MUSIC has changed a bit since Chris Thomson was going to gigs at the Apollo, watching Top of the Pops and playing in a punk band in the local Scout hall.
“Bowie was my first gig at the Apollo,” he says, with a grin.
“I know, that is pretty extraordinary. I think he did four nights, and I was there for one of them, row 20, sitting in what felt like a big, old cinema – which, of course, is what it was. It feels a bit unreal to look back at it now.
“That was the Apollo at its peak. Those were the days you’d send off your postal order and pray. You’d either get your postal order returned, or you’d have your two tickets.”
Music – the industry, the sound, the live scene – has changed, but Chris, frontman of The Bathers, who play Frets at the Strathaven Hotel on June 17, is actually quite happy about it.
“The longer I am in the business, the more music I do, the more I see the sense of scale has really changed,” he says. “I quite like the idea of the whole thing being scaled down, in fact. The big, industrial shed thing – that’s never been my favourite sort of gig.
“Something like Frets is great – being able to speak to the audience, to get to know them a bit and make connections, that’s a lovely thing.”
Chris grew up in Uddingston, where his mum worked as a primary schoolteacher and his dad as a salesman. A musical career was not always in the offing.
“When you go back a few generations, there is music in the family, but not really, not my mum and dad, certainly,” he says.
“I mean, you’re talking about the boy who was famously rejected from the recorder auditions.”
He laughs: “The teacher asked me to start, and very quickly said ‘okay – next…
“Punk was the answer, for me. Everyone could have a go, so I did, and someone said we should form a band.”
After a spell doing local gigs, the band evolved into Friends Again, the much-respected but sadly short-lived 80s pop outfit comprising Chris, Paul McGeechan, Neil Cunningham, James Grant and Stuart Kerr.
Successful singles – State of Art, Sunkissed, Honey at the Core – an excellent debut album, Trapped and Unwrapped – and a music press buzz that seemed to promise Great Things Ahead, were not enough to keep them together, and they split not long after the album was released.
James Grant went on to form Love and Money, and Chris formed The Bathers, who released their debut album, Unusual Ways to Die, in 1987. A second, Sweet Deceit, followed in 1990.
The rest of the story involves subsequent, superb albums, including one on which Liz Fraser of The Cocteau Twins, did backing vocals; a handful of other impressive collaborations, such as Bloomsday, with ex-Commotions Neil Clark and Stephen Irvine; and some infrequent gigs. In 2020, the Marina record label re-released three of The Bathers’ old albums – Sunpowder, Lagoon Blues and Kelvingrove Baby. But all in all, it has been a quiet few years.
Life got in the way, Chris explains.
“My focus was on being a dad and living a life,” he says, simply.
“Music was always there – I kept my hand in – but mainly for me, improving my piano playing, for example, and building up ideas. I enjoyed it.
“Now the kids are at uni, and post-uni, it’s time to get back to the music.”
He smiles: “It feels a bit strange, like I’m in danger of some kind of empty nest syndrome. But there is so much energy required when you have kids. It’s a fantastic chapter in my life, but it doesn’t match up too well with a rock and roll lifestyle.”
Now, fans will be delighted to know, The Bathers are back, with a new album, Sirenesque, about to be released, and plans for more gigs on the horizon.
“It’s pretty exciting,” says Chris.
“We have been on the verge of releasing the album for a while. During lockdown, I reviewed certain elements of it again.”
He pauses, with a short laugh. “I realise we’re getting in to Blue Nile territory here, what with the need for perfection, but I’m happy now with the shape it has finally taken.
“We’re hoping to get it out before the end of the year, logistical problems aside. Even if the physical product is not an option, we can hopefully do something digital and then vinyl and CDs will perhaps follow.”
Chris adds: “That’s something else that’s been on my mind – I’d rather not have a hundred million CDs sitting gathering dust somewhere.
“ It goes back to the scale of things. Those big, arena shows, even if they were a realistic possibility, appeal to me less and less. I’d much rather have a meaningful connection with something like Frets.
“We’re aiming to get back to touring. Frets seems like the perfect place to test the water.”
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