A wet July in Perthshire can only mean one thing for music fans – it’s Rewind Scotland time again.
Revellers were blitzed by torrential downpours across both days of the 80s-themed festival on its return last year following a two-year hiatus.
Whatever the weather this weekend, though, fun lies in store at Scone Palace’s grounds.
It all kicks off tonight with a tented party for campers ahead of the event’s massive outdoor stage opening tomorrow afternoon.
The retrofest’s organisers have largely gone for a tried and trusted line-up, with such Rewind regulars as sophisti-pop exponents ABC, Haircut 100’s Nick Heyward, Jazzie B-led hipsters Soul II Soul, Stray Cats drummer Slim Jim Phantom and Five Star singer Denise Pearson all returning tomorrow.
The Sunday line-up features such Scone favourites as ex-Spandau Ballet pin-up Tony Hadley, Ultravox star Midge Ure, the evergreen Toyah and veteran duos Go West and China Crisis.
However, the weekend also offers Rewind Scotland debuts from such diverse hit-makers as The Farm, Heatwave, Art Of Noise, Hothouse Flowers, Red Box, Brother Beyond and Lighthouse Family’s Tunde Baiyewu.
Erasure legend Andy Bell – another first-timer – headlines tomorrow, with songwriting icons Squeeze topping Sunday’s bill.
There’s also a Rewind return for The South, who last played Scone in 2014. Formed in 2009, the band features ex-members of The Beautiful South minus their acclaimed founder Paul Heaton, who penned such 80s classics as Song For Whoever and his first band The Housemartins’ breakthrough hit Happy Hour.
The nine-piece are led by Alison Wheeler – she sang on the Hull outfit’s final three albums – and sax player-turned-frontman Gaz Birtles, whose own career in music goes back 45 years.
Boy George feature wasn’t meant to be
Reflecting on pop’s most colourful decade, he recalls his first band The Swinging Laurels secretly hiring the biggest star of 1983.
“Steve Levine produced our second single and he’d just worked on Culture Club’s first album, which was huge,” says Gaz, 68.
“On the back of that we did a track, but Steve thought it needed a gospel singer on it and said he’d get someone in. Next morning, Boy George was standing in the studio in all his regalia!
“Unfortunately, George’s label stopped us putting it out with him on it, so it was just me singing it in the end.”
Birtles also recorded with Fun Boy Three and Musical Youth, but everything changed after grebo rockers Crazyhead asked the brass-infused Laurels to join them on a European tour supporting Iggy Pop.
“They had the same agent as The Housemartins – he saw us play and we ended up doing a gig with Beautiful South at the Olympic Theatre in Paris,” he says.
“It was a bit of a disaster because we couldn’t hear ourselves play, but they enjoyed having the brass section and we ended up staying with them for 18 years.”
‘Ridiculous’ money spent on lavish hotels
Reflecting on the band’s swift rise – their single A Little Time topped the charts in 1990 – he admits he sometimes has to pinch himself.
“Every tour we did for years – in all the big theatres – pretty much sold out,” Gaz recalls.
“With the release of the greatest hits album it stepped up another gear. We did two nights at the Manchester Arena, but the band still did it like it was a small theatre gig.
“We were turning down lots of offers but went all round the world. We did America about five times and Japan.
“The hotels just got bigger as it went on. Eventually we were staying in country venues with moats and butlers – it was ridiculous the amount of money that got spent, but really good fun.”
A no less beautiful South
After selling 15 million records worldwide, The Beautiful South broke up in 2007 – but were soon reborn as The South.
“A split had threatened the last few years but we always came out with another album,” the singer explains.
“We were getting peed off that people only wanted the hits by then. Paul was doing his solo stuff as well, so nobody blamed him when it ended.
“Two years later the drummer, Dave Stead, phoned everyone up and said he was bored and asked if we wanted to get back together. Basically six out of the 11-piece touring band agreed.
“I remember phoning Paul and asking if it was going to jeopardise any reunion plans and he said, ‘No, go for it.’ I can’t believe that was 14 years ago.”
‘I have to pinch myself’ admits Gaz
The South play Glasgow’s CCA tomorrow ahead of Rewind and, unusually, they’re bringing a tour bus north – with Birtles insisting the rock’n’roll lifestyle isn’t one he buys into.
“I still feel like I’m a fan at festivals – if I see somebody like Midge Ure I don’t go up and talk to him,” he says.
“I can’t do that, whereas our percussionist, he’s straight in getting selfies and everything. I have to pinch myself that I’m still mingling with these sorts of people.
“With nine of us plus two crew we shouldn’t really be getting any gigs, but I like to think it’s for that reason that it works. It’s almost the same as it was in The Beautiful South and we try to reproduce the songs as people remember them.”
The South will play a hit-laden set at Rewind and Gaz is looking forward to performing one classic in particular.
“We Are Each Other is a rockier one in among the ballads and I just sort of get lost in it in my head,” he declares.
“It’s the song where I feel like a punk rocker again, where I can let rip and enjoy it a little bit more.”
The South will play at Rewind 2023, which takes place from July 21-23. For day tickets, weekend tickets and more information, please visit the festival’s website.
