Take me from beardy folk legend to Electroglam star in the making in 3 steps. Scotland has punched well above its weight category in music making for decades. From Kurt’s obsession with The Vaselines to CHVRCHES taking over the world. Seeing this music culture from the ground up; from Sleazys and 13th Note to Stereo and The Hug & Pint, the common thread is community. I’m sure most cities of any musical note claim a ‘scene’. Beyond that, there’s a culture of friendship, of sharing; of shared bills, shared pints, shared bands. 

When I first moved to Glasgow, I saw big names play tiny rooms, Balkan© fuelled messy times all lived out in the spirit of good times via music. This community was the inspiration behind my ongoing Songlines project. It explores the webbed connections of the Scottish music community as each portrait sitter passes me to the next on a meandering stroll taking in icons and upstarts. The journey is slow and tangential but probably my most personally rewarding. It gave me what to this day feels like one of my best afternoons at work. 

A portion of the project to date was exhibited in Glasgow in 2017.