Since leaving school in 1990, I have dedicated almost every waking hour to the pursuit of my own personal happiness, in the form of rock'n'roll.
As a musician I haven't earned a single penny from this rather futile pastime; and like most other musicians I can also attest it has sapped all my time and resources with little reward other than that simple, initial, key motivation - fun.
I'd be lying if I said I hadn't tried for many years to forge a career as a musician during my late teens and twenties. But it eventually transpired that my life would follow various different paths through radio, TV, journalism, DJing and publishing a book - all involving music, naturally. I've never stopped playing and writing, however, and those who know me primarily as a broadcaster may be surprised.
As I privately embark on a new recording project and create some of the best music I've ever made (which will in turn probably never see the light of day), more publicly I've recently taken back up electric guitar and vocals in a group I played in 20 years ago - Khartoum Heroes. Far from being a household name, we were largely ignored in the 1990s, but our key songwriter has since gone on to scale the somewhat dizzy heights. His name is Kenny Anderson, also known as King Creosote. There has been little fanfare for the group's return, no real anticipation, and only mild interest from a few friends who knew us back in the day. Obviously this isn't a glorious reunion with an accompanying Greatest Hits compilation. It happens to be five friends getting together and making music for the sheer hell of it.
Loading the amps in and out of vans, strapping on that guitar again, trying to rediscover the finger positions for the chords, mustering up the breath to attempt a harmony vocal, forgetting the words ... and all at serious volume; it does initially make one think that rock'n'roll might indeed be a young man's game. After warming up a little and casting my mind over the Rolling Stones' legacy, I realise we're only in our forties and more than capable. Older, fatter, greyer and more forgetful than ever, we can obviously still do it, albeit with extra blood, sweat and tears.
The songs themselves conjure up all sorts of mental images for me. From the writing and rehearsing process in cottages in the East Neuk of Fife to touring dive-bars and squats across the UK, Holland and France. Every melody is a memory, every rhyming couplet a reminiscence.
By and large, we are playing songs we recorded in January 1995 and I can still recall the antics in Busby's Riverside studio and the finished album we left with. Back then we were deadly serious about our craft. We tried to establish ourselves and were eager to please, but always seemed out of time and out of step. Although lean, keen, hard-working and dedicated, the music industry didn't want to know. A rather odd, ramshackle, bohemian prospect that didn't conform to genre or type, I suppose we always tried to push beyond the norm.
Today our unholy mixture of indie, rock, bluegrass, folk, psychedelia and ska has been embraced by the audiences we've been playing to. Perhaps the songs resonate more in this day and age.
The atmosphere at live shows also doubtless benefits from our tatty, ill-fitting, charity-shop superhero outfits and irreverent onstage banter: A gaggle of portly, paunchy, rock'n'roll crusaders come to save you all from taking life, and music, too seriously.
Admittedly our gigs have so far been in front of diehard Fence Records fans in the East Neuk, including the Yellae Deuks Easter mini-festival in Anstruther. Those folks do like a spot of fancy dress and a few drinks, after all.
Mostly, though, the sense of comradery and friendship that pervades the whole endeavour is priceless. When we miss a cue, hit a bum note or completely go blank on a verse of lyrics, it's always hoots of laughter that fills the rehearsal room or venue. I suppose that in the po-faced, strutting, peripheral world of pop music we are still out of step.
I'm sure there are detractors out there, who'd want Kenny to concentrate solely on his From Scotland With Love repertoire and heartfelt back catalogue. There may be those who'd prefer me in the BBC studio behind a microphone rather than onstage in a Zorro outfit or Mexican wrestler garb. But as I have recently discovered, there is room for both, and life is all the richer for it. Much like the initial band we tried to foist upon the world, there are no rules.
This escapade was originally Kenny's idea, and more proof that the man does what he likes and does it all with a sense of humour. He has a revered career as a singer-songwriter, and I too am carving out a decent living as a presenter and journalist. The other three in the band make a respectable living from music and other jobs as well. There is absolutely no need to do this, other than the music itself and the one thing that continues to inspire us all ... fun.
Vic Galloway presents on BBC Radio Scotland at 9pm Mondays and 11pm Thursdays; tomorrow he has Errors live in session. Khartoum Heroes play Summerhall, Edinburgh, with support from C Duncan and Adam Stafford, on May 10.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.Â
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.Â
That is invaluable.Â
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article