Skids are a Scottish

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

and new wave band, formed in

Dunfermline Dunfermline (; , ) is a city, parish, and former royal burgh in Fife, Scotland, from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. Dunfermline was the de facto capital of the Kingdom of Scotland between the 11th and 15th centuries. The earliest ...

in 1977 by Stuart Adamson (guitar, keyboards, percussion and backing vocals), William Simpson (bass guitar and backing vocals), Thomas Kellichan (drums) and Richard Jobson (vocals, guitar and keyboards). Their biggest successes were the 1979 single " Into the Valley" and the 1980 album '' The Absolute Game.'' In 2016, the band announced a 40th-anniversary tour of the UK with their original singer Richard Jobson.

History

Early years (1977–1979)

Skids played their first gig on 19 August 1977 at the Bellville Hotel in Pilmuir Street,

, Scotland. Within six months they had released the ''

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...

'' EP on the label No Bad records. The record brought them to the attention of national

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. This led to a local gig supporting

The Clash The Clash were an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1976. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they are considered one of the most influential acts in the original wave of British punk rock, with their music fusing elements ...

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...

then signed up Skids in April 1978. The singles "Sweet Suburbia" and "

The Saints Are Coming "The Saints are Coming" was the third single (music), single by the Scottish punk rock band Skids (band), Skids, featured on their 1979 debut album, ''Scared to Dance''. The song became an international hit when it was covered in 2006 by U2 and ...

" both made commercial inroads, before "Into the Valley" reached the top 10 in the UK Singles Chart in early 1979. The band released their debut studio album, '' Scared to Dance'', the same year. It was recorded at The Townhouse Studios in London, England with production and keyboards by David Batchelor. Adamson walked out towards the end of the sessions before all the guitar overdubs were completed. Session guitarist Chris Jenkins was chief maintenance engineer at Townhouse Studios and completed the album using Adamson's studio set up, adding additional guitar to four tracks – "Into the Valley", "Integral Plot", "Calling the Tune" and "Scared to Dance". In the meantime, Adamson returned to Scotland when the recording was finished. He rejoined the band for the live concert tour promotion of the album. The record included "The Saints Are Coming", which was later covered in late 2006 as a charity single by U2 and

Green Day Green Day is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Rodeo, California, in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong and bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, with drummer Tré Cool joining in 1990. In 1994, their majo ...

. Skids enjoyed a further year of chart success as "Masquerade" and "Working for the Yankee Dollar" reached the top 20 in the UK chart. The latter came from their second album, also released in 1979, '' Days in Europa'', with the record's production and keyboards by

Bill Nelson Clarence William Nelson II (born September 29, 1942) is an American politician, attorney, and former astronaut who served from 2001 to 2019 as a United States Senate, United States senator from Florida and from 2021 to 2025 as the Administrator ...

. Just before recording of the album commenced, Kellichan left the band and was temporarily replaced on drums by Rusty Egan (ex- Rich Kids, then with the band Visage and a

New Romantic New Romantic was an underground subculture movement that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The movement emerged from the nightclub scene in London and Birmingham at venues such as Billy's and The Blitz. The New Romantic mo ...

1980s dance DJ at the Blitz club). Egan played on the album and later on the live concert tour of the record. Keyboard player Alistair Moore also temporarily joined the band to perform live with them. He had been recruited to play Bill Nelson's keyboard parts from the record. In November 1979, Mike Baillie, ex-Insect Bites, was recruited as a permanent band member, taking care of the drums, backing vocals and percussion). He slowly took over from Egan, while the band was still touring ''Days in Europa''. Some of Jobson's lyrics as well as the album cover caused controversy. It showed an Olympian being crowned with laurels by an

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-looking woman, and the lettering was in Gothic script. Some, including DJ

, felt that this glorified

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ideology and it was indeed similar to posters from the

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, held in Germany. After the original version of the album had already been released, Canadian record producer Bruce Fairbairn was brought into the project. The original cover and the track "Pros and the Cons" were removed. The sleeve was completely re-designed and the song "Masquerade" added. The album was also remixed and the tracks re-sequenced. This second version was released in 1980. One updated track, "The Olympian", was released on a flexi-disc single as a free gift with a March 1980 issue of ''

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''.

''The Absolute Game'', ''Joy'' and break-up (1980–1982)

In February 1980, one of Skids' founding members, William Simpson, left and was replaced by Russell Webb (bass guitar, backing vocals, keyboards, percussion, and guitar). Webb joined as a permanent band member and immediately started work on the recording of the band's third album '' The Absolute Game'', released in 1980 and produced by Mick Glossop. It proved to be the band's most commercial release, reaching the top 10 of the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

and contained the minor hit single "Circus Games". A few of the tracks on the album also included a collection of fourteen adult and child backing vocalists, along with a lone

didgeridoo The didgeridoo (;()), also spelt didjeridu, among other variants, is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous Drone (music), drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgerido ...

player. Initial copies of ''The Absolute Game'' came with a free limited edition, second album entitled ''Strength Through Joy'', echoing the band's previous controversial themes. Jobson claims to have got the title from

Dirk Bogarde Sir Dirk Bogarde (born Derek Jules Gaspard Ulric Niven van den Bogaerde; 28 March 1921 – 8 May 1999) was an English actor, novelist and screenwriter. Initially a matinée idol in films such as ''Doctor in the House (film), Doctor in the Hous ...

's autobiography. Soon after the release and live concert tour of ''The Absolute Game'' Baillie left the band, shortly followed by Adamson (but Adamson did stay around long enough to play on one more song for the next album, ''Joy'', called "Iona"). Baillie moved back to Scotland to live and Adamson went on to launch his new band,

Big Country Big Country are a Scottish Rock music, rock band formed in Dunfermline, Fife, in 1981. The height of the band's popularity was in the early to mid 1980s, although they have retained a cult following for many years since. The band's music inc ...

. This left Jobson and Webb to write and record the band's fourth and final album '' Joy'', which Russell Webb also produced. The pair played multiple instruments on the album, and also invited a collection of seventeen musical friends to perform on various tracks with them. Skids dissolved in 1982, with the compilation ''

Fanfare A fanfare (or fanfarade or flourish) is a short musical flourish which is typically played by trumpets (including fanfare trumpets), French horns or other brass instruments, often accompanied by percussion. It is a "brief improvised introdu ...

'' posthumously issued by

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. It was a mixture of most of the band's singles and some B-sides, though it omitted any tracks from the ''Joy'' period. Jobson and Webb then went on to form a new band called

The Armoury Show The Armoury Show were a British New wave music, new wave band, formed in 1983 and consisting of Richard Jobson (television presenter), Richard Jobson on vocals, Russell Webb (musician), Russell Webb on bass guitar, John McGeoch on guitar and J ...

. The group recorded just one album, '' Waiting for the Floods'' in 1985 before splitting up. Jobson went on to pursue a solo career as a poet, songwriter, television presenter and most recently, as a film director. He released albums on the Belgian record label Les Disques du Crepuscule and the UK's own

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. Webb proposed a solo career and, according to Armoury Show fan page, later joined

Public Image Ltd Public Image Ltd (abbreviated and stylized as PiL) are an English post-punk band formed by lead vocalist John Lydon (previously, as Johnny Rotten, lead vocalist of the Sex Pistols), guitarist Keith Levene (a founding member of the Clash), bassi ...

in 1992 (but played only on their last tour), and is now a video game designer.

Reunion concerts, ''Burning Cities''

In 2007, Richard Jobson, William Simpson and Mike Baillie, along with Bruce Watson (guitar and backing vocals), Jamie Watson (guitar), Brian Jobson (backing vocals) and Jane Button (backing vocals), got together to play three gigs. They were to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the group's formation and as a final tribute to Stuart Adamson, who had died in 2001. The shows on 4 and 5 July were at Dunfermline's Glen Pavilion (where they were supported by

Rosyth Rosyth () is a town and Garden City in Fife, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth. Scotland's first Garden city movement, Garden City, Rosyth is part of the Greater Dunfermline Area and is located 3 miles south of Dunfermline city cen ...

band The Draymin), outside which Skids had previously played only their second gig, according to Jobson, and on 7 July at the T in the Park

festival A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

. Skids returned to the stage on 28 November 2009 as one of the headlining acts in Homecoming Live, a series of gigs held around the SECC complex in Glasgow to celebrate the end of the Year of Homecoming in Scotland. The line-up mirrored the 2007 gigs, with members of The Gospel Truth Choir joining Button on backing vocals for "A Woman in Winter" and "Working for the Yankee Dollar". The same line-up performed a concert on 5 March 2010 at the ABC in Glasgow, with support from The Law and Bruce & Jamie Watson, and lastly a concert on 6 March 2010 at the Alhambra Theatre, Dunfermline with support from Beatnic Prestige and Bruce & Jamie Watson. This final concert was to conclude a week of events celebrating the works, past and present, of Richard Jobson as part of The Fifer Festival 2010 on 6 March 2010. The band undertook another reunion tour in 2017 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their formation. It had a more extensive set of venues than the 2007 reunion with concerts throughout the UK and Ireland, and headlining the 2017 Rebellion Festival on the final night. The lineup included Richard Jobson, Bill Simpson, Mike Baillie, Bruce Watson and Jamie Watson. In 2018 '' Burning Cities'' included four songs co-written by Martin Metcalfe, formerly of Goodbye Mr Mackenzie. The album reached number 28 in the UK Albums Chart.

''Songs from a Haunted Ballroom''

After issuing an acoustic album in 2019, the band (including Big Country's Bruce and Jamie Watson) returned in 2021 with a covers album called ''Songs from a Haunted Ballroom''. The album was recorded as a tribute to a music venue called the Kinema Ballroom in Dunfermline, Scotland (opened in 1938 but now the Kinema Restaurant Global Fusion Buffet) and features covers of tracks by The Clash, The Adverts, Sex Pistols, Magazine and Ultravox! as well as re-recordings of their own "

" and " Into the Valley".

''Destination Düsseldorf''

A new album, ''Destination Düsseldorf'', has been announced for March 2023, then postponed to 30 June. On 27 September 2023 Richard Jobson released a statement on the bands official website announcing that for the foreseeable future Bruce and Jamie Watson would be stepping down to focus on their work with

. Replacing them would be long time collaborators and friends Martin Metcalfe and Fin Wilson ( The Filthy Tongues). Both had written material for the recent albums Burning Cities and Destination Düsseldorf. Nick Hernandez continues on drums and Dunfermline born Connor Whyte takes over on guitar. The changes allow the Skids to honour upcoming tours of the UK, Australia and Europe.

Band members

Current members * Richard Jobson – lead vocals, guitar, keyboards (1977–1982, 2007–2010, 2016–present) * Nick Hernandez – drums (2022–present) * Connor Whyte - guitar (2023–present) * Martin Metcalfe - guitar, backing vocals (2023–present) * Fin Wilson - bass (2023–present) Former members * Stuart Adamson – guitar, backing vocals, keyboards (1977–1981; died 2001) * William Simpson – bass, backing vocals (1977–1980, 2007–2010, 2016–2022) * Tom Kellichan – drums (1977–1979) * Rusty Egan – drums (1979) * Mike Baillie – drums, backing vocals, percussion (1979–1980, 2007–2010, 2016–2019) * Russell Webb – bass, backing vocals, keyboards, guitar, percussion (1980–1982) * Bruce Watson – guitar, backing vocals, bass, drums (2007–2010, 2016–2023) * Jamie Watson – guitar, backing vocals, bass (2007–2010, 2016–2023)

Timeline

Discography

*'' Scared to Dance'' (1979) *'' Days in Europa'' (1979) *'' The Absolute Game'' (1980) *'' Joy'' (1981) *'' Burning Cities'' (2018) *''Peaceful Times'' (2019) *''Songs from a Haunted Ballroom'' (2021) *''Destination Düsseldorf'' (2023)

Notes

References

General reference

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Skids Scottish rock music groups Scottish punk rock groups Scottish new wave musical groups Scottish post-punk music groups Musical groups established in 1977 Musical groups disestablished in 1982 Musical groups reestablished in 2007 Musical groups disestablished in 2010 Musical groups reestablished in 2016 Live Here Now artists Virgin Records artists