Reunited again:

Swiss Family

It’s accidental, says Kit Clark of 1990s indie-pop group Swiss Family Orbison, that the band happen to be having their second reunion in 14 years the week after the V&A Dundee opened, and the accompanying 3D Festival saw him get involved with another comeback (of sorts) for its closing song.

Alongside his brother Gary – whose set closed the 3D Festival on the Saturday – Kit was one third of Dundee’s well-remembered transatlantic success story Danny Wilson.

Although the group’s third former member Ged Grimes was unavailable as he’s touring with Simple Minds, the Clark brothers were reunited alongside the Sistema Scotland choir and a supergroup of local musicians last weekend for Danny Wilson’s big hit, Mary’s Prayer.

“There wasn’t a lot of rehearsal time to get it all together, and it flew past in about thirty seconds,” laughs Kit, who works as the gig booker in Dundee venue Clarks, which is run by Gary’s twin Scott. He explains that Swiss Family Orbison gigs – when they happen – are now far more considered affairs, which involve drawing as many members as possible together from across the country.

Aside from their first show, which was as rushed as they come.

“I got offered an emergency gig at the Glasgow Barrowland one winter when there were terrible snowstorms, and the bands coming up from down south got stuck,” says Clark. “That’s pretty much what triggered us coming together as a live band.”

He knew guitarist Keith Matheson and bassist Colin Davidson from other bands in Dundee, and had seen Gregor Philp playing guitar on City Square one day. Drummer Dougie Vipond was a friend from Danny Wilson days: “He was in Deacon Blue, so we stayed in a lot of the same hotels.”

This happened in the mid-90s, not long after Clark had tried out his own solo material post-Danny Wilson, yet the quickfire rehearsal for this show demonstrated that the quintet worked well together, and that Clark and Matheson are a strong songwriting partnership.

They released their raucous selftitled debut album in 1997 to much enjoyment in Scotland and continued to tour while making plans for a second record.

“But eventually everyone just got so busy with other projects and their own families that we had a hiatus of 12 years!” Clark says.

Philp joined Vipond in Deacon Blue and Davidson moved to the Isle of Man to be a teacher, making gigging as a full band tricky. Their comeback in 2016 was brief, comprising a week of Scottish gigs and the low-key digital release of their “lost” second album Thick As Pop.

The teaching job unfortunately means Davidson won’t be present for this show, with the rest of the group instead performing an acoustic set (“we were always very song-focused and we worked hard on our harmonies, so it works well,” says Clark).

Is there any more to come after this? “We’re trying to twist Colin’s arm to do something next year,” Clark says.

“The thing is, neither of our albums were ever available on vinyl, because it was so difficult to get them made.

“So we’d love to put them both out that way, and do some more recording then – if everyone’s available.”

Swiss Family Orbison are set to play Clarks On Lindsay Street, Dundee.