Before he was a successful author with books such as bestsellers Straight White Male and Oh Brother, Irvine-born writer John Niven, the special guest on Scotpop this week, ran with the London A&R pack in the 90s.

He joins us to talk about turning down Coldplay and Muse because he “didn’t think we needed a couple of more Radioheads” and how he used his time in the music industry to write Kill Your Friends and The Battle, the recent stage production that captured the rivalry between Blur and Oasis as they fought it out for the coveted No 1 spot at the height of Britpop.

As well as being a successful author and writer, John is also a former musician and a huge advocate for Scottish music.

He is also one of the best storytellers I’ve ever heard.

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Stuart Adamson – In a Big Country

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John Niven’s latest book, The Fathers, is out now on Canongate.

In the mid-80s, the London-based music industry was, says Love and Money’s James Grant, this week’s special guest, “awash with cash”. As bands such as Orange Juice, Simple Minds and Altered Images racked up Top 10 hits, much of it flowed north to Glasgow.

One of the “jangletastic” acts perfectly placed to capitalise on the A&R stampede to the city were James’ first band Friends Again, fronted by Chris Thomson, now of The Bathers.

This week’s episode offers a fascinating glimpse into the life of one of the most underrated songwriters in the UK today, and a man who - by his own admission - has never had a “proper job”.

He also has the inside story to one of Scotland’s greatest indie-pop tales and in this episode we find out what really happened when he walked out of Friends Again to form Love and Money.

“When you’re 20 you don’t really care about hurting people”, gives you a flavour of what you’re about to hear.

In this episode James also opens up about:

- The “buzz” of being a teenager in a Glasgow band in the mid-80s as London’s A&R mob decamped to the city.

- The two sides of working with legendary A&R boss at Phonogram Dave Bates – “the enemy and the facilitator”.

- How the label's demand for hits affected Love and Money – and the the label's effect on Stuart Adamson of Big Country.

- Recording with acclaimed producer Gary Katz – and Duran Duran’s Andy Taylor.

- The growing struggles in Love and Money in the late 80s as the record label started to demand “hits”.

- The solo years and the joy of working with Donald Shaw and Karen Matheson from Capercaillie.

- The “excitement and nerves” that kicked in just before Friends Again’s reunion concert at the Old Fruitmarket in Glasgow earlier this year – and what comes next for the band.

- How touring and recording with Teenage Fanclub’s Norman Blake and ex-Suede guitarist Bernard Butler allows him to “take a break” from himself.

- And so much more …

Be honest now; if I were to say to you “Scottish punk rock in the 70s”, what would you think? If you replied the Skids, The Rezillos, The Jolt, The Valves, Johnny and the Self Abusers - maybe Matt Vinyl and the Decorators - I’d probably think, “Yep, that’s about it”.

But if you shot back with The Exile, 8 Miles Out, Ths Zips, The Drive, The Pencils, The Trendies, The Hormones – Scotland’s first female punk band – or the brilliantly named Beez Neez I’d think either, A, you were in one of these bands, or, B, you’ve read Caledonia Screaming, the new book from this week’s very special guest Grant McPhee.

The cultural force behind acclaimed music documentary Big Gold Dream, Grant interviewed more than 200 stalwarts of the emerging punk and post-punk scene in Scotland for the book and joins Scotpop this week to tell us the inside story of the music-obsessed upstarts who blazed a trail across Scotland in the late 70s and paved the way for Scottish globetrotters such as Simple Minds, Skids, Orange Juice, Aztec Camera, Edwyn Collins, Texas and Big Country. Effectively, they created the Scottish music industry we know today.

Other topics under discussion in this episode include:

- The unlikely tartan-clad Scottish pop group that inspired the Sex Pistols (spoiler alert - the Bay City Rollers).

- The tragic story of the enigmatic SAHB and Nazareth manager who was on the verge of taking on the London music industry when he was killed in a plane crash.

- The Scottish band who have done more to promote a positive image of Scotland than any tourist office.

It’s also worth pointing out that while Grant heroically battled traffic jams, failing batteries and irate car park security guards to come on the show this week we were ultimately beaten by technical gremlins so the interview is audio only.

You can listen to the Top 10 songs in Episode 3 at this playlist.

Following on from last week’s episode on the evils of the music business in the 80s, this week’s show jumps a decade and features Douglas MacIntyre, one of the most likeable record company bosses you’re ever likely to come across.

As he prepares to wind up his label, Creeping Bent, after 30 years, he joins Scotpop to talk about working with artists such as The Leopards, Adventures In Stereo and Spacehopper. He also tells us about raising more than £50,000 for Down’s Syndrome Scotland and what the global success of Lewis Capaldi means for Scottish music.

He has a a fascinating story to tell, from launching his world-famous label in the 90s with a fax machine from a flat in Mount Florida, Glasgow, to releasing seminal records from artists such Alan Vega, Gareth Sager and The Nectarine No. 9, and curating a memorable night for John Peel’s Meltdown in 1998.

Douglas is perhaps one of the most well-connected figures in Scottish music; as a top session guitarist he’s also strummed, plucked and thrashed for The Secret Goldfish, Love and Money, The Bathers, James Grant and Lloyd Cole, and the recently reformed Friends Again, as well as his own bands, including Article 58 and Jazzateers.

To top it all, his wife's in a band, his daughter’s in a band and his in-laws are Clare Grogan of Altered Images and the producer of multi-million global smash MMMbop by Hanson. Birthday parties round Douglas's house must be bloody brilliant.

Pic credit this episode: Angus Whyte/Alastair McKay

You can listen to the Top 10 songs in this Episode 2 at this playlist.

In John Niven’s engaging music business novel Kill Your Friends, loathsome A&R man Steven Stelfox slashes and burns his way through a 90s music industry awash with cash, cocaine and conmen; if Stelfox had been operational in "the biz" a decade earlier he would've been eaten alive by a breed of major label record executive who would think nothing of remixing one of the world’s greatest singers out of a track on a whim because they could; who would ban a guitarist from their own recording session and add trumpets to his band's classic rock sound because they could; or who would, in a move Machiavelli would likely have dismissed "as a bit off", buy all the worldly rights to your band's music for a paltry sum in a rushed deal that even your battled-hardened lawyer would later describe as “less than satisfactory” because they … well, you get the picture. 

This was the toxic environment that awaited Big Country’s temperamental Stuart Adamson, the former Skids guitarist who had a reputation for “liking a bevvy” and walking out of bands, and the subject of Scott Rowley’s Stay Alive, one of three books reviewed in this episode. 

You can also hear a review of A Leap Into The Void by Douglas MacIntyre, the likeable artist-turned-record label boss of fascinating Scottish label Creeping Bent, who’s played with everyone from his own post-punk Lanarkshire band Article 58 to the recently revived – and brilliantly received – Scottish indiepop heroes Friends Again. 

Douglas’s contacts book reads like a who's-who of Scottish music (spoiler alert: his wife – and daughter – are in bands and his in-laws are Clare Grogan of Altered Images and Stephen Lironi, the latter also once of that same great parish, as well as uber-producer of the multi-million selling Mmmbop by Hanson. And that’s not a joke.) 

In this episode, Douglas talks about working in the studio with Malcolm Ross (Josef K/Orange Juice) and Postcard Records supremo Alan Horne, while there’s also a review of the brilliantly niche punk read Caledonia Screaming by the ever-creative Grant McPhee, an author, curator and filmmaker whose 2015 documentary Big Gold Dream thrust Fast Product and Postcard Records into the international limelight and made a breakout star of cult hero Davy Henderson (who also makes an appearance here). 

Scotpop is already ranking at No 6 in the UK Apple podcast chart for Music Interviews so thanks for all the support (though I suspect that may be more to do with the insight and eloquence of last week’s guest than any interview "style". ).

I hope you enjoy it. If you do, please tell your friends and consider following/subscribing. It would also be great if you could leave a review wherever you listen to your podcasts; it really helps others find the show. Cheers.

You can listen to the Top 10 songs in Episode 1 at this playlist.

In this debut episode I’m delighted to be joined by Sir Ian Rankin, one of Scotland’s most successful and best-loved writers.

Ian’s Rebus novels have sold more than 35 million copies worldwide and it was a great honour for me personally when he wrote a brilliant introduction to my own book, Stuart Adamson – In a Big Country, the critically acclaimed biography of the Skids and Big Country legend.

Ian’s always been a huge fan of music and his knowledge on the subject – and Scottish music in particular – is well-known and encyclopaedic. So sit back, relax and listen – or watch – as two Fifers get overly emotional about the enduring legacy of Stuart Adamson, and Ian recalls the “thrill” of seeing the Skids play live in Fife, watching The Ramones, Pere Ubu, The Human League and more tear up stages in Edinburgh venues while he was a student at university in the capital and a brilliant tale involving the novelist, the late Scottish troubadour Jackie Leven and a bottle of Jack Daniel’s.

As will happen on every show, though, I start by asking my guest one very simple question: what was the first Scottish band you saw live and what impact did it have on you?

You can watch or listen to part two of my interview with Ian in a few weeks, as he discusses the current state of music in Scotland and talks about his favourite Scotttish band, album and new act, another regular feature of Scotpop.

I've spent the past 30 years listening to musicians, bands and artists tell brilliant stories about Scottish music; now you'll be able to hear – and watch – them too. Follow now on Spotify and never miss an episode.

If you've just discovered this podcast you're probably thinking "who, what, when, why now?"

Well ... it's a show that celebrates the past, present and future of Scottish music with journalist, author and broadcaster Allan Glen who interviews the bands, songwriters, musicians, filmmakers, record label bosses and writers who create the best Scottish pop because Scottish pop is brilliant just now.

Here's a quick introductory episode; Episode 1 featuring an interview with Sir Ian Rankin is out April 2.