UPWARDS & ONWARDS

AFTER THE WHITE RIOT TOUR LEFT EDINBURGH, IT WAS THE MINOR PLAYERS WHOSE LEGACIES WOULD ENDURE.

ON SATURDAY, May 7, 1977, future Orange Juice stars Steven Daly and Edwyn Collins, then 16 and 17, struck out from Glasgow early, intending to visit Bruce’s Records in Rose Street before making their way to Edinburgh Playhouse. In Daly’s words, they would “make a day of it”. “You have to remember that there hadn’t been many punk records out yet, and not many punk shows in Scotland,” says Daly. “In Glasgow, because of licensing laws, the pubs couldn’t pay bands and the Apollo was a 3,000-seater.” Still, Daly, Collins and their friend James Kirk had seen The Damned supporting Marc Bolan at the Apollo that March, and were armed with music press info about the other acts on the White Riot bill. Arriving in time for the soundchecks, they mingled with the musicians. “I helped Paul Weller carry his equipment in,” says Collins, “and we asked them about their gear. I had a laugh with Ari Up. It was great.” “All five bands seemed like exotic creatures,” says Daly. “But Subway Sect made the biggest impression on us. You’d read an interview with Vic Godard where he’d rabbit on about Debussy and Northern soul… and Abba! They looked like they knew what they were doing – dressed in the schoolboy drag, the grey, V-neck jumpers – but you were meant to guess what it was. It was drawing a line under rock affectations and showbiz. They were bohemian.” On the night, Daly recalls that The Jam were the most together. “They were retro,” he says, “quite gauche in a way, but fucking fantastic, tightly coiled, like a punch in the face.” In the midst of punk, the White Riot tour was offering a road map for post-punk. “It was bringing us the promise of what there’d be after rock,” says Daly… “like a spaceship full of ideas had landed on Edinburgh.” Collins spotted another good reason to follow the support acts’ lead. “The Jam, The Clash: it was for blokes and their fans were blokes,” he reasons. “The Slits, Subway Sect and Buzzcocks: it was music for boys and girls.” The Edinburgh White Riot show was a germination moment for the first generation of Scottish indie musicians. Davey Henderson of The Fire Engines was there. So was Josef K’s Malcolm Ross. Instantly, Collins realised the limitations of the band Daly, Kirk and himself were in. “The Nu-Sonics were rubbish,” he says, “a pastiche. It was time to get serious.”