Top image: Stephen Pastel live at the Onion Cellar, Edinburgh in 1986, photographed by Jim Barr.

The Pastels, Shop Assistants, Primal Scream, and The Jesus and Mary Chain are just some of the Scottish artists who not only created a sound, but a legend to follow. Teenage Superstars is the second instalment of cinematographer Grant McPhee’s two-part feature The Sound of Young Scotland, tracing this seminal musical movement. Following on from the EIFF award-winning documentary Big Gold Dream, it chronicles how the collapse of Glasgow’s Postcard Records – in 1981 – shaped the DIY aesthetic, and how independent label Fast Product grew out of a flat in Edinburgh to pave the way for artists such as The Mekons, The Human League, and major labels alike.

Scotland already had Scars and The Rezillos breaking down the barriers between artist and audience, but the exhilarating prospect of doing something new is what ultimately developed this strong sense of community. Something beyond Punk. Something that grew into the Indie era of the ‘80s and ‘90s. Enter 53rd and 3rd Records, and Teenage Fanclub, The Soup Dragons, BMX Bandits, and The Vaselines had a platform to springboard onto the world stage in their own alternative way.

Surrounded at the time by the growth of labels like Factory Records and Rough Trade, doors were opening for their collective. A story of friendship told through music.

Clementine Zawadzki: Is it correct it took you a decade to collate all the information, material, conduct interviews…?
Grant McPhee: Yes, it was a long process. Not every single moment was taken up with the film, however sometimes a couple of years would go by. The process started in 2006 with the first film being broadcast in 2016 and premiered at the 2015 EIFF. Over that time the film dramatically changed and towards the last couple of years things started to speed up. Most of the time was spent building up relationships with the musicians and convincing them to be interviewed – which took about eight years in some cases.  It’s difficult to let someone turn part of your life into a film, so we spent time demonstrating we were not going to do a hatchet job. It turned into a real community based process where we had a big presence on social media. I don’t think we could really have made the film without the internet.  We really had fantastic support from fans, the musicians and those who just wanted to see the film made.

“Glasgow was for a very brief time given national coverage for something positive – its music scene – rather than for violence or depravation, which was usually the case. “

Teenage Superstars - Teaser Trailer from grant mcphee on Vimeo.

CZ: How do you think music pulled Glasgow out of those tough times?
GM: Glasgow was for a very brief time given national coverage for something positive – its music scene – rather than for violence or depravation, which was usually the case. Alan Horne and Postcard can really take a big part of the credit for this and it demonstrated to a large group of youngsters that they too can express themselves artistically and it’s effects be seen.  And that’s very powerful.  Coinciding with a separate effort to literally clean up Glasgow gave the younger generation the impetus to carry on what Postcard had achieved.

CZ: Why do you think DIY has been so influential?
GM: DIY is nothing new in the UK and I think people forget that.  In the early days of UK Rock and Pop there were Skiffle bands and independent producers such as Joe Meek. DIY is really in the UK’s DNA – Heath Robinson, the 2^nd World War effort and all the 18^th century explorers/inventors. Other countries have pioneers, but they are usually defined by success, whereas the UK appreciate the effort of trying and I think that’s why DIY and those trying something different has been accepted and integrated into mainstream culture. I don’t think it’s ever been easy, but I think the UK in general realises that great things can come from small places. Unfortunately a lot less so now.

CZ: You mentioned the power of the internet in making this documentary, but even from a music perspective, people in the 80s relied solely on print and radio…
GM: There’s a big difference between then and now. Although we have the advantage of being able to be seen to be releasing something on our own terms – which is great – the downside is that there are a million other people doing exactly the same. The result is that there is a massive amount of noise and in some respects it’s even harder to get your stuff seen or heard due to there being so much of it. John Peel, TOTP and record labels acted as filters and presented their visions to the public. John Peel was probably the most influential figure in that movement and being seen to be acknowledged by him was a massive boost to any indie band. One of Alan Horne’s attributes to Postcard’s success – his ability to bully and persuade people to promote his records – that worked well with others was unfortunately the antithesis of how John Peel liked to operate, so there was a pretty big personality clash there. And that probably affected Postcard’s success with John – I think the first Orange Juice record played was prefaced with him saying something along the lines of, “I was accosted in the street today by an awful young man from Scotland who told me I was old and I had to play his record, so for one time only; here is…”

CZ: How did Fast Product go on to influence Factory Records? And then the effect both consequently had on the U.S market?
GM: FAST Product played with notions of consumerism and marketing at a time when punk was all about staying as far away as possible from anything like that. FAST did not have the elegance of Peter Saville’s designs, but they certainly were exploring similar territory. FAST made a point of drawing attention to the process and it becoming part of the art, a good example is keeping the graph paper visible. FAST really became the template for cover design being a part of their overall image. Another area that Factory was paying close attention to was the catalogue numbers being given to non-records, something that Factory became famous for. Probably the biggest similarity is the overall ethos appearing to be an art project, something greater than just a company that releases good records. In Big Gold Dream, Bob Last mentions that Factory was the last FAST release, just that he never told them they had a catalogue number. On the other hand, Factory had New Order and Joy Division (which to be fair FAST had too). Factory probably had a bigger influence on America, and was very influenced by America (New York in particular) that was very important to the direction early New Order would take. Factory’s influence probably came a lot later as their aesthetic was probably more in line with college radio.

“Kurt [Cobain] really was a big promoter of all the Glasgow scene bands; especially Vaselines, BMX Bandits, TFC and Captain America, and he would regularly wear their t-shirts on magazine covers.”

CZ: And it spread further again with Kurt Cobain being a fan of BMX Bandits and The Vaselines (then prompting Sub Pop’s interest later on).
GM: Yes, the Kurt Cobain connection came from Calvin Johnston of K Records, a very influential U.S. indie label who were doing very similar things. 53^rd and 3^rd had a lot of connections with K Records. They put out Calvin’s band Beat Happenings 2^nd label, so that’s likely where the Nirvana thing was born. Montage of Heck, the Kurt Cobain documentary had a little sequence of a tape he was given and the two Vaselines singles were clearly seen. Kurt really was a big promoter of all the Glasgow scene bands; especially Vaselines, BMX Bandits, TFC and Captain America, and he would regularly wear their t-shirts on magazine covers.

CZ: What really created punk? Do you think we’ll ever see a movement like this again?
GM: I suppose punk has always really existed in some form, long before the Sex Pistols. Skiffle, Beatlemania, Psychedelia and Acid House. Each of those movements has replaced what went before and had large social changes that happened in sync.  Punk is really just revolution and what it stands for is not helpful to be associated with Green Day, The Exploited or even the term ‘punk’. Calling something ‘punk’ is the antithesis of what it should be about. Popular music slowed down, and as that’s such a driving force of youth culture, it’s inevitable that things seem in a bit of a status quo now. But there have been some interesting revolutions – the internet and the collapse of the record (and soon to be film) industry. Like most political revolutions, there needs to be something to revolt against, and until there is, there probably won’t be anything like punk. Being older, I see plenty of things to revolt against, but it’s all about what young people think and until they see something they want to change there won’t be a new punk. It’s always driven by youth – as it should be – and record companies and corporations will only react to changes after the fact. The level of revolution is dependent on the size of what needs to change.  It’s also important to remember that punk in the UK resulted in massive changes across nearly every aspect of society and media, but was underground in America.

CZ: It seems an overriding theme in Teenage Superstars is friendship. Why is it so interesting when musicians have a clique?
GM: The pessimistic view is that scenes make good stories for journalists. That’s why the NME was always trying to invent genres and scenes. But the reality seems to be that encouragement and genuine scenes/people with similar aims coming together creates something special. In Teenage Superstars there are many bands that just would not exist if there were not certain people giving up their time and encouragement to help others. 

CZ: After all the planning, filming and editing, what have you taken away from this particular journey?
GM: It surprised me how young people were when they did things that changed a very large and old record industry. What I have learned from speaking to the hundreds of people involved in taking indie music from their bedrooms to the charts is that you have to play – or be seen to play the game if you want to succeed.  It doesn’t always work and how much of yourself you give away has a big effect on your future happiness. Everything is a compromise and being able to do as much of what you want to do is incredibly powerful.

For more on the documentary and to keep up to date with release news, see the website here.