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JANUARY 2008 - LEMON JELLY splits up
Wikipedia reports indicate that the mighty Lemon Jelly is no more. The duo that gave Scars their only genuine chart success will leave us with some brilliant memories though. But I guess the lure of a career in double-glazing sales was just too great to put off any longer... JUNE 2007 - AUTHOR! AUTHOR! sells out
In the 3 months since it was released, Author! Author! has sold out its first pressing of 1,000 CDs. SCARS ON BBC 6RADIO
Tonight 30th March Scars second john Peel session gets an airing on Marc Riley's 6Music show at 19:00 GMT. It's the one with three unreleased tracks! If you missed it, listen again on the show's website SCARS ON BBC TV
Don't miss Scars performing All About You on Top Of The Pops 2 on BBCTV, Saturday 3rd March 2007. It's a broadcast of the Whistle Test performance from Spring 1981. AUTHOR! AUTHOR! NOW!!
In 1981, Edinburgh's SCARS released Author! Author!. The album was hailed by the music press as a masterpiece of new post-punk pop and Scars - who had emerged from the Edinburgh's hip Fast Product label with the milestone Horrorshow single in 1979 (sampled last year by Lemon Jelly' Shouty Track) - sparkled across the stages and screens of Europe and the USA. Scars were Edinburgh's first punk band to build on their glam and disco roots, and were the first to move on, inspiring may of their contemporaries in the search for new futures. Unlike so many groups of the time, Scars managed to capture their fire and creativity on album. It is truly amazing that Author! Author! has never been available on CD, but now that is about to change. Author! Author!, plus bonus tracks and additional singles IS NOW AVAILABLE on CD on Scars' own label PreVS, and can be ordered RIGHT HERE. Author! Author! has been remastered for this century and sounds bold, bright and very exciting. PreVS is run by Scars, and all profits from album sales go directly to the original members of the band. Buy it now. January 2007 AUTHOR! AUTHOR! update The Author! Author! tapes have been reremastered to deliver the ultimate digital version of Scars' 1981 masterpiece. The only original, totally legal, remastered version of Author! Author! (plus extra tracks) - fully sanctioned by and released by The Scars - will be available on CD exclusively via this site. Release date is now scheduled for 23rd February 2007.
And watch Top of The Pops 2 on 3rd March - you may see something worth remembering.... January 2007
PAUL RESEARCH LIVE PROJECT ON HOLD
The new focus will be on the Ken-Q violin project, for which 12 new pieces are in various degrees of readiness, and of course promoting Author! Author! August 2006 AUTHOR! AUTHOR! on the way At long last agreement has been reached for the official release of Author! Author! plus extra tracks. It will released with a booklet, and will only be available via this site initially. Check back soon for the official release date and preorder details!
August 2006 SCARS on WIKIPEDIA Today Scars surfaced in Wikipedia. Click here for Scars entry on Wikipedia. Thanks a million, Krushsister - you rock under dayglo strobe lights. August 2006 SCARS on BBC RADIO 6 22/08/06 on 22nd August, Scars' first John Peel session will be repeated on BBC Radio station 6 Music, on the Dream Ticket programme. Click here. If you can't listen live, 6 Radio lets you listen again until 29th August. Check out the interview with Paul about halfway through the show - it's nice! December 2005 Wishing everyone a fantastic New Year. To all my pals at SP - missing you already! To all the post-punk Scottish people - please continue with the strange music/art/design stuff! Love and peace to all my colleagues and myspace friends in 2006. Please join in! October 2005 Pix of October shows by Malcolm McLean, via flickr.com. These will be the last gigs of 2005 while I get some new tunes and films together and prepare for the JLPT exam (level 3!). September 2005
Stats for September : It's the all-time high-water mark for this site.
Next show is at the Thursday October 13th at Citrus Club, (Grindlay Street, Edinburgh) Part of the BBC-inspired set of 300 gigs round the country to remember John Peel. Line Up/Details: TV21, Jo Callis (The Rezillos/The Human League), Malcolm Ross (Joseph K, Orange Juice, Aztec Camera), Paul Research (The Scars), Dave Carson (Boots For Dancing), William Mysterious (The Rezillos), The Twinset. Doors at 07:30. Special occasion so I'll be using the violin for the first time. Ulp! Then the very next night, another date for your diaries : Friday October the 14th 2005 at The Subway, Cowgate, Edinburgh. A free gig of short sharp songs from the world famous Shock And Awe to promote their new album "School For Scoundrels" with the bonus of a rare set of multi-media art/punk /disco interface from Scars mainman Paul Research (onstage 8pm) Doors open 7:30, gig over around 10:00 when the Subway reverts to its usual glamourous Friday night self. Come on down, the gig is free to get in.
1st JULY 2005 BBC RADIO backs The Scars
You can here the show by listening again, here.
28th May 2005 The Venue (Calton Road)
After my set I was privileged to watch Mr Twitch and Mr Wilkes at close quarters during their set which was itself an inspiring experience, very engaging and much more live and interactive than I'd realised before. Deeply committed, very raw and utterly exciting. Many grateful thanks to Optimo for the platform. Let's do it again sometime. Excelsior! APRIL 2005 - The Lovely Lads One of the great things about reuniting with Calumn for the Jelly gigs was the cache of unseen Scars photos he shoved into my hand at one of the London shows. Too good to wait for you to find them by chance, check em out here
28 MARCH 2005 - Much tastier than fruit gums
11th, 12, 13th March 2005 - Wonderful wonderful times
Everyone who came to the Jelly shows at Brixton Academy and Kentish Town Forum Everyone who danced the night away at Optimo in Glasgow - the best solo show yet, thanks to a bustin' crowd that frugged like crazy. Keith, Jonny, Rachel and everyone at Optimo - if I could have took ya home with me I would have!
05 March 2005 - Unforgettable - THE SCARS blow the lid off the Usher Hall!
30 January 2005 - Straight in at 21 - Shouty Track storms the singles chart
Massive respect, grateful thanks, hearty congratulations and lots of love to Nick and Fred of Lemon Jelly. Watch out for the new album "69-95", released on 31 January 2005, which also features The Shouty Track.
March 2005 - I BELONG TO GLASGOW - First live show of 2005 is to be
at Glasgow's legendary
January 2005 - SUCK IT AND SEE - What could be more welcome - and astonishing - than an inadvertant
collaboration with the ice cool Lemon Jelly than a red hot campaign by
News Of The World to reform The Scars and re-release Author! Author!
January 2005 - SCARS REMOULDED - Lemon Jelly release Horrorshow
Thanks to all who have attended the gigs and watch this space in 2005 when I'll be back with a new set. Updates to this site will be restricted to the Scars stuff in the meantime. Please continue to check in and enjoy your memories of days long ago. IT's A SMALL WORLD - On Friday July 23rd a rare acoustic set at the King & Queen (1 Foley Street, London, W1P 7LE) in London. The club is Scaledown, a new project from the brains behind Baggage Reclaim and The Orchestra Pit. My 15 minute set comprise : Home, Cities Like These, The Real You, Sleep, Things'll Be Fine and one or two more. The venue was the location of Bob Dylan's first UK gig. Nice!
A VHS video of the show is available from the usual outlet i.e. this site. Just
drop me a mail and you too can turn on to the troubador-style Paul Research
experience. Think early Bowie without the perm...
MAKE MY DAY - On Thursday JULY 8th Paul Research live show at the FAST PUNK CLUB in Edinburgh. I'll be playing fast tunes and showing fast glittery visuals in keeping with the club's ethos - the power ballads are out. The venue is The Bongo Club, Moray House, Holyrood Road Edinburgh - Expect dry ice, 70s 45s and beautiful people.
Doors open at 10pm, I'll be onstage sometime between midnight and 1 a.m. In other words,
it's a real night-club. Yippee!
SUNDAY MAY 23rd - Paul plays a 50-minute set including the rarely-performed "Skate Life Emotion" and some new material at CABARET VOLTAIRE ("the heart of the Edinburgh leftfield") in Blair Street, Edinburgh. This should be a milestone event, so come along and see where it's going to go next! New noise and old favourites in rapid succession - iron-clad guarantee. Doors at 19:30, Paul is onstage from 20:45 - 21:35. Admission £3.00 APRIL 2004 - SEEING IS BELIEVING Live video footage of several tunes from the recent Paul Research gig is here. Filmed by the immense John Mackie and presented for the web by the supreme Ian Graham. Mindblowingly, it's available in different formats for both broadband and dial-up users. (Anyone accessing it from a LAN in the office - get back to work!) FEBRUARY 2004 - LIVE FROM THE PIT Wednesday 18th of February was the date of the recent show in London, at the Orchestra Pit. MindLobster and sxmeisner started the evening and the Paul Research switch was flicked at 22:00. Go to this page for a totally unbiased view of my performance and some nice pictures taken from brother J's video of the event. If you want a copy of the video (VHS only) you won't be disappointed by the clear, punchy sound and sparkling visuals. Mail me and we can negotiate! JANUARY 2004 : HAPPY NEW YEAR Season's greetings to all friends and collaborators who have kept the faith during last year! Total respect to John, Giles, Tim, Bruce, Ronnie, love to my family and HI! to the teams at PRS, AOL and S-Power. Keep watching the blog for details of a new, exciting songwriting collaboration in 2004. NOVEMBER 2003 : HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE Many apologies to those waiting for new or old Scars material to be released on CD. The summer of love seems to be officially over with the rest of the band once again offline and reissue record companies failing to go the distance during negotiations, and I quote "...I think you should canvas the views of all other ex-members too, as, again to be frank, they all seem at awful lot friendlier and easier to deal with than you." Can't argue with that - they are a great bunch of guys!
New songs and new times requiring new films and new songs - it now sems unlikely that Begin/Again will be performed in the previous format, so Personal Best is pleased to offer a commemorative VCD featuring 4 strong tunes with 4 tough movies from the bright team of Iain Stewart and Paul Research. All these MP3 recordings are previously unavailable quasi-live versions of the Begin/Again show standout tracks :
Golden Gate Bridge featuring a solo of the utmost thrills Echo City and Horrorshow include performance footage from the initial London show. Free if you mail me! Sorry but budget restrictions prevent owners of Live at Bass Rock EP who have not contributed feedback from applying! Oops!!!
The latest set of new material is coming together - working title is Trouble All Day Long. The overall feel is one of bouncy and dissonant electronica. Six tracks have reashed the demo stage so far and they are presently entitled : Trouble All Day Long, Late Summer Break, Worried About You, Overheard in the Atrium, Inside the Pyramid, Cornered Elsewhere - Could Not Attend. The start of this new period signals the end of the Live From Bass Rock free offer. Existing requests will be despatched, then the remaining Bass Rock CDs will be incinerated in a massive pyre on the cliffs at Tantallon. Thanks everyone for all your comments and feedback! JUNE 2003 NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN Since the TV appearance a few weeks back the Scars are excited about The Scars again. Original Scars member Robert King has reappeared in virtual space with the introduction of a Yahoo mailing group dedicated to sharing of rare Scars recordings. Best so far is the John Peel session recording of "You Turn Me On" - a track so rare that neither Paul or John had any memory of composing, learning, rehearsing or recording the tune... EZYJET FRIDAY Paul Research has started composing the next set of glam-punk noise in collaboration with brother John. The song in question is entitled "Ezyjet Friday" and the first-cut demo is a thing of beauty indeed. 15th MAY 2003 SCARS RELOADED! The scariest Scars moment was played out on British TV once again on 15th May. The Scars' Old Grey Whistle Test live performance of All About You was broadcast by BBC2, causing phones to ring all over the country. Thanks to Tim, Charles, and Hamish for coming up with tapes of the show, which is surely worth a page in its own right. One of these days...
APRIL 2003 : LIVE FROM BASS ROCK NOW AVAILABLE FREE!
Could you imagin a romantic liaison with battling synth-bots, swirling bhangra,
and the collision-prone fretwork of your humble narrator? Or were you just wondering
exactly what kind of shape the punk/disco interface is in after all we've been
through?
APRIL 2003 : Hang ups, let downs, bad breaks, set backs. 2003 didn't start well as artistic differences put paid to the Begin/Again collaboration in January, and two planned March gigs in Scotland were jinxed. Nevertheless, it meant spare time to put the finishing touches to a new EP entitled "Bass Rock Dilemma", available by mail order from 18/04/03. Featured tracks are One Way Ticket, Live from Bass Rock, Skate Life Emotion, Mercy Dash, Begin Again. Accompanied as always with souvenir images, explanations and from now on, lyrics.
More reasons to be cheerful : I've just got hold of a book called 45 RPM - A Visual History of the 7 inch Single (Paperback - 256 pages (21 October, 2002) Princeton Architectural Press; ISBN: 1568983581). It's a nice little square book with loads of single designs, including the cover of Love Song by Scars. Check it out on Amazon, and wonder as I did why a used copy is more expensive than a new copy...
DECEMBER 2002 : Wishing all colleagues, collaborators and contacts thanks for your help and support in 2002, and all the best for the New Year. Keep checking in for more noise, more colours, more flashing lights, more complexity in 2003.
NOVEMBER 2002 : The latest live performance of the Paul Research/Iain Stewart
live event was entitled begin/Again. It took place at Edinburgh College of Art
on 28th November 2002.
OCTOBER 2002: Had some high value correspondence recently from the Skids gang, especially from Clive in the States and a brilliant replica Author! Author! CD from Tim Barr. SEPTEMBER 2002: Scars FAQ - negotiations to rerelease Author! Author! have been underway for several months. But bad news - Virgin who now own the rights to license such a release have imposed some stringent conditions. Pause while we examine the options... it's been 21 years already, can you wait a little longer?
AUGUST 2002: Paul Research live debut took place 25th August at Baggage Reclaim. AUGUST 2002: Iain Stewart's show at the Photographers Gallery closed at the end of August. It rocked.
APRIL 2002: Paul Research participated in the performance of Giles Perring's "The Exchange" on 28th April 2002. |
