Island Dreams
Island Dreams
Duglas T Stewart is a songwriter, lead vocalist and founder of the BMX Bandits who have been producing fantastic music since 1986. The late Kurt Cobain once said: "If I could be in any other band, it would be the BMX Bandits." Here, Duglas shares his contribution to our Spotify playlist and talks about his island dreams and memories which inspired his selection.
"Back in the nineteen seventies, when I was a little Duglas, every year my parents would take my older sister Alison and me to the Isle of Arran for a family holiday. We would stay at a little white cottage a mile or so outside Brodick. We never went on exotic foreign holidays. Why would we when we had such a magical kingdom so close? It was only a one hour drive to Ardrossan from our home town of Bellshill, followed by fifty minutes of adventure on the waves, aboard the ferry to the island.
When I grew up and formed my group BMX Bandits we got to visit and play some amazing places: Tokyo New York, Barcelona, Seoul, Oslo and many others but Arran still felt as special as any of them. Over the years I have found myself in half remembered memories of long glorious summer days exploring and playing on the Island. I have always been a dreamer, whether asleep or wide awake. At night I still dream of the thrill that I experienced as a child on a ferry going over to Arran. That sense of wonder and the romance of it has never diminished as I've returned to Arran over the years. I experienced the similar feelings when I later visited other islands, including Skye, Islay and Cumbrae.
I wanted to create a playlist that would be like a soundtrack to a heightened dream of ferry trips, and of island days and nights. There are memories of childhood in the mix, including Robert Mellin's experimental and emotive theme for The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. Poor Robinson seemed to be stuck on his black and white TV desert island every summer. If only he had been on Arran, he probably wouldn't have been so desperate to escape. The classic pure pop of my childhood is also represented. I can remember the Osmonds' finest pop moment, One Bad Apple, coming on our little radio in cottage in 1970. Their cooler rivals The Jackson 5 are represented here by an exuberant and funky steel band take of one of their mega-hits. There are also some very fine Scottish acts on board, Teenage Fanclub, Randolph's Leap and The National Jazz Trio of Scotland.
I now live on the North Ayrshire coast, minutes from the beach, just across from Arran. I can feel it calling me. When I see the ferries go back and forth I can hear them saying "come on get on board". I know I can't stay away too long. When you're a dreamer life is made for adventures."
Thanks to Duglas for his contribution to CalMac's Martyr's Bay Pirate Radio Spotify Playlist - a virtual station, hosted on Spotify. It's inspired by the rich creativity of Scotland's islands and will feature a playlist curated by musicians and creatives with a love of the west coast of Scotland.