ballboy

ballboy are a band. They are 4 people from Edinburgh. They make music that will make you laugh, sigh, smile, and cry. So, what about them?

Apologies, this one won't be nearly as long as the other post.

They released their first EP, Silver Suits for Spacemen in 2000. But I'm not wikipedia. They complied 3 EPs into an album called, rather facetiously, "Club Anthems". Since then, they've released 3 other albums, with album 5 due in august.

So, how did I get into them?

Well, back in the day, before this thing called Myspace, there was a website for discovering music, called peoplesound.com. It's probably still active, but never mind. It wasn't the most useful website - you'd search for bands like Oasis (it was exclusively for unsigned bands) and it pointed out everything from iron maiden soundalikes to twee indie pop. Anyway, I stumbled across ballboy's "a day in space", which is on Club Anthems.

I had never heard the like of this song before. I can still recall almost word for word what Gordon says during it. It's spoken word set to a gorgeous crashing, swooshing ambient noise of 4 people playing at a moderate volume. Anyway, I thought, "This is interesting..." and promptly investigated no further, as I couldn't without paying for it, and I couldn't really afford to risk buying an album I might get bored of if it was only spoken word. That, and for some reason, it being called "Club Anthems" put me off.

Anyway, fast forward 2 years, and for some reason I'm listening to the BBC session in Wales with Huw and Bethan (I live in Manchester, which makes this odd), and according to them, John Peel has a band called ballboy in session that very evening.

So, I stayed up, recorded all of the tracks on cassette (home taping is killing music, kids). To my surprise, HE WAS SINGING!! AND IT WAS AMAZINGLY HEARTBREAKINGLY GOOD. They were promoting album 3, The Sash My Father Wore, and that version they did of "You Should Fall in Love With Me" is the best there is, it's on the ballboy website  in all it's glory for all to hear.

So, I ofcourse backtracked through their catalogue, heard the next session they did for Mr. Peel the next year for album 4, and have been a fan ever since.

Start off with A Guide For the Daylight Hours. It strikes gold, midway between gorgeousness of it's successor with the rawness of it's predecessor. Club Anthems is the next logical place to go, then the Sash My Father Wore and The Royal Theatre with mean you have the lot.

This song, I Hate Scotland, got them a lot of press, unsurprisingly. It's possibly the only occasion in which a man talking about his dislike for his country of birth is anthemic, and so amazingly uplifting.

Then, there's the other side of ballboy, the wry smile in the side of your mouth when you talk about how much fun you used to have seeing people you know snort glue.

Very few bands are so joyous, uplifting, endearing, beautiful, quietly angry, and across the board brilliant. They will change your life in the way only a special kind of band can. If Morrissey wasn't up his own arse he'd be Gordon Macintyre, a schoolteacher from Edinburgh. 

Need I mention, they've got their most extensive tour to date happening this month, look here for dates. Cardiff, Edinburgh, London, Oxford, the Indietracks festival (where I'm seeing/interviewing them) are all I can remember, so go see them live! As the late, great John Peel said, "see them live, or curse yourself for being a fool for all of eternity, and possibly beyond."