New guide warns capital that property developers have edged out its musicians

It is the city that gave birth to musical favourites as varied as Young Fathers, The Proclaimers, Garbage, The Bay City Rollers, The Rezillos, The Incredible String Band, The water boys, the beta band and Idlewild.

But now an official history of Scottish pop and rock music has warned that Edinburgh’s modern-day musicians have been edged out by the city’s property boom.

Broadcaster Vic Galloway, who is also an official adviser to the National Museum’s new exhibition, Rip It Up, which also features the likes of Simple Minds, Franz Ferdinand, KT Tunstall, Annie Lennox and Biffy Clyro.

Galloway, who is also presenting separate BBC Scotland TV and radio series inspired by the exhibition, has blamed developers for Edinburgh losing its musical “mojo” in recent years. And he warned that the lack of suitable venues for gigs outwith August meant many people did not now regard Edinburgh as having a year-round music scene.

The museum exhibition was launched by stars like Shirley Manson and Clare Grogan just hours before the city council pulled the plug on the staging of an all-day outdoors Rip It Up Festival in the courtyard of Summerhall arts centre.

Writing in the book, which has been on sale since the exhibition opened, Galloway states that the city’s current music scene “is not what it was.”

He has bemoaned how it has to rely on “bijou” venues like Sneaky Pete’s and Bannerman’s, in the Cowgate, Henry’s Cellar Bar, in Tollcross, and Leith Depot, on Leith Walk, the latter of which is currently threatened with demolition.

The book has been published less than two years after Edintoday

0 Vic Galloway (right) says Edinburgh ‘has lost its musical mojo’ burgh University researchers found that almost half of the city’s musicians, and its venues, claimed to have suffered problems over noise restrictions in the space of a year.

The Picture House, Electric Circus, Studio 24, The Venue, The Citrus Club and the original Bongo Club are among the city centre venues to close their doors in recent years.

However, earlier this year live music venues across Scotland won a pledge of greater protection against property developers. They will be ordered to ensure homes built near venues are soundproofed in future.

Galloway recalls how acts like The Clash, Iggy Pop, Elvis Costello, The Cure, U2 Depeche Mode, The Damned and Dexy’s Midnight Runners all played memorable shows as unknowns in the 1970s and 1980s, with the city playing a central role in the post-punk movement in Scotland.

Galloway writes how Edinburgh lost its musical “hipster crown” in the 1980s, with Glasgow going on to become the UK’S third most happening UK music city after London and Manchester, and is still “booming like never before”.

But he also adds: “Edinburgh, however, has lost a little of its mojo when it comes to contemporary music. In the 1990s and 2000s, The Venue and Calton Studios (later Studio 24) were on the nationwide circuit and booked innumerable international names.

“The Playhouse, Picture House, Cafe Graffiti, The Bongo Club and La Belle Angele all catered for pop, rock, funk, soul and hip hop to indigenous music lovers and the city’s transient student population.

“Some of these venues are sadly no more and, while still healthy, Edinburgh’s scene is not what it was. With property and development space at a premium, artists have fewer places to go.

“Music does flourish in bijou places like the Leith Depot, Sneaky Pete’s, Bannerman’s and Henry’s Cellar Bar, as well as medium-sized venues like The Liquid Room and the Queen’s Hall. Of course, the capital has the annual Edinburgh International Festival and Fringe, but sometimes people forget it is a year-round music city.”

A council spokeswoman said: “Edinburgh is best known for its festivals, but we have a passionate and proud year-round music industry, burgeoning with creative talent. Much of this story is told in the new Rip It Up exhibition, which shows that bands may come and go, venues change, but one thing remains the same – Edinburgh’s music scene is just as vibrant.”

‘Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.” This may have been misattributed to Plato but he was clearly a bit of a music fan.

Whether the ancient Greek philosopher would have plunged into the mosh pit for Nirvana’s famous 1991 gig at Edinburgh’s now defunct Calton Studios or stood outside complaining about the noise is open to question, but music is unquestionably an important part of any city’s cultural life.

While Glasgow has established itself as a significant presence on the UK scene, Edinburgh has lost “a little of its mojo” in recent years, says broadcaster Vic Galloway, who blames booming property prices.

People tend to like living in Edinburgh because of its quality of life – ranked second in the world by Deutsche Bank last year – and music venues are an important part of that. The city does need new housing but it takes more than that to make a city a home. In meeting demand for property, we should take care not to lose some of the very things that make Edinburgh such an attractive place to live.