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 king creosote on the fence collective
 to access audio and video on collective you need real player.On the Fence. It’s hard to think of more unassuming record company headquarters than those of Fence. The label operates out of a dilapidated 19th-century fisherman's cottage in the village of Cellardyke, in Fife's East Neuk. The building is without running water, electricity or a bathroom; spraypaint covers the walls and moldy fruit, of indeterminate origin, is on the desks. It is from this unlikely venue that Fence founder Kenny Anderson, aka singer/songwriter King Creosote, runs his small but influential fifedom. Over the past five years, Fence Records and its attendant Collective has given us a remarkable number of musicians. Its most famous alumnus is KT Tunstall, but others include Anderson's brother Gordon, a founder member of The Beta Band and now of The Aliens, and krautfolk pioneer James Yorkston. Perhaps wisely, given that Anderson is not a man you can imagine ever talking "territories", many have signed to more professional labels: King Creosote himself is on Warners subsidiary 679. Yet, he claims, members never stray far from the fold. "The Fence Collective works as a sort of launch pad for shy people. Once you're in, you try to help everyone else that's coming up behind." Currently rising through the ranks are HMS Ginafore, who Anderson describes as "East Neuk's answer to Edith Piaf”, the singer/songwriter The Pictish Trail, and the appealingly-named Weasel Squeezer. Anderson draws a direct link between the area's remoteness and its population of oddballs. "If you look around you, it's a pretty inspiring place. There's something about this world that brings on artistic stuff." Gigs are held in the local village hall - friends bring soup and sandwiches - while records are decorated with bits of paper and string. "I'm always on the lookout for scraps of this and scraps of that," he says. "At first I thought it looked pretty shoddy, but then I realised that people see it as something that we've put love and care into."  King Creosote's current album, Bombshell - his 34th - is a collection of accomplished, bittersweet folk shanties that could see him, aged 40, making a late bid for success. His sound has become more polished, but could he ever be lured away from Fife? "No, I'd be worried that my music would sound different if I lived in a city. Anyway, there is no one-upmanship in the Fence Collective. We cling together like barnacles on a rock."
Amber Cowan
King Creosote – Bombshell, out now on 679.
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see also
 king creosotereview  kt tunstallsession  the beta bandfeature  the aliensreview  james yorkstonreview
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