"When the Levee Breaks" is a country blues song written and first recorded by Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe McCoy in 1929. The lyrics reflect experiences during the upheaval caused by the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.
The Pastels are an indie rock group from Glasgow formed in 1981. They were a key act of the Scottish and British independent music scenes of the 1980s, and are specifically credited for the development of an independent and confident music scene in Glasgow. The group have had a number of members, but currently consists of Stephen McRobbie, Katrina Mitchell, Tom Crossley, John Hogarty, Alison Mitchell and Suse Bear.
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.
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.
Jesse Garon and the Desperadoes were a Scottish band formed from around, and within, the Edinburgh indie pop scene of the mid-1980s. The band had a distinctive guitar-jangle sound with male and female vocals. The band took their name from Elvis Presley's stillborn twin brother, Jesse Garon Presley.
Shop Assistants were a Scottish indie pop band from Edinburgh, Scotland, formed in 1984, initially as 'Buba & The Shop Assistants'. After achieving success with independent releases they signed to Chrysalis Records sublabel Blue Guitar, releasing their only album in 1986. After splitting in 1987, with singer Alex Taylor moving on to The Motorcycle Boy, they reformed for two further singles in 1990.
Frances McKee is a Scottish singer and songwriter known best for her work in the Scottish indie band The Vaselines.
Betti Gertrud Käthe Hilda Coppi, known as Hilde Coppi, was a German communist and resistance fighter against the Nazi regime. She was a member of the anti-fascist resistance group that was later called the Red Orchestra by the Abwehr, during the Nazi period.
Douglas Alexander Hart is a British musician and music video director.
Eugenius was an indie rock band from Glasgow, Scotland that existed from 1990 to 1998, centred on former Vaselines singer/guitarist Eugene Kelly and featuring members of BMX Bandits and Teenage Fanclub.
Helmut Roloff was a German pianist, recording artist, teacher and resistance fighter against the Nazi regime. In September 1942 Roloff was arrested in Berlin in the roundup of an anti-Nazi resistance group allegedly at the centre of a wider European espionage network identified by the Abwehr under the cryptonym the Red Orchestra. Covered by comrades who persuaded their interrogators that his contact with the group had been unwitting, he was spared execution and released. In post-war West Berlin, Roloff taught at the Academy of Music. After serving as the school's director, he retired in 1978.
The Motorcycle Boy were a Scottish indie pop band formed in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1987 by former members of Meat Whiplash and Shop Assistants.
Rote Kapelle were a post-punk/indie pop band from Edinburgh, Scotland, active during the 1980s. Its band members included musicians who were also members of Jesse Garon and the Desperadoes and The Shop Assistants.
Big Gold Dream is a 2015 film documenting the story of Scotland's post-punk scene, focusing on record labels Fast Product and Postcard Records. Directed by filmmaker Grant McPhee, the film's name is taken from the 1981 Fire Engines single of the same name, the final release on the Pop Aural label.
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".
Hillel Katz was a Jewish Communist, who was an important member of a Soviet espionage network in occupied France, that the German Abwehr intelligence service later called the "Red Orchestra". In the role of an underground executive and recruiter, he acted as both secretary and assistant to Leopold Trepper and liaised between Léon Grossvogel and Henry Robinson in matters relating to the running of the French covert black market trading company Simex. Katz had a number of aliases that he used to disguise his identity, including Andre Dubois, Rene and Le Petite Andre.
Medardo Griotto was an Italian militant communist activist and member of the Italian Communist Party. Trained as a engraver, Griotto became an expert forger, who became an important member in the espionage network run by Communist International (Comintern) intelligence agent Henry Robinson. Griotto was betrayed by Leopold Trepper, arrested and executed by guillotine at Plötzensee Prison.
Grant McPhee is a Scottish film director, cinematographer and writer. His films include the music documentaries Big Gold Dream, Teenage Superstars and the drama, Far From the Apple Tree starring Sorcha Groundsell. He won the prestigious audience choice award in 2015 for his film Big Gold Dream at the 2015 edition of the Edinburgh International Film Festival. In television, he worked as a second unit director and cinematographer on Outlander.
Hungry Beat is a 2022 book published by white Rabbit Books and written by Grant McPhee and Douglas MacIntyre with Neil Cooper. It is an oral history of Scotland's post-punk scene, focussing on the record labels Fast Product and Postcard Records. The introduction was written by Ian Rankin.
