Strawberry Switchblade were a Scottish female pop rock/new wave band formed in Glasgow in 1981 by Jill Bryson and Rose McDowall. The band are considered one hit wonders, when their song 'Since Yesterday' reached number 5 in the UK Singles Chart in 1985. In 1986, the group split with Rose McDowall continuing playing music in neofolk bands while Jill Bryson in 2013 returned to writing music after a gap of 30 years in a band called The Shapists with her daughter Jessie Frost.
Links To Peel[]
In a interview published on the Strawberry Switchblade website, the band described how they were discovered by Kid Jensen and John Peel: [1]
INTERVIEWER: So how did you get signed?
JILL BRYSON: You know, it was just weird, the whole thing was SO weird. We'd been playing a few gigs in Glasgow and people obviously thought of it as a weirdo band of its time and place. I think Orange Juice had been signed by that time and it was Jim Kerr. Because he was one of the first Glasgow punks he remembers Rose particularly. And I don't really like Simple Minds, but they were being interviewed, I think it was on [Radio 1 show with DJ] Kid Jensen, and he asked them what's happening in Glasgow, what other bands are good. And he said 'Strawberry Switchblade, they're good', so Kid Jensen's producer got in touch with us.
ROSE MCDOWALL: We did the John Peel session and then we did the Kid Jensen session. We recorded the Peel one first but Jensen went out first.
JILL BRYSON: We had to pick four songs, and there was only the two of us so we had to get a band together. James Kirk from Orange Juice played bass and we had a guy called Shaheed Sarwar, who we all called Shaheed StarWars, played drums. He was in a band in Glasgow, I can't remember what they were called. Basically it was the four of us and we had to rehearse. And we were all 'it's OK, it's only four songs, we can do it we can do it'.
INTERVIEWER: Did you submit demos or anything?
ROSE MCDOWALL: No, we didn't! No, he just phoned my house - not even getting the producer of the show to phone - and said 'Hi, this is John Peel, do you want to do a session?' I said 'do you want us to send a tape?' and he said, 'no, that's OK'. Then David Jensen did it as well just cos John Peel had, they were both trying to be the first one to get us out.
INTERVIEWER: He hadn't heard you at all?
JILL BRYSON: No!
INTERVIEWER: Isn't that weird?
JILL BRYSON: Yeah, really weird.
INTERVIEWER: Do you know how many tapes Peel gets, and yet he hires people who he's never heard!
JILL BRYSON: At that point it was the Peel session you really wanted to get rather than a Jensen session, but we weren't going to turn down either. So we ended up doing two sessions within about two weeks of each other. We had to have eight songs to do it and we only had six so we had to write another two! The Jensen session was a bit more upbeat, the Peel session was a bit quieter. It was just weird, it was wild, absolutely wild. I remember the Jensen session was the first proper recording we did and the producer was Dale Griffin and another guy from Mott The Hoople and I could hardly sit next to them. I could remember them from when I was fourteen, I was hyperventilating, I could hardly play.
Festive Fifty Entries[]
- 1983 Festive Fifty: Trees And Flowers #47
Sessions[]
Strawberry Switchblade - Peel Session 1985
1. Recorded: 1982-10-04. Broadcast: 05 October 1982. Repeated: 02 November 1982, 27 December 1982, 09 February 1983
- 10 James Orr Street / The Little River / Secrets / Trees And Flowers
2. Recorded: 1985-02-05. Broadcast: 15 April 1985. Repeated: 01 May 1985
- Cut With The Cake Knife / Nothing Changes / 60 Cowboys / Life Full Of Wonders
Other Shows Played[]
Strawberry Switchblade - Trees and Flowers
- 1982
- Karl's Tape Late November 1982: Dance / Linda / Another Day (Kid Jensen's session)
- 1983
- 21 December 1983: 'Trees And Flowers (7 inch)' (Ninety-Two Happy Customers) FF #47
- 1985
- 22 January 1985: Deep Water (v/a cassette album - Raging Spool) NME
- 28 January 1985 (BBC World Service): Deep Water (v/a cassette album - Raging Spool) New Musical Express