GAVIN MARTIN

FThe 70s sensations’ manipulative and abusive manager Tam Paton, who died in 2009, controlled the tartanclad teenyboppers responsible for record sales of 120 million.

Les, spent years as a drink and drug addict struggling with his Roller experience before counselling and rehab reset his life at the turn of the century. And now he’s the boss. “I do it all, set up the gig, call the musicians, well they’re my band now for 20-odd years, the front of house, stage set, hotels, everything.

“So I’m very busy even when I’m not performing,” he explains. In their heyday, Paton made sure the Rollers were kept away from their pop peers.

“It was a control thing, something you had no time to think about. If we’d had time, things may have turned out a little bit different.

“But Tam Paton was very good at keeping us apart and in competition with each other. Divide and conquer, that worked in his favour.

“We went into places and we left quickly. That was part of the image too, untouchables.”

For Les, the #MeToo movement and revelations about abuse in the sport and entertainment industries struck a chord.

“When you look back you can see how evil the whole thing was, how manipulated you were and how 1970s The Rollers in their pomp

stupid you were. But there’s no point in moping or thinking about that because there’s a lot of positive stuff to link on to as well.”

Roller Alan Longmuir, 70, died last year, and Les has only a fleeting relationship with his old bandmates.

So how do they feel about Les McKeown’s Bay City Rollers? “You’d have to ask them, but we put on a good show with proper musicians and try to recreate the songs as they were on record, all the hits.

“We give the fans what they want and then a bit of cheeky banter from Les,” he grins.

On a Living Legends tour a few years ago, with Showaddywaddy, Smokie, Suzi Quatro and Leo Sayer, Les got to hang out with some of those he was kept away from by Paton. “Now that initial success is over, everybody was very friendly and approachable. It was nice to meet them.”

As for Paton, he is fading from Les’s memory. “It’s long gone, it must be 40 years since the last time I saw him. I don’t think about him at all.” ■ Bay City Rollers Gold 3 CD set out today. For dates of lives shows see lesmckeown.com

The ever cranky, contentious and captivating Mister Young is back on the Horse for the first time in seven years. With Nils Lofgren in tow and a set of songs that are nostalgic (Olden Days), unrepentantly sprawling (the 13min-plus She Showed Me Love), touching (Green Is Blue) and sonically unhinged (Shut It Down), this is vintage Horse, wild, free and living by their own rules. Pedigree material.

When you look back you see how evil it was, and how stupid you were