In the late 1990s in Britain the music charts were dominated by boy/girl bands and dance acts. Now this was fine if you happened to like that sort of music; but what if you didn't? What if you hankered for a catchy tune and inspired lyrics? Most people looking for these things listened to music by older bands. The smart ones, however, turned to a little known band from Glasgow in Scotland known as Belle & Sebastian.

The Band

There are not, as you would imagine, two members of Belle & Sebastian. There are, in fact, seven:

• Stuart Murdoch - vocals/guitar
• Stevie Jackson - guitar/vocals
• Sarah Martin - violin
• Richard Colburn - percussion
• Mick Cooke - trumpet/bass
• Isobel Campbell - cello/vocals
• Chris Geddes - keyboards

Originally, the band had eight members, but one, Stuart David, left or went part time to concentrate on Looper, his spoken word project, and write the follow up to his first novel, Nalda Said.

So how did they get the name Belle & Sebastian? As you may be aware, there was a novel released in France in the 1970s about a little boy called Sebastian and Belle, his dog. This was later turned into a television series. Stuart Murdoch was inspired by this to write a story about Belle & Sebastian, who in this case were a boy and a girl who formed a band. When the band formed for real they kept the name.

The Music

Belle & Sebastian have released four albums and six singles. The albums, in order of release, are:

• Tigermilk
• If You're Feeling Sinister
• The Boy With The Arab Strap
• Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant

Tigermilk was originally released in 1996 as part of a project by students at Stow College in Glasgow. It was only available on vinyl and only 1,000 copies were made¹. It was re-released in 1999 on CD and tape as the band found out that fans were being ripped off for bootleg copies of the album.

The six singles again in order of release are:

• 'Dog On Wheels'
• 'Lazy Line Painter Jane'
• '3..6..9 Seconds Of Light'
• 'This Is Just A Modern Rock Song'
• 'Legal Man'
• 'Johnathan David'

The first three are available as a box set called the 'Lazy Line Painter Jane Collection'. If, however, you have all three singles already, you can purchase the slip cover to complete the collection.

Belle & Sebastian songs are melodically crafted and usually tell a story. The subjects have included rape ('The Chalet Lines'), dealing with people's visions of what you should do ('Expectations'), record company bigwigs ('Seymor Stein') and that old favourite, love. The lyrics are sometimes downhearted but can be inspired. For example, 'Legal Man' is about a couple who are declaring their love for one another, but as one is a lawyer, he can only express his feelings in legal jargon. This has seen them compared to the music of 1980s band The Smiths. They also use a wide range of instruments both in their songs and live.

The Policies of the Band

Belle & Sebastian do not regularly talk to the press. This has seen them portrayed by the media as strange, and saw Stuart Murdoch's first interview for music paper NME (New Musical Express) become front page news. They also have a policy of not releasing singles from albums and only allowing songs to appear in one place. This is why the song which is heard briefly in the film High Fidelity is not on the soundtrack. The reason for this is that they do not want to rip off the fans by making them pay for the same song twice.

The Brit Awards Incident

In 1999, Belle & Sebastian were nominated for Best British Newcomers² at the Brit Awards. This award was sponsored by Radio One and voted for by their listeners. 1999 was the first time you could vote online. Steps, at the time, were Britain's biggest boy/girl band and were also nominated. There was surprise, however, when the winners were announced as Belle & Sebastian³. Even the band members who were present were surprised to win as they were told just to turn up and get autographs. Then, on the Saturday after the awards, The Sun (a British tabloid newspaper who gave the world the topless 'Page 3 Girl') ran a story claiming that Belle & Sebastian had rigged the vote in their favour, using students from two universities. That a lot of students voted for the band should not have been a surprise because at the time the band had a largely student fan base and Isobel Campbell was about to graduate from one of the universities in question. But these facts were happily ignored.

The Sun then ran their own Best Newcomers poll and Steps won with Belle & Sebastian coming third. When asked about this the band simply said they did not care as they had won the award that counts. The following year there was a Brit Award for Best Pop Act and Steps were presented with a special award.

Links to Band Websites

There are two official Belle & Sebastian Websites. The first is the band's own website, while the second website is run by the band's record label. At the Sinister mailing list you can join an emailing list along with just under 1,500 other Belle & Sebastian fans.

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¹ A mint condition copy is reported to be worth around £700.
² It is worth remembering that the album they were nominated for was their third.
³ There is a rumour that one of the organisers thought Belle & Sebastian were a legal firm.