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Frances McKee | |
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 Frances McKee in October 2009 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 1966[ citation needed ] |
| Origin | Parkhead, Glasgow, Scotland |
| Genres | Alternative rock, indie pop |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar, vocals, keyboards |
| Years active | 1983–present |
| Labels | Chemikal Underground Rosary Music |
Frances McKee (born 1966) is a Scottish singer and songwriter known best for her work in the Scottish indie band The Vaselines. [1]
McKee's involvement with music began as a teenager in the early 1980s when she met Duglas T. Stewart from Bellshill. With McKee and his friends Norman Blake and Sean Dickson, Stewart formed a group, known by various outrageous names before settling on The Pretty Flowers. The group would play impromptu, happening-style gigs in the local park and at Bellshill's Hattonrigg Hotel. McKee became disillusioned with the group shortly after they settled on The Pretty Flowers name and eventually left. The group later morphed into the BMX Bandits. [2]
The Vaselines formed in Glasgow, Scotland in 1986. McKee and Eugene Kelly wrote almost all of their material. By this time, McKee was beginning to learn how to play guitar, [3] which is why many 80s Vaselines songs only feature certain chords. They signed to 53rd and 3rd and following the release of two EPs, Son of a Gun and Dying for It , and their first album, Dum-Dum , in 1989, the band split up. Kurt Cobain of Nirvana was a big fan of the band, and covered three of their songs: "Molly's Lips", "Son of a Gun" and "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam". He also named his daughter after her. McKee and Kelly briefly reunited in 1990 to play a show supporting Nirvana in Edinburgh in 1990. This would be their last performance together until 2006.
Following a post-Vaselines break, she began making music with Vaselines bass player James Seenan in 1994, writing material of a more-mellow flavour. These songs were released under the name Painkillers at first. They released 2 singles under this name in 1994 and 1996. They changed their name to Suckle in 1997 following the addition of more bandmembers. Initially coming out on 4AD offshoot Detox Artefacts, the band released 1 album, 2 EPs and 3 singles before splitting up in late 2000. They also recorded two sessions for John Peel.
Against Nurture, the only Suckle long player, was released in May 2000 on Chemikal Underground.
On 10 April 2006, McKee released her first solo album, Sunny Moon .
In the summer of 2006, Frances McKee and Eugene Kelly took to the stage together for the first time since 1990, to perform a set of The Vaselines songs, as part of a joint tour to promote their individual solo albums. This led to The Vaselines reforming (minus the old rhythm section) on 24 April 2008 for a charity show for the Malawi Orphan Support group at Glasgow's MONO venue.
Since 2008, The Vaselines have continued to perform around the world, with members of Belle & Sebastian supporting their live set. On 5 May 2009, Sub Pop released Enter the Vaselines . A deluxe-edition reissue of the 1992 Sub Pop release, it includes remastered versions of the band's two EPs, album, as well as demos and live recordings from 1986 and 1988. In 2010, they released a second album, Sex with an X .
The Vaselines' third album, V for Vaselines, was self-released in 2014 on the band's own label, Rosary Music, in order to maintain creative control. [4]
McKee features in the 2017 documentary Teenage Superstars. [5]
McKee has been practicing Yoga since 1990 and began training to teach in 1995, gaining her qualifications in 1997. She opened the Yoga Extension studio in Jordanhill, Glasgow in 2006, which teaches the Iyengar yoga practice. Yoga Extension is currently located in Charing Cross, having moved locations in 2017. [6]
In a 2014 interview with Under the Radar, McKee discussed her support for the Scottish Independence referendum, saying, "There are a lot of creative people in Scotland ready for the change a yes vote will bring". [7]
Bis are a Scottish indie pop band composed of Steven Clark, John Clark, and Amanda MacKinnon, formed in 1994. The band's name, rhyming with 'this', derives from "black iron skyline", a lyric from the song "Twilight of a Champion" by The The. After releasing numerous cult EPs and three studio albums the band broke up in 2003, but re-formed briefly in 2007 for a series of concerts. In 2009 they once again re-formed and released the album data Panik etcetera in 2014. The album Slight Disconnects was released in February 2019 with the band lineup returning to the original core three-piece. An archival album, Music For Animations, consisting of music recorded in 2004 for CBBC kids TV show BB3B, was released in 2020. In 2021 the band self-released a cassette-only live album entitled The Fan Club Tapes Vol. 1 - Live In Toulouse 1997. Low Level - a CD consisting of previously unreleased material recorded during the Return To Central sessions - was also released in 2021. In October 2022 Systems Music For Home Defence was released, which Sci-Fi Steven has described as the band's "rave" album.
Chemikal Underground is an independent record label set up in 1994 at Glasgow, Scotland by rock band The Delgados. It was set up to release their first single, "Monica Webster" / "Brand New Car" and went on to break many new Scottish bands in the nineties.
The Vaselines are a Scottish alternative rock band. Formed in Glasgow, Scotland in 1986, the band was originally a duo between its songwriters Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee, but later added James Seenan and Eugene's brother Charlie Kelly on bass and drums respectively from the band Secession. McKee had formerly been a member of a band named The Pretty Flowers with Duglas T. Stewart, Norman Blake, Janice McBride and Sean Dickson. Eugene Kelly had formerly played in The Famous Monsters.
The Way of the Vaselines: A Complete History is a compilation album by the indie rock band The Vaselines. It was released in May 1992 on Sub Pop Records, catalogue SP145b. The album compiles every previous release by the band, the two EP's Son of a Gun and Dying For It, as well as their first long-playing album Dum-Dum, in chronological order of release. Three additional tracks are included: "Dying for It ", "Let's Get Ugly", and the previously unreleased "Bitch."
Teenage Fanclub are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in Bellshill near Glasgow in 1989. The group were founded by Norman Blake, Raymond McGinley and Gerard Love, all of whom shared lead vocals and songwriting duties until Love's departure in 2018. As of 2019, the band's lineup consists of Blake, McGinley, Francis Macdonald, Dave McGowan and Euros Childs.
The Soup Dragons are a Scottish alternative rock band of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Named after a character in the 1970s children's television series Clangers, the group is best known for its cover of the Rolling Stones' song "I'm Free", which was a Top 5 hit in the United Kingdom in 1990; and "Divine Thing", a Top 40 hit in the United States in 1992.
Brendan O'Hare is a Scottish multi-instrumentalist musician, primarily known for being the drummer in the rock band Teenage Fanclub from 1989 until early 1994, and a member of and collaborator with Mogwai.
BMX Bandits are a Scottish guitar pop band formed in Bellshill in 1986. Led by songwriter and lead vocalist Duglas T. Stewart, their music is heavily influenced by 1960s pop. They have shared members with numerous other local bands, including Teenage Fanclub and the Soup Dragons. BMX Bandits were a favourite band of Kurt Cobain, who said "If I could be in any other band, it would be BMX Bandits". In 2011, they were the subject of the documentary Serious Drugs: A Film About BMX Bandits.
Dum-Dum is the first full-length album by the alternative rock band The Vaselines, released in 1989. It was recorded at Chamber Studios, Edinburgh, between December 1988 and January 1989. The album was produced by the band and Jamie Watson, and was included in its entirety for their career retrospective The Way of the Vaselines: A Complete History.
Norman Blake is a Scottish singer, instrumentalist and songwriter in the Glasgow-based band Teenage Fanclub.
Emma Pollock is a Scottish singer-songwriter, musician, and a founding member of the bands The Delgados and The Burns Unit. She is also one of the founders of The Fruit Tree Foundation project and a regular contributor to Vox Liminis.
Eugene Kelly is a Scottish musician who is a member of the group The Vaselines, a founding member of the now disbanded Eugenius and has had a number of solo releases.
Dying for It is the second extended play by Scottish indie pop group The Vaselines, released in March 1988. The EP was later included on their career retrospective collection The Way of the Vaselines: A Complete History. The song "Teenage Superstars" was later included as the fourth track on their debut album Dum-Dum in 1989. The song "Molly's Lips" is named in tribute to the well-known Scottish television personality Molly Weir.
De Rosa are a Scottish rock band from Bellshill. It consists of Martin Henry, Chris Connick (guitar), James Woodside (bass), Neil Woodside (drums) and Andrew Bush (piano/keyboards). The band have released three studio albums—Mend, Prevention, and Weem.
The Groovy Little Numbers were an indie pop band from Bellshill, Lanarkshire, Scotland centred on former member of The Boy Hairdressers, and future BMX Bandits and Superstar member Joe McAlinden.
Suckle were an indie pop band formed in Glasgow, Scotland in the mid-1990s by former Vaselines member Frances McKee, along with her sister and co-vocalist in the group Marie McKee and another former Vaselines member James Seenan. After early releases, the line-up was completed by Elanor Taylor, Brian McEwan (guitar), his brother Kenny McEwan, and Vicky Morton (bass). The band's first release was the Hormonal Secretions EP in 1997, followed by "Cybilla" in 1998. They were then signed by Chemikal Underground, who issued "To Be King" in 2000, followed by their debut album, Against Nurture, described as "bringing to mind Nick Cave's Bad Seeds fronted by the vocal duo from Stereolab". After a further EP, The Sun Is God, the band split up. The band were also compared to Belle and Sebastian and Clannad during their time together.
Enter the Vaselines is a compilation album by the indie rock band The Vaselines, released on 5 May 2009 through the record label Sub Pop.
Jackie McKeown is the Scottish former lead singer and guitarist for the Glasgow indie rock band The Yummy Fur who plays in 1990s.
Sex with an X is the second studio album by the Scottish alternative rock band The Vaselines, which was released on 14 September 2010 on Sub Pop. It was their first new album since the release of Dum-Dum over 20 years earlier.
Teenage Superstars is a 2017 film about the Glasgow independent music scene between 1982 and 1992, focusing on the bands that emerged from in and around the city at this point including The Pastels, BMX Bandits, The Soup Dragons, Teenage Fanclub, The Vaselines, The Jesus and Mary Chain and Primal Scream. In doing so, the film also considers the early days of Creation Records and Stephen Pastel, David Keegan and Sandy McLean’s 53rd & 3rd record label. The film follows on chronologically from 2015's Big Gold Dream, also directed by Grant McPhee, with its title taken from The Vaselines song "Teenage Superstars".
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