Xfm Scotland’s Friday night presenter has travelled the world, but if he could find the time he’d do it all again Continue reading →

For someone who’s spent 10 years as a club DJ, broadcasting LIVE from 3.00 – 6.00 in the morning is no problem for Stevie Sole in fact, it makes a bit of a change for the man for whom music really is round-the-clock…

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Of course, ALL the Xfm Scotland DJs are busy, all the time. But Stevie Sole, it seems, is just that wee bit busier than the rest. Well, there is his 9-5 music business job coupled with club DJing at the weekends, and of course his Xfm Scotland show, bridging Friday night with the Saturday morning comedown in the 3-6am slot.

The show, split as it is into 3 hour-long parts, nicely mirrors Stevie’s musical tastes.
Kicking off roughly when clubbers (well, the less committed ones!) will be making their way home, it’s Stevie’s spiritual home in a way – an hour of cutting edge house, especially for the dance purists. As we all know Xfm Scotland has broadened its output, but the station has retained a raft of specialist presenters from a couple of years ago. “The first hour reflects the club scene, so it’s what I’ve done for 15 years.” So are rumours of the death of dance exaggerated? “It’s like all genres, they never all go away… it’s all hype – ‘dance is dead, blah blah blah – it’s just something to write or talk about,’” he states firmly.

Stevie’s love of dance and indeed music in general, stems, perhaps, from his childhood.
“I grew up around music,” he recalls, “my mum was into Bob Dylan and The Beatles and early soul like Sam Cooke…” So her tastes had the more obvious influence on him. “I had a right mix because Dad was into opera and classical stuff, so I went to concerts and operas and experienced quite a lot – I wasn’t exactly mad for it but was good in retrospect.”

But he was eventually to latch onto something he really liked. “When I was 13 or 14, I heard James Brown and I was ‘my god, I’ve never heard anything like this in my life’ – so that was me tuned into black music.” For a teenager living in Ayrshire it was a move to study in Glasgow which kickstarted his interest big time. “I started buying records, and got decks in 2nd year, and started doing student parties – I did a couple of brilliant big parties which got me a couple of DJ gigs and that set me on the road for a few Glasgow residencies – those initial gigs lasted for 5 years; in fact it paid my way through Uni.”

As is often the case Stevie was unsure what to do at the end of his course. “I was getting a lot of gigs, so I did a postgrad to kind of keep moving forward.” Around this time a couple of Glasgow labels were experiencing some success. “Soma and Glasgow Underground were slightly before me, but I knew these guys and thought ‘I do could do that’ – don’t get me wrong, it’s been a rocky road, but 10 years later it’s still going.”

Yes, Solemusic has lasted a decade, but he found time to take his DJing skills to a new audience.

“3, or maybe 4 years ago, we (Stevie along with cohort Geoff M) did a couple of gigs for Beat, and Claire (Pattenden) had become programme director, so we put in a proposal – she took a liking to us, and that’s how we got involved.”

And from purely playing records Stevie’s gone to a relaxed and confident on-air voice too – timely, as Xfm Scotland came along. “The radio’s become a bigger thing for me,” he says.”

Stick with Stevie’s show and in the second hour you’ll notice a subtle change. Hot Chip will sit alongside Edwin Starr, Beck rubs shoulders with Popup, and DJ Shadow and The Beatles will be in the mix with Gnarls Barkley and St Etienne. “It’s more about what I’m doing now,” he agrees. “It’s more of an eclectic set, simply because I love music – ok, I’m fundamentally a black music lover, but I love all kinds.”

And the interest in more indie sounds even extends to his working life with the establishment of a label, Console Sounds which as well as encompassing his his own label Solemusic, also includes Glasgow act Palomino, Milton Jackson’s project The Rainbow Family, and X-posure’s favourite goth-punks, Julia Thirteen, on their roster. “We’ve done a couple of videos for them, and sorted out distribution, so we’re just about gearing up for their big push.”

Stevie’s quite honest about the reasons for this diversification. “My music business experience is broadening out – it’s a different side of the business,” he agrees. “I suppose it’s me getting older; as I’ve been working so long and hard at music, I’m wanting to find ways of earning a living.” However, he’s excited by the bands he’s working with. “Your taste matures as you’re exposed to so much music, so this a reflection of that.”

It’s fortunate that he hasn’t become over-exposed to music, as he’s surrounded by it pretty much 24-7.”Weekends are all about DJing – I don’t really DJ during the week, which is actually better – it’s more lucrative to do less,” he confides. “I could go out and DJ every night but you get tired from not having your weekends – and your girlfriend will moan if you’re out all week too!”

Stevie rolls home at sunrise on Saturday, after completing his final hour. With dawn comes daytime, a shift back from the specialist programming to the Xfm playlist. Which sees him get the chance to diversify further, playing the presenter. “Yes, the music is out of my hands!” he jokes. “The station has got better as a whole, but I think it’s wise to keep the specialist stuff.” Given that his day job is involved with the marketing of music, he is better placed than anyone to see how the music machine works. “From the point of view that I know what people want, yes – they don’t want just one thing… I think daytime has benefited from having the new playlist.
“I personally think we could do with some more specialist stuff,“ he adds, “but they (Xfm) had to make a big seachange without confusing anyone.”

And that should be that, but he’s back to club DJing all weekend. On weekday evenings he somehow manages to play football 3 times a week too, and he takes Mondays off, catching up with some relaxation, and a backlog of telly, particularly US dramas such as ‘The West Wing’. “Sky Plus is a wonderful invention!” he gleams.

Even his holidays are working holidays – but a glance at look at his tour diary doesn’t generate too much sympathy.

From the Sub Club in Glasgow and Ministry of Sound in London, Stevie’s shows have taken in clubs on both sides of the Atlantic. Oh, and Australia. “I’m going back in December or January,” he enthuses. “I’ve been every year for last 6 or 7, sometimes twice.” There have also been 4 visits to Japan, with sets at Tokyo’s famous Loop Club. And despite playing Chicago’s Material, he’s keen to go back to the US as most of his trips across the pond have been, unusually, under his own steam.

But perhaps the most interesting, if least ‘exotic’, have been his tours of Eastern Europe, particularly Russia. “Each time you go back it’s more westernised – which is no bad thing, but quite a culture shock.” And the locals are also developing, in a way. “The thing about DJing is how hard you have to work to entertain, but at the start in Russia the whole idea of a nightclub was a a novelty – which was brilliant for DJs, you’d just drop your records and they’d dance.” So it’s harder work now? He laughs. “As time goes on they’re getting more educated and exposed to it, it’s more like DJing in… well, here! But they’re still really nice people, the women are beautiful, the clubs are good.”

Of course, nipping in and out of Moscow for one gig wouldn’t be particularly efficient, so instead the trip becomes a mini-tour. “We’d do Russia in 10 days, with 4 or 5 shows – we’d be playing towns the size of Glasgow you’ve never heard of!”

And when he’s not doing that, Stevie will, like his show, continue to blur the boundaries between old-school dance, eclectic mixes and Xfm’s indie fare. As he says, “It’s about striking a nice balance – and it’s like anything else – you can have too much of one thing!”

Stevie Sole can be heard on Xfm Scotland on Friday evenings / Saturday mornings, from 3.00-6.00am.

You might indeed not understand the accent, but listening to Julyan Sinclair – once you’re tuned in – is a learning experience. Continue reading →

Xfm Scotland’s Sunday morning voice is a handy man to have around – so whether you need a presenter with a posh Inverness accent, keeping an eye on a renegade DJ, a studio cleaning, or a glass roof fitted – call Scott Shaw.

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Scott Shaw’s multi-tasking as we commence our chat, wrapping up a microphone cable, and stacking the stand neatly in the corner of the studio. Is this his studio, then? “No – just force of habit!” he confesses.

Scott’s life in radio started out with him doing, well, pretty much what he’s doing just now – everything!

“It started through nepotism,” he laughs. “My father was an accountant at Moray Firth Radio and pointed out that I should get a job -at around age 13, the choice was a paper round or working on the radio station cleaning the bins, so I went for the indoor one… could I just reiterate, it was Inverness, it’s always effin’ cold!”

Ah yes, Inverness, the frozen north. We can forgive his warn-blooded, soft southerner reaction to this job ‘offer” – he was born in Zimbabwe (at the time, Rhodesia). “We left there when I was but a mere bairn – as you can tell from my strong Highland accent we moved to Inverness and we lived on a croft.” That and an English mum meant that those dulcet tones make from a mix of quite proper influences. “On my first day school everyone turned around and said “Oh for fuck’s sake, you speak awfully posh!”

So was his childhood full of fraught times for this incomer? Surprisingly perhaps, no. ”Inverness is a wonderful place, it’s where I consider home. – it’s all fond memories.
“I think the older you get the more you appreciate the town you were raised,” he continues, “especially if that town has a proper identity, and I grew up at the same time Inverness grew up.“ Scott was able to experiment in the expanding town, putting on the Highlands’ first comedy club (Tickled Rib) as well as playing in a couple of bands – older readers may (or more likely, may not) recall Tinkerbell’s Dope Ring, a New Model Army/Levellers-style outfit, as well as the bluesey Jumping The Gun. However, before Scott headed for Edinburgh to follow the rock dream, he worked his way up the MFR ladder.

Indeed, the “long-aired crusty 16 year old“ was the ideal choice when another future Xfm presenter, one Jim Gellatly, left. “I used to do et bins and dusting and dusting and the show and the hoovering afterwards.”

Hence the mike stand tidying up!

“That’s maybe why I produce as well as present,” he muses. Indeed, he was the youngest commercial producer in Britain – “though I really did fuck that one up,” he confides. So, the band’s move to Edinburgh with new band The Graduates was timely. “We were a bit more moddy – basically we were the Supernaturals!” he laughs. “ We gigged quite a lot with them, were quite pally with them – so when their star faded we faded quite quickly behind them.”

However, during the lean times working as a musician a means of paying the rent was required., so where else but the local radio station? Soon he was producing the breakfast show. “It was much like Dominik’s show now in that I was a presence on air, like here.” This involved mainly interviewing visiting artists – handy! “Radio people don’t like talking to musicians in the commercial stations, because they know they’ve not got much in common,” he reveals.

Unlike Xfm. “Everyone here’s got an opinion about music or a musical background, or put on gigs, been in bands, or can talk the hind legs of a musician about their first seminal piece of work,” he enthuses. “In other stations it’s a case of ‘Frankies and the Ferdinands, who?’ . Thus, Scott got to interview a glittering array of stars – from Ozzy to Westlife, from Robbie to Metallica.

And his favourite?

“I was pretty happy to have a 15-minute chat with Kylie Minogue face to face.” A big fan, then? “No, I’m not particularly enamoured by Kylie’s music – but it’s all very well and good saying to your mates down the pub: ‘you’ll never guess who I interviewed,
Jesus Jones’, and…” Blank stares, by any chance? “Exactly.”

When he finally got that coveted late-night slot, even Jesus Jones was too mainstream for Scott. ”They just gave up on trying to tell me what music to play – ‘you’re playing the stuff John Peel’s knocking back!’ they’d say. Still, it’s nice to know you’re one of the first to play Idlewild, for instance.” 10 years on, a band who are more of a staple for anyone producing a breakfast show?

“Producing, that’s quite an grandiose term for looking after it – it’s Dom’s show and Marissa and I just tell him when to shut up! I don’t want to box in the creativity – you have to just tidy up behind Dominick’s show, just let it happen.”

At times the producer in Scott really shines through, ever-willing to share his views on the station, and how it, contrast with his previous employments.

“Big commercials stations use the MacDonalds formula, you go to a Macdonalds in Glasgow and it’s the same as one in LA, So when you turn on the radio and get a big station, you’ll get Robbie, Westlife, Kylie – all big but easy to digest.”

And that’s in Scott’s opinion, the crucial difference between Xfm and other radio – giving listeners something to think about, educating, informing.

“I believe we do musical heritage well here,” he says, “take the Stone Roses, who are just as popular today as they were 10 years ago, if not more so … Christ, it’s 15 years ago!”

He pauses for breath and a mental check at the calendar. “Anyway, it not perfect, what is, but we’re all musical snobs in this building. We’re always going to complain that there’s not enough 🙁 on the daytime list! How much could we get away with?” he ponders.

Well, the listeners wouldn’t be slow to let him know.

“Yes, and there’s the hints and tips which the listeners give – if you put on a classic Carter USM track you’ll get people saying ‘this takes me back to seeing them in Edinburgh in 1992 – you’ve made my day.. and have you heard so and so…?”

Which leads to a theory about your average Xfm listener.

“I think a lot of people listen to Xfm because they like music more than your average punter,” he opines. Our listeners may not buy the NME, but when they’re going past they look to see who‘s on the front, and they will buy it because they want to know what the fuss about the Horrors is, they may not buy… the new BMX Bandits album, but they saw them support Teenage Fanclub 10 years ago – and I play ‘Kylie’s Got A Crush on Us’ and that’s all it takes.”

Not that his musical tastes are all of the indie-schmindie variety, oh no. “I’m an old rock head,” he confesses. “I still love Led Zep, & Pink Floyd – I’m allowed (at Xfm) to play stuff like the Beatles, and it sits so naturally beside Oasis, which sits beside the Vines, and you can trace that… I used to love pouring over Pete Frame’s ‘Rock Family Trees’, that’s the nerd in me, will quite happily pour through the Guinness Book of Singles.”

Scott’s reading habits are, well, odd…

“I treat books like TV,” he admits, “I have 8 or 9 books on the go – I’ll be 4 chapters through, almost through, just started, like channel-hopping… the author I go back to is PJ O’Rourke – I might disagree with almost everything he says, but he’s a wonderful adventurer, and that there’s a little adventure contained within every chapter, in bite-sized chunks. So I’m a bad reader – I wonder if you could analyse that, I don’t like reaching the final chapter of any book!

He pauses to glance at his watch “It’s ok – leaving late tonight, band practice.”

Ah yes, the AMs – the breakfast show band where Scott plays bass alongside travel Marisa & Dominik.

He is, he states, a bad musician in the way that he’s a bad reader. “When I hear music I tend to work out what they’re doing, which is terrible – ‘Was that played on a keyboard or is the bassline off a sampler… oh, I’ve burnt my toast!’ I should be able to concentrate more than one thing but I’m so boringly anal I get lost in another world.”

He doesn’t listen to music ALL the time. A fan of movies from the Cohen Brothers – or “thought-provoking pieces of work “as long as Brenda Blethyn’s in them”. At home it’s less likely music will be heard, at least not as background – “it’s more important than that.”

And, perhaps mercifully given his experiences with operating a toaster, he tends not to have music in in the car either. Which is quite a chunk of the day, given that he lives to the south of Edinburgh. Perhaps a case for a studio in Edinburgh – or in his house?

“Not for Breakfast, sadly – you can’t remotely produce Dominik, you gave to see what he’s doing and say “stop it”, in a 3 second delay he’d have it broken.” The long drives aren’t a great problem, and nor is the 3.15am start (!). It’s the drive home, rush-hour on the M8, which he really despises.

“I’ve slept in the studio a couple of times, that really is dirty… though not as dirty as sleeping in Harthill, which I’ve done a few times in the car.” Some words of caution for anyone who can’t afford a room at the services. “You’ll get woken up buy a big greasy lorry driver winking at you! I’m going to put up a sign next time: ‘I am sleeping, please do not stick your cock through the open window.'”

And at home, life is thankfully more staid.

“I’m afraid to say I don’t handglide and I’m not in a bridge club – though I quite like the idea of having the major and his wife round on a Sunday”. Hmm. Should he not be getting out more?

“There are very few gigs in Musselburgh, but I’m happy pottering around in the garden rather than tidying it.” No green fingers? ” I have a greenhouse, we had some nice tomatoes, though the chillis didn’t come out too well… hmm, that does make me sound quite dull!”

The suburban life was one he fell into while working for 6Music, before Xfm Scotland existed. And it followed a rather less sedentary period. – working in Botswana on an AIDS-awareness project, building a radio studio no less.

“Radio there was doing something creative and educational and making a a proper difference, so I came back quite disillusioned at the state of radio in this country – most commercial radio in this country doesn’t really inform; heaven forbid we tell you something you don’t like and you turn off!”

And Scott remained in this quandary for a few more months. “I thought my time in radio had run its course – also I felt I’d never created anything – the moment it comes out the speaker (snap) it’s gone. A friend said ‘If you want to physically make something…’ you know the new air traffic control tower (at Edinburgh Airport)? Basically they needed people who weren’t afraid of heights – so I put in all the glass on top of that and put the roof and lightning conductor on. I drive past and can say ‘I made that’.”

And happily, a few weeks later, Xfm Scotland came along – which is perhaps just as well for us, and for Scott.

“I quickly realised two things,” he concludes: “One – there was a radio station coming that I’d feel at home at… and two: I wasn’t built for labouring!”

Scott Shaw delivers a relaxing Sunday morning show from 10:00 – 1:00pm… and can be heard (getting an occasional word in edgeways) on Dominik Diamond’s weekday Breakfast Show

Student! Student! Continue reading →