The Twinsets were an early 80's Scottish indie band from Edinburgh fronted by two sisters, Gayle and Rachel Bell. Their father, Norman Bell, was the drummer for sometime, whilst the rest throughout the years consisted of Dru Farmer, Nick Haines, Rory Hall, David Mack and Stuart Wright. The band attracted some attention from record companies down south, but seemed to fail to get signed by them and split sometime in the mid 80's.
Links to Peel[]
Ex-member Nick Haines mentioned in a 2011 blog about the Twinsets how he heard the BBC were interested in getting them to do a session for Peel:
"Quite how John Peel got to hear about us though I don’t know, but anyway one day our ‘manager’ announced that the Beeb had offered us a session on the Peel show." [1]
Haines recalled that during one session he purposely played Mott The Hoople's All The Young Dudes on guitar, to impress Dale Griffin, who was producing them:
"Over the course of a long day we laid down five surprisingly good tracks thanks to the band actually being on top form, Norman on industrial-strength anti-depressants and a remarkably sympathetic engineer who actually seemed to grasp the sound we were looking for, got it and then didn’t fuck about. We were nearly done, just one small guitar overdub and we’d be finished. As I stood there alone in the recording booth I awaited the count-in for the track and my cue to add that last little bit of guitar…and when the moment came….Yup…’All The Young Dudes.’ (Clumsily played admittedly, but still recognizable.)
I looked up at the window where engineer and band were watching me and gave them what was intended to be a cheery, cheeky smile…one that froze rapidly. The girls shot me a look of pure malice, drummer and bassist shook their heads sadly and Buffin’s (Dale Griffin's nickname) head slumped to the mixing desk. They were NOT amused! I don’t think anyone actually spoke to me for a good half-hour afterwords. I have to admit it was cheesy, confess that it was woefully predictable but hell, it HAD to be done!" [2]
The band did a total of three sessions for Peel, including two produced by Griffin. In The Peel Sessions (p 341), Ken Garner gives the band's name as "Twinset".
In October 2005 the band reformed to take part in the John Peel Day Edinburgh event.
Sessions[]
The Twinsets - Peel Session 1982
1. Recorded: 1982-01-06. Broadcast: 20 January 1982. Repeated: 03 February 1982, 22 March 1982, 28 April 1982
- I'll Remember You / Stranded In The Jungle / Suspicious Minds / Johnny Come Home
2. Recorded: 1982-10-16. Broadcast: 04 November 1982. Repeated: 22 November 1982, 30 December 1982
- Zippo / Sophisticated Boom-Boom / Talk / Out Of Nowhere / Heartbeat
3. Recorded: 1983-10-29. Broadcast: 09 November 1983. Repeated: 28 November 1983, 06 February 1984
- Too Too Much / Crush / Glittering New Day / Meant To Be / Girl On Her Own
Other Shows Played[]
- None, according to available playlists