STOOR Press

“If you like your music challenging but accessible, inventive but melodic then I’d thoroughly recommend this delightful album to you. I know it’s only May but this is my album of 2015 so far and it’s going to have to be something special to topple this one from that slot.” IsThisMusic? 4.5 / 5 stars

“May well be the best record by a band you’ve never heard of this year.” Manic Pop Thrills

But with the debut album getting a well deserved second wind through its reissue on Stereogram, some cracking gigs and much of the second album recorded, it was a great year for STOOR as a band. Otherwise, not so much, as Scott from the band recounts to MPT in our last pre-Christmas 2016 review.

Your own musical highlight of the year?
Supporting Brix & The Extricated. Being a life long Fall fan kind of did it for me. Also being played regularly on radio stations in Germany, New York and even on Vic Galloway’s show.

Favourite performance of the year?
The same gig, we played well, they played well, it was just a great night.

What’s the one thing that went wrong in 2016 you’d like to fix?
David Bowie dying!

What you gonna be doing next year?
First three gigs of the year are going to be crackers; the first supporting The Membranes, the second a Stereogram night in Edinburgh, and the third we’re not allowed to divulge just yet, but it’s maybe the best of the three. Also, our second album is pretty much finished, so we need to decide whether to release it or not!

Others’ Music

Album of the year?
Blackstar David Bowie

Song of the year?
Lazarus or Blackstar David Bowie

Best gig attended?
Either PIL in Falkirk (which i didn’t expect to like) or Television in Glasgow, and both in the same week

Best discovery in 2016?
Stereogram Recordings

Who should we be looking out for in 2017?
Sadly, there’s not much new music I’ve heard that’s made me sit up and take notice.If pushed I’d say The Van T’s.

Anything and Everything

Hero of 2016
Can’t think of one, are there any heroes left?

Villains of 2016
Cameron, Farage, Trump, Green and May

High point of 2016
Can’t think of any. 2016 just seemed to be one piece of bad news after another; Brexit, good people dying, refugees, terrorism. Lets hope 2017 is a bit better.

Lowpoint of 2016
Brexit!, Bowie & Muhammed Ali dying and Dundee United being relegated

Favourite book of 2016
Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas

Favourite film of 2016
Spotlight, The Assassin, Midnight Special

Most missed
Sorry, David Bowie (again)

Best piece of advice you gave or were given in 2016
Can’t think of any advice we’ve been given, maybe someone would like to offer us some.

What place will you most associate with 2016
Berlin

STOOR have existed since the 1990s but have until recently remained deliberately elusive. There was for years no website or Facebook page. Gigs have been a rarity, with at one point a four year gap between shows, and while there have been two previous singles one of these was pressed but never released.

The Dundee alternative rock act self-released their eponymous debut album on vinyl last year, and it has now been picked up for re-release by the rising Edinburgh-based label Stereogram Recordings. Their music on it convincingly combines the hard, taut rock of British bands such as Cream with the angularity and avant-garde of American new wave acts like Pere Ubu and Devo.

Three of the eleven tracks – ringing, discordant opener ‘Secret World of Cement’; the sturdy, military-like ‘March of the Molluscs’ and stormy closing number ‘Sure Beats Me’ – are instrumentals. On initial first impressions one might as a result ask why STOOR are on such a label as Stereogram in which all its other acts have a strong lyrical focus (The Cathode Ray, the Band of Holy Joy, Roy Moller, the Eastern Swell and St. Christopher Medal). The lyrics are, however, very much a presence with STOOR also, although admittingly more angular, and, like label owner Jeremy Thoms’ band the Cathode Ray, they share a similar fascination with the way in which the world often appears to be and the way in which it in reality is.

The crisp, thunderous ‘Aye,No’ is a clever play on words. “Aye, no/A man who walked on the moon/Aye, no/A girl who could bend spoons/Aye, no/A boy who could turn inside out,” howls singer Stef Murray frantically. ‘Infect Me’ is even more urgent, the guitars of Ross Mathieson and Davie Youngblood, bassist Murray and drums of Scott Mckinlay nerve-shredded and angst-ridden. “Infect me/Infect me/Infect me with your lies,” sings Murray breathlessly in the chorus. The whiplash, sinister recent single ‘Witchfinder General’ meanwhile warns us of the dangers of false idols and post-Brexit, post the American election seems grimly prophetic (“Brothers and sisters gather/ To meet the latest hazard/ Hear the word”).

For a band that’s been around for more than 20 years Dundee quartet STOOR have maintained a steadfastly low profile for much of that time.
So it’s fair to say that the recent burst of activity in the last couple of years has been atypical. In that time the band have gigged as regularly as they’ve done for many years but, most importantly, they’ve also managed to document at least some of the songs in their repertoire on their self released debut LP – a mere 18 years after their debut single!

“It feels like it’s the right time now. You’ve heard how long we’ve been doing this and we’ve only just put an album out. We just decided that we need to do this.”

Releasing an album is quite an accomplishment for a band that had recorded two singles – but managed to only get one out!

First time around the band were persuaded into recording some of their tunes by Jan Burnett of Spare Snare and Chute Records as drummer Scott McKinlay recalls.

“We did a single with Jan and we got lots of enthusiasm at that point although we didn’t play an awful lot.

Ross: “But Jan got us distribution because he was known and Chute Records were known and we sold about 400 copies.”

Buoyed by that initial success the band returned to the studio. However, without the backing of a label, things didn’t go to plan as Ross explains.

“A couple of years later we recorded a little instrumental EP. And we decided that we’d do it ourselves. But our heart wasn’t in doing that side of it, all the complicated bits like PRS, making a record label. None of us had the heart for it whereas Jan was totally obsessed with it. So it flopped, I’ve probably got 700 copies of it in my flat!”

Thereafter the band disappeared from public view emerging only infrequently for the odd gig. However there was more going on behind the scenes than was immediately apparent as Ross is keen to stress.

“People used to think that we’d split up but we always met, always rehearsed, we always wrote new material and we quite often recorded. So sometimes we recorded rather than play gigs. So it was massive fallow period for playing live but we were always being creative.”

What the band didn’t realise was that they were actually laying the foundations for a debut LP which would finally emerge last year.

First off though the band got back into the habit of playing live semi-regularly – a burst of activity which coincided with the recruitment of guitarist Davie Young, although Davie points out that this was no overnight decision.

“I met Stef at the Rep in about ’93 but I only joined about 5 years ago, in 2011. I kind of got snaffled at some Christmas do, come for a pint sort of thing. I got interviewed – I’ve known them for 20 odd years! – and it was “Do you want to join the band?” And, I’m, ‘No, you’re taking the piss!”. But in the end I agreed.”

A positive reaction to the gigs played with Davie, starting with the “re-launch” show at Clarks, boosted the band’s confidence.

Davie remembers: “The Clarks gig was mobbed, we got 100-150 people and we got nice feedback. Then Andy Wood (Cool Cat Club promoter) asked us to play with the Bucky Rage.”

Scott: “There was only 40 people there but everybody was coming up saying ‘where did you come from’? We’ve gone on from that show at Clark’s Bar and look where we are now! Still playing Dundee!”

It was Scott, with a little more time on his hands than the rest of the band, who persuaded the others that their many years of recording could be the basis of an album.

“We kept doing demos and some of them were pretty good. We always thought that we should do something with them and I said to the band why don’t we try and do this? From the enthusiasm at some of the gigs and the feedback we were getting, quite a number of people seem to like us.”

Ross acknowledges the role that the drummer played in getting the album moving.
“We could easily just have said we’re not going to put this thing out. Scott pushed us to do it and nobody would have stopped him doing it. But if we hadn’t put it out none of this would have happened.”

“The enthusiasm that a number of people have shown has been really good. But you know how difficult it is for people to hear bands unless you’re twenty years old and good looking (laughs) writing the next hit! It’s impossible to get it heard widely.”

Getting gigs outside of Dundee has also been a problem although the band have managed to play Manchester twice thanks to the power of social networks.

Scott: “There’s this Fall page and there’s 20 or 30 people in it including a guy called Kevin McMahon and a guy called Barry Reilly and we ended up joking about stuff online. I said I was in a band and they said let’s hear it. And they decided to do a gig in Manchester with people who were in the Fall and they invited us down and that’s how that came about.”

Davie: “We were down in Manchester this year which was really good. But the downside to the Manchester gigs was that there was no audience – it was just the bands that were playing and maybe 20-25 others.”

Scott: “But I’d rather play to 25 people who get you and who are appreciative than playing to 250 people at the Rezillos looking at you going ‘Eh? I don’t get you’.”

The difficulty in getting gigs outside Dundee however led to a fortuitous meeting after the band put on their own show in Edinburgh.

Scott: “We can’t get arrested there, we’ve tried everywhere. And again, people have got overheads to meet and if it’s a local band they might get an audience compared to some guys from Dundee that no-one’s ever heard of.”

Ross : “We played a great gig at an unusual event in Edinburgh and we were put in touch with the Cathode Ray for that show. And Jeremy (Thoms, Cathode Ray main man, Stereogram founder) asked if they could put the record out. And we were’ Yeah, okay!’ So suddenly it’s on Stereogram and it’s getting re-released on CD.”

Scott: “It seems to be this cool record label with really nice people who we can relate to and who can relate to us. There’s people who do music for the right reasons and people who do music for the wrong reasons. And they are people who are doing it for the absolute love of it and not thinking that they’re going to be buying a private yacht.”

STOOR are proud of everything they’ve achieved under their own steam. But they are quick to welcome the further opportunities that a label like Stereogram can offer.

Scott: “They’ve helped us reach more folk already. I got a Facebook message from a guy, Ted Leibowitz and he’s got a radio station in New York called Soma FM. And he’s played us on the station!

“The guy gave a wee bit of a spiel when he said that modern music is rubbish – with four notable expectations and STOOR was one of them!”

Perhaps surprisingly the band are already in the middle of recording LP number two. Ross explains that the band were not short of material for the new record.
“The new one’s going to have more new stuff and a couple of older ones on it. But on the back of this we could come back in and start recording another album because now we’re determined to release stuff, keep doing it, keep it moving.”

Key to the band’s progress has been their independence and despite working with like-minded people at Stereogram STOOR will continue to make music for the same reasons that they’ve always done.

Scott: “For us – none of this is about money. It’s about doing stuff exceptionally well that we enjoy that hopefully other people will enjoy. But we don’t write music to satisfy an audience, it’s just what we do.”

Ross: “We don’t know what anybody else does. We just make the music that we want to make and music that we want to listen to.

Support came from local legends STOOR. I’m surely getting close to the point where I’ve nothing much to add to what I’ve written before, but not quite yet.

Although the band are promoting the re-release of the dazzling debut album on Stereogram, a lot of the earlier songs in their set on Sunday were new, although I think the only song that I hadn’t heard before was the third tune ‘Love Bombing’. Of the new songs ‘Ark’ sounds particularly metallic whilst another of the new ones actually sounds … impish!

The song formerly known as ‘New Instrumental’ (which was a cracker in that form) has newly been retitled as ‘Unlike Them’ and got its first run out with Stef’s words and vocals. It seems a certainty that it will turn out to be a new favourite in its new form.

Even allowing for the new tunes , before they finished, there was still plenty of time for some of the album’s highlights. ‘Frack’ and single ‘Witchfinder General’ were particular stand-outs whilst ‘Sure Beats That’ brought the set to a close in fine style.

The band, all dressed in black, were as animated on stage as I’ve ever seen them and for good reason as they think that this was possibly the best gig they’ve played. I might try and make a case for the album launch show last year but there’s no doubt that the band have gained a lot of confidence from the events of the last couple of years. And it can’t have hurt them to have played in front of a big crowd either.

So another cracking night at the Cool Cat Club and it was nice to see that, for once, te show got the sort of crowd that it deserved.

A BIT OF A ROLL – STOOR INTERVIEW
October 24, 2016 by manicpopthrills·in Interviews.

For a band with a long but intermittent career, punctuated by seemingly long periods of inactivity, an awful lot has happened to STOOR in the last couple of years.

First off the Dundee quartet – Stef Murray (vocals/bass), Ross Matheson (guitar), Scott McKinlay (drums) and Davie Youngblood (guitar) – started playing live with a degree for regularity for the first time in years then they followed up those shows with their debut self-titled album last year.

Ahead of the album’s re-release this Friday (28th) on Stereogram Recordings, I met up with Scott, Ross and Davie to discuss STOOR’s long and winding career.

First off we talked about the band’s origins and Ross, one of the founding duo in the band along with Stef, recounted how STOOR got started.

“I get this funny feeling that me and Stef went to see Broccoli in Bar Chevrolet. I knew some of the guys in Broccoli but Stef’s got a certain taste in music and he didn’t like Broccoli at all. I liked Broccoli fine.

“So that night he turned round and said ‘We need to form a band!’ although that was probably one of many occasions.

“So me and him got together first and he had old songs from years ago and I got a four track recorder from Scott in Grouchos. So the fledgling STOOR would have been recording on a four track in my bedroom.”

Ross admitted that the band were less than technically proficient at this stage.

“We were so crap with technical stuff, it was a four track cassette recorder and you had to record two tracks on one side of the tape and two on the other. Then you had to bounce it down to one side but we never worked out how to do that! So some of the guitar parts were going backwards and sounded quite like an accordion. It was quite good but we didn’t mean it to be like that!”

The fledgling act then expanded their number with the addition of guitarist, Paul Esposito, as Ross explained.

“He lived next to me and I was jamming with him for a while but then the three of us got together. And Paul could turn his hand to some drums but he was always going to be the other guitarist. So Stef thought it was serious enough that we could go and play this stuff but we needed a drummer.”

At which point Scott entered the story.

“I’d been pals with Stef since we were about 18 but we kind of lost touch a wee bit. Ross and Stef phoned me and asked if I wanted to play some drums and we did!”

With Scott joining the band was now ready for their first live outing which Ross remembers well as it – was his first live show.

“The gig was with Man or Astroman and Paul was playing with Spare Snare and STOOR that night AND he promoted the gig. So he was running about like a headless chicken. And Man or Astroman were staying at his house so he was pretty stressed out.”

Also a little stressed out was Ross.

“We had ‘STOOR Theme’ at the beginning and I had this daft idea I was going to play this part on my own. But the rest of them could see my jaw was wobbling so they just got up and backed me straight away.”

That wasn’t the only pressure that the rookie guitarist faced that night.

“My brother, who’s a much more competent musician and played in loads of bands, and his mates were all standing and watching us. And they were all standing at the front and it was really intimidating! So if I looked out all I could see was my brother and all the guys in that band.”

Paul departed the fold before the band’s first recording venture with Chute Records and Ross explained how that had come about.

“I’d known Jan (Burnett) for donkey’s years and we used to play gigs with Spare Snare. At some point Jan asked it we wanted to record a single on Chute and we were ‘Too right, brilliant!’. So we recorded it in his house on the top floor.

“He just had these flat mics from Tandy which he just stuck to the wall. Scott’s drumkit was set up upstairs in this little bedroom with combed ceilings. It was mad but we were dead chuffed.”

The band then set about creating their second record although Scott remembers that it wasn’t quite as successful as the first – for one simple reason.

“I don’t know why, but we never released it! We never got a lot of encouragement to do so I suppose.

“So we recorded it, paid to get it mastered, at Abbey Road, I should add, which was an excuse to get hammered in London for a weekend. Then we got it pressed and delivered … and we did nothing!”

Although the band didn’t realise it at the time their opportunities to play live were about to be reduced as Ross explained.

“We used to get all those gigs because we knew Broccoli but they were in that more hardcore scene. So we’d get all these mental punk gigs where we’d think ‘what were we doing here!’ We were just happy to play.

“And then it just tailed off. I don’t know why.”

Scott picked up the story.

“We all had kids. Bands like Broccoli split up, so some of that crowd disappeared and Spare Snare went quiet. So it was very on/off. We rehearsed occasionally but still had loads of songs.”

But if the gigs had dried up, Ross was insistent that STOOR were not living up to their name and were still very much a going concern – even if it wasn’t in the public eye.

“People used to think that we’d split up but we always met, always rehearsed, we always wrote new material and we quite often recorded. So it was massive fallow period for playing live but we were always being creative.”

This period extended for years but fast forward a good number of years and the recruitment of a new guitarist just a few years ago was to coincide with the band raising their profile once again. Davie was happy to tell the story of how he completed the current line-up.

“I joined about 5 years ago, in 2011. I kind of got snaffled at some Christmas do, come for a pint sort of thing. I got interviewed – I’ve known them for 20 odd years! – and it was ‘do you want to join the band?’ And, I’m, ‘No, you’re taking the piss!”. But in the end I agreed.

“So I played my first gig in about 2012 in Clarks. It was kind of like a relaunch of STOOR and it was mobbed, we got 100-150 people.”

Scott again.

“Then we played with the Bucky Rage. There was only 40 people there but everybody was coming up saying ‘where did you come on from?’ What’s different now is that people have been enthusiastic about what we do. That enthusiasm breeds and you end up doing a bit more because you’re getting good feedback.”

The band have also managed to get other gigs as Davie recounted.

“We’ve done Edinburgh, Manchester twice and Glasgow twice. That’s us done the world tour!”

With more frequent live shows the band started to turn their thoughts towards documenting the songs on an album as Scott explained.

“We kept doing demos and some of them were pretty good. We always thought that we should do something with them.

“Then I had a little bit more time and I said to the band why don’t we try and do this? We’ve got some really good material and from the enthusiasm at some of the gigs and the feedback we were getting, quite a number of people seemed to like us.”

The album was assembled from existing recordings.

Scott: “The true story is that those are the songs that are on it because they’re the only songs that we could find masters for! Those eleven songs were probably recorded at 5 different places over quite a long time – some of them would be 10, 15 years old.”

With the material selected the band were faced with the problem of how to release the record into the world.

Ross felt that STOOR had finally gained momentum.

“It feels like it’s the right time now. You’ve heard how long we’ve been doing this and we’ve only just put an album out. We just decided that we need to do this.”

Twelve months on from the initial release and Ross reflected on the album.

“I’m glad it happened but because I was in the band, I can hear a difference between certain things. but other people have listened to the album and said it’s really consistent.”

Scott confirmed the band’s positive feelings about the record.

“I think we’re all chuffed to bits that we’ve released it but we’re really pleased that we’ve done it without any help from anybody. Nobody’s pushed us, we’ve done it totally on our own and for us.”

The reception that the album has received has surprised the band and Scott is still a little taken aback.

“All joking aside the biggest astonishment for us was where we came in all those polls at the end of the year. When you see some of the bands that were on there, there were some really good bands on those lists.

“The other thing is that our expectations are really low! We don’t really expect people to like us.”

Ross agreed.

“That’s a really Scottish thing. We are self-deprecating but that’s maybe a safe place to be because you cannae get your hopes dashed when you’re starting from such a low base.

“I’m just amazed when people are hearing something in a song that was intentional, when someone else gets it, it’s wow.”

Despite the record’s positive reception, Scott still feels that it’s hard to reach even a fraction of the people who might like STOOR but a series of happy accidents has led to the record getting a belated leg-up.

“We were putting on a gig in Edinburgh ourselves – we can’t get arrested there, although we’ve tried everywhere.

“We were introduced to Jeremy (Thoms of the Cathode Ray and Stereogram Recordings) and they played the show. We went for a few drinks with them after the gig and it was like we’d known them for decades. We just got on great.

“We kept in touch and he asked us if we fancied releasing the album on Stereogram. And it was probably a nanosecond before we said absolutely!”

Ross is certain that the label can only help the band.

“They can promote it a bit more and can do things that we can’t do. We were going to go down that route with Paul in London but then the Stereogram thing happened.”

The Stereogram connection has taken the band to new audiences as Scott described with some wonder.

“I got a Facebook message from a guy, Ted Leibowitz and he’s got a radio station in New York called Soma FM. And he’s played us on the station! And something like 1,200 people have heard it.

“Whether they listened to the first note and switched it off, I don’t know. But we’d have never have been heard in New York if we’d just done it ourselves.

“It’s such a small thing we were all chuffed. Maybe if someone picks up the phone and asks us if we fancy a gig in New York then we might be winging our way. Although it strikes me that the likelihood of that is … not very high!”

Whilst the first album is about to get a second wind courtesy of Stereogram, STOOR are already well into its follow-up.

Scott: “We’re recording another 11 songs, a couple of old ones that we’ve had kicking around for ages and quite a number of new ones that we’ve played live periodically.

“We probably have about 50 or 60 songs so if you take two albums worth that’s only 22 and there’s still loads of unfinished stuff.”

Ross explains why the band have ended up in this invidious position – over and above their 20+ years of songwriting of course.

“What happens is you get new material and that’s always the most exciting. So you start to forget about the old stuff but then every so often someone comes in and goes ‘Do you remember blah, blah, blah’ and we’re like ‘That’s really good, we never finished that off’. So it’s quite nice to revisit stuff.”

The new album is progressing nicely according to Scott but its release isn’t imminent for a couple of reason.

“It’s got a fair bit to go. We’ve done all the drums and the bass.”

Davie added: “About half the guitars are done, we’ve got my guitars to do and then the vocals and mixing.”

Scott is very mindful of the fact that the band still owe a duty to Stereogram.

“We’re not in any rush because we’ve still got the first album to try and promote. I think it’s good enough for more people to hear and we don’t want to dilute that possibility.

“And then we’ll probably hang on until Jeremy thinks it’s a good time to go – if he wants to release it.

“But we’ll see how it goes. We’ve got to keep moving on. It’s actually quite nice because we’re on a bit of a roll after those years of hibernation.”

Scott has been instrumental in setting up the band’s next gig – supporting some legendary musicians in Dundee in the shape of Brix and the Extricated.

“I think the Fall are probably, over time, my favourite band particularly the Hanley era and the Brix era when they were absolutely amazing.

“So one time I was working in Preston and Brix had her book launch in Manchester at night so I went along. And I ended up meeting the guy who runs this Fall page.

“Turned out he had some involvement with the Hanleys, so he introduced me to them. And I joked that they needed to come up and play Dundee.

“Then coincidentally Andy (Wood – Cool Cat Club promoter and MPT contributor) phoned me and said he’d been offered Brix and the Extricated and I said he really needed to get them up as they’re brilliant.

“They play the songs that they wrote in the Fall and I think that’s the important part. It’s not some Fall tribute band.”

No idea what is in the water over at Stereogram Recordings but this past twelve months has seen the label release a clutch of albums that simply ignite ears and connect with the imagination like no others. Amongst them have been encounters with bands such as St. Christopher Medal, The Filthy Tongues, and The Eastern Swell. Now adding to that adventurous collection of treats is the self-titled debut album from Dundee based outfit Stoor, a release which just might be the most impressive and ridiculously addictive of the lot.

The Stereogram Recordings offering is actually a full re-release of the band’s first album which was self-released on vinyl last year but sure to be the first real engagement for a great many with a quartet which rose up back in the first breaths of the nineties. Musically Stoor seem to embrace post punk/new wave sounds found in the couple of decades before their emergence, and though it is bordering on impossible to pin down their sound imagine Josef K meeting Wall Of Voodoo at the behest of Dead Kennedys with the rhythmic virulence and discord of The Fire Engines and the warped imagination of Pere Ubu in close attendance.

Centred around the off kilter invention of bassist/vocalist Stef Murray, drummer Scott McKinlay, and guitarist Ross Matheson with guitarist Davie Youngblood completing the current line-up, Stoor get straight into ears and psyche with album opener Secret World Of Cement. It is an instrumental which gets right into our already existing passion for post punk devilry, sparking the imagination with its cinematic urban soundscape. Hips and feet are swiftly indulging in its virulent Fire Engines hued strains as hooks and melodies tease and tantalise within something wonderfully akin to the most addictive sixties TV theme tunes.

It is a wonderful start quickly matched up by Liberator, a track just as rapid in its persuasion as spicy lures of guitar link up with the tenacious rhythmic bait laid down by McKinlay. The vocal tones of Murray attract like a mix of Jello Biafra and Pere Ubu’s Dave Thomas, expelling their earnest cries from within another seriously catchy stretch of invention before the brilliant Aye, No raises the ante. A fiercely seductive bass line invades first, strolling from the initial clash of sound to be quickly joined by equally salacious guitar hooks following the same route as Murray’s grooving. Like a pied piper the union draws the listener into an explosive crescendo, riffs and rhythms colliding before the temptation begins all over again with even greater strands of delicious discord involved. All the time Murray places a potent vocal grip on an already eager appetite, backed by the band within what is one gloriously repetitive and enthralling swagger of a song.

Infect Me steps forward next to keep the enslaving of ears tight, its Gang Of Four like rhythmic escapade chaining attention alone, the brooding basslines and stabs of guitar extra chains to trap attention and ardour. Bursts of raw rock ‘n’ roll only adds to the magnetism as too the distinctive and increasingly flavoursome vocals of Murray, here finding a Stan Ridgway flavour to his excellent theatre of voice. Between them Murray and McKinlay rhythmically have the passions chained up like Houdini, though no escape is possible especially as Matheson and Youngblood create a web of melodic intrigue and deranged drama.

Through the heavier almost muggy escape of Devil Rides Out, a song with a touch of Scars meets again Pere Ubu to it, and the pulsating psych rock infested instrumental of March Of The Molluscs, the album adds further diversity and creative theatre to escalate an already established habituation to its additive prowess, backing their success up with the punk rock of Frack where thoughts of bands like Swell Maps and television Personalities are sparked, though, as constantly across the release, Stoor conjure up proposals unique to their own senses entangling invention.

The calmer saunter of Open The Box comes next, its character a more stable affair but prone to Devo-esque twists and turns before making way to allow the psychedelically spiced Hold That Thought to serenade ears. To its warmer and gentler nature though, there is an underlying tempestuousness which channels its energy into a swinging post punk canter a la The Three Johns.

The bands new single Witchfinder General has ears and lust over excited next, its rhythmic romp alone an unshakeable grip with Murray’s bass swing a predacious seduction reinforced by the tangy weave of guitar and the eager dance of the vocals. Dark and mischievous, compelling and shadowy, the track is superb, a certain doorway into the album come its release though fair to say any track is a suitable invitation.

Going out as it came in with a mouth-watering, imagination stoking instrumental going by the name of Sure Beats Me, a piece which plays like B-52s engaged in carnal knowledge with The Shadows, the album leaves only an urgent urge to dive right back into its body of fun.

STOOR / The Cathode Ray – Basic Mountain, Edinburgh – Saturday 26th March 2016

Frustrated by the difficulties of getting someone else to put them on in Edinburgh, STOOR took matters into their own hands and put on Saturday night’s show all by themselves. A little bit of MPT band matchmaking later and I had the chance to see two of my favourite bands playing decent length sets in the one go.

The venue was something of an unusual one. The front door looked like the door to a domestic property and it was only by following the noise up a turning staircase that you entered a very attractive arts space which apparently had never before hosted a rock show.
Although it’s a comparatively small room it has a high ceiling and with a PA brought in for the show the sound had something of a wild edge. Which is not necessarily a bad thing – so long as it doesn’t go too far.

First up were the home team and The Cathode Ray weren’t troubled by any sound problems.Certainly there was quite a lot of Steve’s guitar in the mix but never to the detriment of Jeremy’s vocals.
The set lent slightly more on the debut than on last year’s ‘Infinite Variety’. Which meant that there were plenty of old favourites on offer including a scorching version of ‘Train’.

Of the newer stuff ‘This Force of Nature’ made its long overdue live debut whilst ‘It Takes One To Know One‘, the Ray’s new contribution to the Sound of Stereogram’ compilation, also got an impressive outing.
It’s when you consider what they didn’t play that you realise just how many great songs they have. And MPT acknowledges that they can’t play everything in 50 minutes but, still, a point deducted for not playing ‘Saving Grace’. I don’t think I’m being unreasonable!

I can’t really leave this performance though without referring to the, um, dancers (two couples) who turned up midway through the set and threw themselves about with some abandon. One woman in particular seemed particularly out of it and at every opportunity seemed determined to take the stage to take the mic in the way that a toddler might. It was a little bit bizarre to say the least.

The Cathode Ray played:

1. Lost & Found 2. Resist 3. Slipping Away 4. It Takes One To Know One 5. Backed Up 6. Train 7. The Eyes Are The Window To The Soul 8. Around 9. This Force of Nature 10. Get A Way 11. What’s It All About?

Like the Cathode Ray, STOOR’s set demonstrated just how many great songs they have with the set showcasing not just highlights from the album but also old and new tunes.
In those two categories highlights included the revived ‘Johnny Appleseed’ and the completely new ‘Atrocities’ whilst ‘Frack’ remains a particular favourite of mine. Along with, to be fair, pretty much everything else.
Scott’s spent most of the intervening days since the show apologising for how loud it was and to be fair it was probably the loudest STOOR show I’ve seen. Yet, as you might expect if you’ve heard the LP, that wild edge suited them especially well and it was probably one of the best shows I’ve seen them do.

STOOR played:
1.March of the Molluscs 2. Aye No 3. Liberator 4. Hold That Thought 5. Johnny Appleseed 6. Frack 7. Atrocities 8. The Dig 9. Theme from STOOR 10. Infect Me 10. Witchfinder 11. Sure Beats Me

In my mind there are two kinds of people who play music, who create art. There are those who are compelled to do it, who feel the overwhelming urge to create something, to make a statement. Then there are those who see it as some sort of a career move, a way to make money, gain kudos or just to get laid. I’m in mo doubt that STOOR fit in to the former category. There’s no marketing strategy, hype of five-year plan involved, just four friends getting together to make music that they enjoy, music that thrills and pleases them. Importantly though, this is no self-indulgent, vanity project. Both live and now on record STOOR are an enthralling and thrilling band.

Having been intermittently active for over a decade with two vinyl EPs to their name (the second of which was pressed but never released for reasons I don’t know) the last year or so has seen STOOR being pretty active, at least by their own standards, in public. This, their debut album, was apparently compiled from over fifty recordings and, if STOOR are to be believed for they do trade in obfuscation and mystery, these eleven songs represent the ones they were able to track down the masters for. The reason for my doubt is that the album sounds very cohesive and thought-out rather than merely being a result of accident and it’s an album that demands to be listened to in one sitting and rewards repeated plays. The original disc of the un-mastered album which I’ve had since late last year was entitled ‘The STOOR Chronicles, 1986-2020’ but this is a complete album rather than an almanac, at least to my ears.

The opening song ‘The Secret World Of Cement’ is a cool, quirky instrumental that sets out STOOR’s stall well. A solid, inventive rhythm section allows the guitars space to shift from a scratchy, nagging riff to more melodic parts building into a sweet climax. ‘Liberator’ follows on and it’s a catchy song with a perplexing lyric, which seems to set-up Stef as the ultimate unreliable narrator:
“I am no Pablo Picasso
You will not see things through my eyes
I am no Mata Hari
You will see right through my disguise”

‘Liberator’ has some pretty cool interplay both between the two guitars and with the bass and drums and it’s a great song.
Historical events and characters pop up time and again in the lyrics and there’s an apocalyptic, post-punk feel to STOOR’s songs. ‘Aye, No’ builds up on a punk-funk rhythm, solid and melodic with the main and backing vocal playing off of one another like a call and response. It has a pretty hypnotic feel to the verses combined with epic instrumental breaks racking up the tension between verses. The words are both razor sharp and surreal with lines like “I know/ A man who walked on the moon/ And he never came back” seemingly conveying a sense of wonder and fear at the same time. The guitars are equal parts sweetness and dissonance and remind me a lot of the late, great Rowland S. Howard’s ability to both brutalise and bless the listener’s ears. ‘Infect Me’ is equally wonderful and unnerving. Beginning with just a scratchy guitar, spiky bass and rolling drums it becomes increasingly manic with edgy vocals almost on the edge of madness, full of images of disease and mutilation:
“Contagion is growing
Contagion will blossom
To open our lives”

‘Infect Me’ is like the theme tune to a twisted 50s B-Movie, undoubtedly one with a post-apocalyptic twist and a cracking song to boot.
‘The Devil Rides Out’ is utterly barmy but in a good, no, brilliant way. It’s another bizarre song, the verses a distant cousin of The Fall’s wonderful ‘Cruisers Creek’ while the chorus swells into a bonkers prog-garage sing-along that’s as brilliant as it is utterly insane. There’s some neat wah-wah guitar and effects giving it a psychedelic trashy feel. In lesser hands ‘The Devil Rides Out’ could be a pompous morass but with STOOR it sounds pretty damn fine.

‘March Of The Molluscs’ has a Dub like structure. It’s a quite spacey instrumental that floats around, building and dropping while gathering a sense of form and momentum. ‘Frack’ is a pretty straightforward song, at least by STOOR’s imitable standards with an insistent, nagging tune. With it’s lines about ‘disembowelment’ and a chorus of ‘Feed the frenzy / Shove it into its mouth’. I’m not quite sure what it’s all about but with a tune as good as this who cares? ‘Open The Box’ buzzes about inside your head like a swarm of Bees and is impossible to ignore, equal parts maddening and delightful.

‘Hold That Thought’ takes the frantic pace down a notch or three with it’s almost Medieval sounding introduction, a call and response vocal listing a series of historical atrocities and characters from Somalia to Serbia and from Jim Jones to Pol Pot over a beautiful tune. It’s a really discordant mix between the lyrics and music but works well and the atmosphere is quite eerie but breathtaking as well, shifting from elegiac, sombre verses to a lighter, gentler chorus. ‘Witchfinder General’ is, on the surface, a lighter counterpoint to ‘Hold That Thought’ but still has a nervy, anxious feel to it and the lyrics and delivery seem to warn of human folly and the danger of Messiah’s:
“Brothers and Sisters gather
To meet the latest hazard
Hear the word”
The opening song ‘The Secret World Of Cement’ is a cool, quirky instrumental that sets out STOOR’s stall well. A solid, inventive rhythm section allows the guitars space to shift from a scratchy, nagging riff to more melodic parts building into a sweet climax. ‘Liberator’ follows on and it’s a catchy song with a perplexing lyric, which seems to set-up Stef as the ultimate unreliable narrator:

“I am no Pablo Picasso
You will not see things through my eyes
I am no Mata Hari
You will see right through my disguise”

‘Liberator’ has some pretty cool interplay both between the two guitars and with the bass and drums and it’s a great song.

Historical events and characters pop up time and again in the lyrics and there’s an apocalyptic, post-punk feel to STOOR’s songs. ‘Aye, No’ builds up on a punk-funk rhythm, solid and melodic with the main and backing vocal playing off of one another like a call and response. It has a pretty hypnotic feel to the verses combined with epic instrumental breaks racking up the tension between verses. The words are both razor sharp and surreal with lines like

“I know
A man who walked on the moon
And he never came back”

seemingly conveying a sense of wonder and fear at the same time. The guitars are equal parts sweetness and dissonance and remind me a lot of the late, great Rowland S. Howard’s ability to both brutalise and bless the listener’s ears. ‘Infect Me’ is equally wonderful and unnerving. Beginning with just a scratchy guitar, spiky bass and rolling drums it becomes increasingly manic with edgy vocals almost on the edge of madness, full of images of disease and mutilation:

“Contagion is growing
Contagion will blossom
To open our lives”

‘Infect Me’ is like the theme tune to a twisted 50s B-Movie, undoubtedly one with a post-apocalyptic twist and a cracking song to boot.

‘The Devil Rides Out’ is utterly barmy but in a good, no, brilliant way. It’s another bizarre song, the verses a distant cousin of The Fall’s wonderful ‘Cruisers Creek’ while the chorus swells into a bonkers prog-garage sing-along that’s as brilliant as it is utterly insane. There’s some neat wah-wah guitar and effects giving it a psychedelic trashy feel. In lesser hands ‘The Devil Rides Out’ could be a pompous morass but with STOOR it sounds pretty damn fine.

‘March Of The Molluscs’ has a Dub like structure. It’s a quite spacey instrumental that floats around, building and dropping while gathering a sense of form and momentum. ‘Frack’ is a pretty straightforward song, at least by STOOR’s imitable standards with an insistent, nagging tune. With it’s lines about ‘disembowelment’ and a chorus of ‘Feed the frenzy / Shove it into its mouth’. I’m not quite sure what it’s all about but with a tune as good as this who cares? ‘Open The Box’ buzzes about inside your head like a swarm of Bees and is impossible to ignore, equal parts maddening and delightful.

‘Hold That Thought’ takes the frantic pace down a notch or three with it’s almost Medieval sounding introduction, a call and response vocal listing a series of historical atrocities and characters from Somalia to Serbia and from Jim Jones to Pol Pot over a beautiful tune. It’s a really discordant mix between the lyrics and music but works well and the atmosphere is quite eerie but breathtaking as well, shifting from elegiac, sombre verses to a lighter, gentler chorus. ‘Witchfinder General’ is, on the surface, a lighter counterpoint to ‘Hold That Thought’ but still has a nervy, anxious feel to it and the lyrics and delivery seem to warn of human folly and the danger of Messiah’s:

“Brothers and Sisters gather
To meet the latest hazard
Hear the word”

Things come to an end with ‘Sure Beats Me’ which builds upon the mood set on the album opener adding organ into the mix and coming up with what sounds like the theme tune to the best ever 70s Eastern European spy thriller never made. It’s a high speed, tension filled car chase through dimly lit streets.

STOOR return to the Cool Cat Club on Saturday for their third appearance in little over a year.

It’s a special occasion as, after two support slots, this will not only be the band’s first headline show but, more importantly, it’s also the launch for their debut LP ‘Chronicles 1986-2020’.

Of all the bands that Andy’s introduced me to through the Cool Cat Club, STOOR are absolutely one of my favourites. They made an immediate connection with me on their first appearance in April last year and looking back at the show at the time I suggested Wire and some Flying Nun acts as possible influences.

The thing is today listening to ‘Chronicles 1986-2020’, although they’re operating in a not dissimilar post-punk landscape, I don’t think that on record many of the songs sound a lot like Wire. What’s undeniable though is that they share Wire’s sense of ambition and scope.

At times their melodies are tightly coiled and nagging yet at others they are more expansive. So on the likes of ‘Infected’ or ‘Witchfinder’ they do agit-pop very well indeed but they can also successfully take on art-dance-punk as ‘Aye No’ demonstrates by channelling the spirit of early B-52s.

Meanwhile ‘Secret World of Cement’ (one of three instrumentals on the record) somehow manages to filter the Shadows through the Gang of Four.

Curiously, the one band that I perhaps think that (bits of) ‘Chronicles …’ do sound like is a name that’s rarely cast up in the 21st century – the Three Johns. There’s undoubtedly a distinct vibe of the Johns on songs like ‘Devil Rides Out’ and ‘Open The Box’.

But STOOR have more obvious tunes as well and ‘Frack’ is the sort of song that could have been a left field chart hit (albeit probably at around #38) in the late 70s.

In brief ‘Chronicles 1986-2020’ may well be the best record by a band you’ve never heard of this year so I’m looking forward to reacquainting myself with STOOR live on Saturday.

To help preview the album launch, MPT caught up with drummer Scott McKinlay at the weekend to look back on what had brought STOOR to this point and also discuss the intricacies of 7/4 time and a trip to America that never happened. Over to Scott.

“As I mentioned before STOOR was started by our grandparents around 1914/15, so we’re the third STOOR. I don’t think the previous versions released anything but we’ve recorded a few of those old songs.

“One is from around about 1952, which was a jazz swing big band thing! We had some trouble playing and recording that!! Can anyone tell me how you change a 7/4 timing into 4/4? If I remember correctly we just missed out some notes.

“The current band did release a single a long time ago, which sold out, and we pressed another but we never released it, and now we’ve done this album. All of them have been on vinyl. I actually saw the first single on eBay recently selling for a whole £3.50!!”

Scott has fond memories of his first ever STOOR gig even if it didn’t quite lead to the sort of opportunity that he had dreamt of at the time.

“It was fantastic; we promoted and supported Man or Astroman in Dundee. If anyone hasn’t heard of them you should look them up. They are amazing! We thought the buggers would reciprocate and invite us to America, but we’re still waiting!”

Although they have a deep back catalogue to mine, STOOR continue to write new material and Scott gave me an insight into how this works.

“I was going to say very easily, we steal everything, but that wouldn’t be strictly true. Well not consciously anyway.

“Generally someone comes up with a riff or a bass or a drum thing and we work on it from there. It’s quite funny, sometimes Stef comes up with a completed song, we then play it and totally change it, and he spends the next 2 years muttering about how it doesn’t sound right.

“We’ve got a new song which we’re going to play at the launch, which was written while messing about in rehearsals 3 weeks ago, and none of us have any idea how it came about! In fact we’re not entirely sure it’s even ours!”

Having previously listed some of STOOR’s musical influences at some length, Scott is more concise in listing the non-musical influences on the record.

“Loads of films, strange nights out, and the fear of death!”

Last time Scott had suggested that STOOR were considering around 50 songs for the album. He suggests that the process of whittling these down to an album wasn’t as traumatic as might have been expected.

“It was actually quite easy. The 11 songs on the album are the only ones we could find the masters for!! We’ll have to hunt for the rest, we’ve got them on mp3 etc, but the masters could be anywhere! If anyone reading this knows where they are, please get in touch.”

Releasing the album is clearly a significant event in STOOR’s history (in fact, if you believe Scott, ‘Chronicles …’ has come out to mark their centenary!) but given their tangential career he doesn’t think it will have a huge impact on the STOOR lifestyle.

“Probably that we’ll never ever have to work again! Or more likely that we will!

“It just means we can move onto doing some more recording. We’ve got quite a lot of new songs we’d like to record.”

A recent trip to play Manchester helped put the bill together for Saturday’s show (at Beat Generator Live in Dundee) – all thanks to a method of communication that would not have been available to previous STOOR generations as Scott recounts.

“A long strange social media story cut short. One of my favourite bands was The Fall (until Steve Hanley left), and I “liked” a Fall Facebook page, ended up chatting to the guy who ran the page, he looked us up on YouTube, liked what he heard and invited us to play in Manchester.

“That’s how we met the band Kill Pretty, who are coming up from Manchester to play at the launch. They have former Fall drummer, Mike Leigh, and ex Blue Orchids bass player Chris Dutton playing for them, although they’re nothing like either band.

As ever, it seems, STOOR are living for the moment even though they have an excellent album to promote.

“We’ve no plans after the launch, we’re not very good at this marketing thing! Everything we’ve done for the past year, which was only 7 or 8 gigs, was from being invited. We’ve never been comfortable with self-promotion, it always feels forced so we don’t do it.”

DON’T TELL EVERYONE – STOOR INTERVIEW
March 31, 2014 by manicpopthrills· in Interviews

Stoor is a great, old fashioned Scottish word (writes Andy Wood) but a quick look at the Dictionary highlights a different etymology entirely for the word from Middle English suggesting something strong, powerful, hardy, bold and audacious. STOOR, the band are not dusty or particularly grimy though they appear to rise like a Phoenix every so often unannounced after periods of apparent slumber to grace stages before vanishing again. Other than making fine music there appears to be no game plan, no attempts to ingratiate or do anything other than follow their own trajectory.

They are a difficult band to describe which may be down to their awkward but rewarding sound or might be down to the fact that I am useless as a descriptive writer. They mix up a spiky post-punk sound with a whole range of other influences to provide a rather satisfying whole. I remember them being predominantly an instrumental band in previous encounters though admittedly the memories may be a bit faded. Covered in stoor if you like. There was one 7” E.P. released on Chute Records (home of Spare Snare). I’m sure there was a second single which I’m sure I owned, but have been told was pressed but not released. I can’t find copies of either record now so maybe I imagined the entire thing. Possibly STOOR are a figment of my imagination?

Which would kind of be apt as the music is such a great mix of diverse influences which pretty much float my boat. ‘The Devil Rides Out’ has a furious rhythm, a scratchy nagging riff and some wonderful Wah Wah guitar with an insane vocal and a punk-prog chorus, both infectious and ludicrous. It shouldn’t work but it does. Wonderful stuff. ‘Sure Beats Me’ is a fantastic, twangy instrumental, both respectful of the genre and tearing it up to resemble something slightly unhinged but totally enervating. ‘Aye No’ is probably my favourite song of the three lurking on Soundcloud with its looping rhythm, call and response vocal and general catchiness.

Who knows what will happen next. After playing their first show in four years at the end of February they play their second show in six weeks and I’m incredibly happy to be putting this on. Then after that, who knows? That said, they never really go away but I hope they stick around for a while longer unlike that damn stoor that always lurks around my stereo. Hardy, bold and audacious. Yeah, that sounds like STOOR.

Ahead of their debut at The Cool Cat Club Scott McKinlay answered a few questions on behalf of STOOR.

Could you please introduce yourselves and tell us a little bit about how you came about being in STOOR?

STOOR have existed in one form or another since just before the outbreak of WW1, when our (great?) grandparents started the band. They used to play in bomb shelters to keep people entertained. It’s been passed from generation to generation, at one point it was a swing band, and now its me, Stef, Ross and Davie continuing the legacy.

STOOR pretty much stopped as a band quite some time ago. Did you actually consciously split up or was it more of an accident?

STOOR have never split up and probably never will. Our kids will be handed the baton when they’re old enough and it’ll continue.

What factors made you decide to start playing again?

As I said STOOR never actually stopped, but if you want to hear us you have to find us, which isn’t always going to be easy. We will only do gigs and release recordings, when we feel the time is right. We released a single on vinyl some years ago, which sold out. We pressed a second, again on vinyl, but to date have decided not to release it. We have something like 50 songs, an awful lot of which are recorded, which may or may not see the light of day. We planned to release an album but haven’t got round to it yet. We’ll just have to wait and see. We’re playing a couple of gigs again, because we like the people who asked us to play them. We have nothing planned after the April gig at the Cool Cat Club, so who knows, we might go back into hibernation.

Why did you choose the name STOOR?

As I said we didn’t, our grandparents did. As far as we are led to believe, it was chosen because STOOR, as you probably know, is an old Scottish word for dust, and it was to do with the dust coming down from the bomb shelter ceilings when the bombs exploded. Also, you can’t get rid of STOOR, no matter how hard you try.

What are your influences, musical or otherwise?

Different things influence us all. Film, music, tv and books obviously. Everything from Stan Kenton to John Barry, Bo Diddley, Buddy Holly, The Kinks, Captain Beefheart, Ennio Morricone, Focus, Bowie, New York Dolls, Kraftwerk, Sex Pistols, LCD Soundsystem, The Fall, The Monks, Chic, Sparks, Television, B52’s, Pixies, Magazine, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, 50ft Wave, Man or Astroman, Wire. There are too many great films and books to mention, but if you listen to us you’ll get an idea.

How would you describe STOOR to someone who has yet to hear you?

A subconscious mix of all of the above but with our own sound. No one else that we can think of sounds like STOOR.

What motivates you all to be in a band? Isn’t it just lots of grief and hard work for little reward?

Being in STOOR is easy. 4 friends writing great music together, what’s hard about that? We have no expectations, so therefore there is no grief. We don’t expect to make money from the band, if we do it’s a bonus, but it just goes to the next recording cost. If we get offered things that sound like a load of hassle, we don’t do them. Playing music is a fantastic thing to do; my advice to anyone who finds it a hassle would be to stop doing it. You can’t buy being in a band; it is the most unique thing ever. We’ve done this for a long time, and we probably enjoy it more now than ever, and the band is getting better all the time. That’s the reward for us.

What would you like to achieve as a band?

Nothing particularly, we’ve achieved pretty much everything we wanted. Anything that happens from here on in is a bonus.

Some of you I know have played or play in other bands currently and in the past. Can you tell us a little bit about those?

As I said STOOR have always existed, whether people have realised it or not, but we have all had other projects periodically, while we were waiting for the STOOR batten to be handed down, Stef and I played in Waiter Waiter and a few other bands a long time ago, Ross played in Spare Snare for a time, and I currently play with Diddums, which is a bubblegum pop rock band. This is Davie’s first band.

How do you feel the music scene has changed since STOOR last graced stages?

The bad; It seems that money and fame are more important than innovation. Shows like The Voice and XFactor are never going to produce bands or solo artists that people will remember. These people are playing music for all the wrong reasons. The good; In a lot of ways things like Spotify are good for music; people can access different genres of music, and listen to old and new music at the click of a button. The live scene seems to be better than ever (particularly locally), and there are an awful lot of people playing music for all the right reasons.

If you could organise and play your ideal gig who would play and where would it be held?

What a question! We would all be different, we all like different things. Great gigs are always a surprise to us. The Clarks gig we did recently was fantastic; a lot of people came to see us, we played well, and we got a great reaction. I don’t know that you can organise or plan something like that. On a complete fantasy level, none of us would mind if Television asked us to support them on their forthcoming (world) tour. We might make an effort for that!

What are your plans for the coming months?

We don’t really plan anything, what comes next is really down to other people. If people enjoy what we do, they might invite us to do things, if they don’t, we’ll continue to write, record and play when we see fit.

Anything else that you would like to add?