My first experience of Spiderland was in late winter, early in 1998; a natural consequence of my blooming love for Glasgow’s Mogwai and Falkirk’s Arab Strap. I found the music to be astonishing, and this seminal album by Louisville band Slint is still unlike anything I have heard before or since. From the delicate guitar and opaque spoken word of Breadcrumb Trail to the pained exclamations of loss in Brian McMahon’s cries at the end of Good Morning, Captain; listening to this album was a key moment in the formative years of musical discovery that shape my listening, later my composing and ultimately, my life. Had I not heard Spiderland in my late teenhood, I may not have become so enthralled with the scene, and may not have found other such bands like Rodan, June of ’44, Rachel’s, Bonnie Prince Billy, and even maybe Canadians, Godspeed you! black emperor.

For the next decade, I would write, record, play, promote, release, and enthuse this music. I would attend hundreds of gigs and write about so many bands. Of course, given their split towards the end of 1990, it was a fanciful daydream to ever see Slint take to the stage to play live. In 2005, much to the surprise of many, that’s exactly what they did.

All Tomorrow’s Parties

How I found that Slint was to curate 2005’s All Tomorrow’s Parties festival at Camber Sands holiday camp in Kent is lost to time and anybody’s guess. I do remember, though, there was no question that I would be there. And on Friday 25th February, I was Pontins-bound.

All Tomorrow’s Parties was a festival like none I had experienced before or indeed since. It had grown out of Belle and Sebastian’s Bowlie Weekender, so had a twee, indie atmosphere. The holiday camp chalets housed all attendees, bands, and audience alike, with the main stage located in the entertainment hall.

Memories of the festival are many. A particular favourite was seeing múm live for the first time, though inexplicably I was the only member of our party who wasn’t bored by the performance. Then, hearing Mogwai live for the umpteenth time, then later seeing them, like star-struck teenagers, enjoying Slint from the side of the stage – Martin in particular, air drumming along to Britt Walford’s fills. Wonderful stuff. Mark Kozelek, King Kong, Deerhoof, Spoon, and the Melvins. Incredible music. Some great DJ sets topped the nights off – Mogwai vs Arab Strap, then Stereolab.

It was only a couple of years later before Slint were in front of a Glasgow audience, at the ABC and performing Spiderland in its entirety. Greeted like the post-rock heroes they are, it was an experience to hear the album performed from start to finish; however, I will always remember the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival more fondly. That first time is often the most memorable.

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I have many lovely memories of R.E.M. Not least, of course, my 2012 visit to Athens, Georgia and the self-led R.E.M. walking tour of the band’s home town, to such places as the 40 Watt Club, Weaver D’s and Wuxtry Records. 16 years before that, (and 27 years ago now!), I had another memorable R.E.M. experience. I went to the world premiere of the band’s film, Road Movie at the ABC Cinema in Edinburgh.

The Green world tour had exhausted the band, and after albums Out of Time and Automatic for the People, R.E.M. disappeared for a few years. There were no tours. There was no extended press or publicity, and in those pre-internet times, fans held out hope for any gossip they could get their mitts on. When the band finally returned in 1994 with the single What’s the Frequency, Kenneth? and the album Monster, their world had changed. Friends of the band River Phoenix and Kurt Cobain had both died, and far from following a trio of albums considered lush and instrumentally layered with production similar, they stripped everything back and produced the most garage rock record in their catalogue.

The Monster World Tour

The subsequent world tour in ’95 was fraught with incident, the most harrowing of which was drummer Bill Berry’s brain haemorrhage in Switzerland. The band cancelled several shows, including the Glasgow SECC concert for which I had tickets. Far from convalescing, Bill was back on the drum stool six weeks later, and concerts were rearranged. Replacement tickets were hastily acquired for the Scottish show announced for Murrayfield in Edinburgh, later in the year – but that’s another story.

R.E.M. closed the tour at the Omni in Atlanta, Georgia over three successive nights, filming each for a film. The resulting footage became Road Movie; a companion piece to Tourfilm, the documentary of the Green tour. The ABC Theatre on Lothian Road was the Premiere venue and the film was part of the programme of the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Michael Stipe was due to introduce the screening that evening.

The Road Movie Premiere

Arriving to a note pinned to the door of the cinema announcing Stipe’s cancellation as stuck in transit dampened spirits a little, however undeterred we took our seats in the theatre packed to the gills with R.E.M. fans, soon to be rocked to its foundations.

The film itself, remains one of my favourite concert films. Entirely ‘glam’ in its approach, with eye-popping projections by James Herbert and Lance Bangs, among others. The set-list is a mixture of tracks from Monster and growling versions of live favourites such as The One I Love and Losing My Religion. For a group with an early-90s reputation for being serious and po-faced, the film shows a band having fun and with a clear renewed love for live music. I remember watching the VHS time and time again, getting Peter Buck’s moves down just right. There exists a terrifying picture of me in rehearsal with the band that preceded Troika; mid-air in a Peter Buck-style jump in a terrible shirt and terrible hair. Blimey.

Like a hyperactive toddler on Fanta and Fruit Pastilles, I walked back to the car excited and desperate to see R.E.M. live once again. Little did I know it would be another 3 years before they’d appear in Scotland, this time at Stirling Castle. Still, I had my trusty VHS of Road Movie to tide me over until then.

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