Jimmy? I'm a Scot, and Scottish Music, when I noticed it wis Humpity Tumpity, White Heather Club Touristy Trash, pumped oot by the same (it seemed) four piece band which was replicated all over the place, and you could never tell wan fae the other, as they all sounded the same. I wandered, in-an'-oot of drunks for years, wondering where all this hud come from. Of course, the Yanks had stolen it as usual, and the Hillbilly and Country Mob had mongrelised it further. There is plenty of diverse music within the Scottish genre, from Scottish fiddle music, The Music Hall Comedy songs of Lauder and his ilk, the Psalm singing of Free Church Congregations, Scottish Dance Band Music, The Scots Folk Traditional Songs which includes a lot of Rabbie Burn's songs and of course the 'popular' songs of Andy Stewart (Donald the flasher) and a late, missed old friend, Roddy MacMillan (Three Craws sittin' oan a wa', etc). Scottish Composers? well there's James McMillan or there's James MacMillan. The rest of us never happened according to the 'Am nae English Tory', Nae Deal Labour, Whit's a Liberal? Chattering classes oot there. Painted People ( The title comes from a Roman Historian caud Jimmyus) who described the inhabitants of this magic land as 'a Painted People' He was of course referring to The Original 'We are The People' - The Picts, the original aborigines of Scotland. Much later, the Scots shot over fae from Ireland fur their holidays and decided tae stey. By all accounts, clever big naked people, The Picts, their art and culture was advanced. Since, as far as I know, they didn't have a written language, as we know it, so we may have examples of their crafts, their sculpture and know something of their lives and deeds. Whit we don't have is a music score, by one of their composers, or a DAT tape wi' three hoors o' their dance music. Who ever heard of a musicless Scot. Not all of us can create the stuff, but we will always gae ye a few versus o' Scotland the Brave, Auld Lang Syne or Floor o' Scotland when it's time tae staun up and be counted. Painted People is my attempt at a flash back to The Picts, their music and their culture, to try and escapulate the essential harmonies into what we call Scottish Music. Have I succeeded? Don't ask me, I only write the stuff - judge for yourself. If it disnae make ye greet or make you feel proud tae be a Scot, then it hasn't worked. It's no Bang Bang Music (Ah hate it!), Rock 'n Roll (Ah dae that elsewhere!) or Humpity Tumpity Music (Try makin' love tae Jimmy Shand's music!). I always suggest that it's better served in a dark room together wi' a few wee sensations for those that can haundle it! That way ye can greet a guid greet and nae wan will see ye. TOP