40 years on – gigs at forgotten venues the Dutch Mill & Apollo at Rothes Arms
Looking back at some musical anniversaries, I see that it was this month in 1980, Jim Wilkie and his band played the long-lost Apollo at the Rothes Arms Hotel in Glenrothes.
When they played the Dutch Mill Kirkcaldy - another lost venue - in March that year I introduced them and hosted the disco before and after the live performance.
Jim was on a 30 date Scottish tour with The Mafia to promote his album, The Waxer, as released on Glasgow based French Records.
Mafia opened the show with some soul favourites before an acoustic set from Jim followed by an electric set featuring them both. Highlight for me was his song Long Gone which laments the Beeching rail closures and in particular the railway station in St Andrews. He wrote all ten songs on the 1978 album which featured Maggie Bell on backing vocals from Cado Belle in the same year she joined Mike Oldfield for the hits Family Man and Moonlight Shadow.
The touring Mafia band were particularly good and featured Allan McGlone and Peter McGlone on saxophones. Peter had been with Michael Marra in Skeets Boliver who had earlier played the Dutch Mill and Allan would later produce albums for Michael Marra like Candy Philosophy, Gaels Blue and Posted Sober.
Drummer Donnie Coutts was in Perth soul band Vikings with Alan Gorrie before they transformed into Average White Band and Doug Martin (guitar/vocals) was known as the ‘Godfather of Dundee Soul’. Dougie, who died in 2012 led The Mafia for over forty years and before that played bass with Johnny Hudson and The Hi Four who supported The Beatles in Kirkcaldy in October 1963. I last saw him play the Lister Bar Kirkcaldy with Steve MacDonald in his band Ringer.
As for Jim Wilkie he became a successful author and his third book Blue Suede Brogans (Mainstream, 1991), is an authority on Scottish rock music. As a writer, his song John Stonehouse Went Swimming’ was recorded by Billy Connolly.