By the time a band has released their first record, Dundee-born DJ Jim Gellatly has lost interest.
Or so he often says.
But in truth, the 56-year-old radio veteran has time for a lot of acts well beyond their first spin.
As well as being a lifelong fan of The Clash – his ultimate ‘desert island disc’ is the 36-track epic album Sandinsta! – Jim is a dedicated supporter of musicians he finds genuinely exciting.
“I’m a huge fan of Be Charlotte, I think her music is phenomenal,” he says of singer-songwriter and label owner Charlotte Brimner, a fellow Dundonian.
“I supported her when she was just a teenager with her guitar, so I’m delighted with the progress she’s made.
“And becoming important in the industry as well as a mentor, doing her songwriting camps.
“I’ve not lost interest in the music she makes.”
Strathallan bully sparked music obsession
He hasn’t lived in Dundee since he moved out of his mum’s Birkhill home for college, but Jim’s still got a soft spot for his hometown’s music scene above any other.
“Because I’m originally from Dundee, I’ve got an interest in stuff that’s coming out of Dundee or the surrounds, and I’ll tend to favour it above other things if they’re musically similar,” he says.
Recently, he’s “very into” Perth singer-songwriter and fellow Strathallan alumnus Blair Davie, who moved to the private school after being bullied at his previous school.
“Blair’s written about that in the songs,” says Jim. “I also had a very hard time with bullying, and it was only into my final couple of years at school that I started to discover myself. And music came with that.”
At 14, Jim says he had a run in with a “big boy” at school who whacked him with a ruler after he admitted his favourite album was The Beatles Greatest Hits.
After that, he decided to start curating what he felt was a respectably punk-rock taste in music.
“I got into things like the Anti-Nowhere League and the Sex Pistols, and Dundee band Plastic Surgery,” recalls Jim.
“I almost got kicked out of school once for putting a red rinse through my hair.”
‘Musical education’: Groucho’s and Fatties
In his search for musical greatness, Jim would trawl the shelves of legendary Dundee record shop Groucho’s.
“I’d go in and browse through all the secondhand vinyls,” he recalls.
“That was a fundamental place for me. And when I went to Perth College after school, it was Gold Rush in Perth.”
But more than anything else, it was the Sunday night Dance Factory at Dundee nightclub Fat Sam’s which made up Jim’s “musical education”, and instilled in him a hunger for new talent.
“They were just amazing nights, bringing new bands all the time,” he smiles. “Every Sunday night I’d go along to Fatties.”
At that time, Jim saw the likes of The Proclaimers, The Primitives and The Wedding Present at the Dance Factory – experiences he’ll never forget.
“It was just an incredible place,” he says. “And we’d hang around after and try and meet the bands, quite often ending up in the dressing room if we were persistent enough.”
‘Truly awful’ frontman Jim Gellatly
Like any teenage audiophile, Jim had a short foray into the world of making music, fronting a band he and his school pals dubbed the Dead Power Comrades.
“We were truly awful,” laughs Jim. “I remember on the night of our first and only gig, I heard BBC DJ John Peel was in Glasgow, and I rang the BBC to get him to come and see this ‘hot new band’ that had never actually played together.
“Thankfully, he never came.”
Accepting his self confessed “total lack of musical talent”, Jim settled into his role as a curious curator of new and interesting music.
For him, the ultimate moment of job satisfaction “is when somebody says ‘thank you for introducing me to so and so'”.
“That, for me, is what makes it special,” Jim explains. “Because actually, I’ve had an impact, and I’ve helped somebody discover something.”
‘I wasn’t the first to play The View’
Indeed, it was that love for sharing the music he was excited about which drove Jim to pursue a career in radio in the first place.
“There’s a lot of people getting into radio maybe as a vehicle to be a personality or to end up on the telly or whatever,” he observes. “For me, it was just wanting to tell people about new bands.”
Now between his daily gig on British Forces Broadcasting Service’s breakfast show, where he has an emerging artist feature, and his weekly New Music show on Amazing Radio, Jim has cemented himself as a tastemaker when it comes to up and coming talent.
However, he admits that “you have to go through a lot of dross to come up with the gems” when it comes to selecting new music.
And he’s putting paid to the rumour that he alone ‘discovered’ big-name acts such as The View.
“I mean, certainly I wasn’t the first person to play The View,” Jim says. “I’m pretty sure (BBC Radio 1 DJ) Zane Lowe did before me.
“I don’t genuinely believe I brought any acts on to the scene, I’ve just been part of the story.
“People say that I have, but I present radio shows about new music. So it’s inevitable that often I’ll be one of the first to play something.”
Wedding haircut was Jim’s ‘biggest regret’
He began his 30-year career by studying media at Perth College and DJing in bars on the side, before bagging his first proper gig at Moray Forth Radio in Inverness, then moving to Northsound in Aberdeen for nine years.
It was during that time that Jim met his beloved wife Candy – and made his “biggest mistake ever” as their wedding day drew near.
“My biggest regret is getting my hair cut short and sensible for my wedding in 1997,” says Jim, who has become famous over the years for his brightly-coloured mohawk hairstyle – a hangover from his punk-rock schooldays.
“Now I look at my wedding photos and say: ‘That’s not me’.”
However, the disastrous shearing had one silver lining for lifelong Dundee FC fan Jim, whose late father and grandfather both served as chairman of the club.
“The only positive was that when I went to get it cut, Dundee legend and championship winner Bobby Cox was getting his hair cut at the same time,” he smiles.
“I grew up with blue blood. So that was pretty cool.”
New adventure in Germany for DJ
Jim’s son Hamish has inherited his love of football at the age of 18, meaning that to his relief, “I’m finally gelling with one of my children”.
But he’s having to give up his footy outings for the next six months, as he’s just embarked on a temporary BFBS gig in north Germany, where he’ll present a daily afternoon show.
And though he’ll miss Candy and their kids Jasmine, Angus and Hamish, he’s excited to immerse himself in the German music scene – and get a lie in afterwards!
“What I do miss, because I live in Glasgow and do the breakfast show in Edinburgh, is going to weeknight gigs,” says Jim. “Because I’m up at 4am.
“Then again, we all used to go to gigs and roll into work right after. Maybe I’m just getting old!”
Clarification:
A previous version of this story suggested that Blair Davie was bullied while attending Strathallan school.
Mr Davie has confirmed to The Courier that was not the case and we apologise to him and to Strathallan for the error and are happy to put the record straight.
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