The Aliens
Beta blocker: Fans of The Beta Band have often compared the Scots weird- beards to Meddle-era Pink Floyd: the folksy, bluesy acoustic guitars, the pastoral psychedelia, the bonkers lyrics. The Betas never did get to make big-budget concept albums about pigs and walls, but they had something else in common with Floyd: their own Syd Barrett-type figure lurking in the shadows of their past. Founder-member Gordon Anderson was the feverishly creative force behind such early Betas tunes as Dry the Rain, but he also suffered from mental health problems. Before the band had even finished recording their debut EP, he quit and checked himself into hospital. Unlike his acid-fried counterpart, though, Anderson didn't fade away, but continued to write music and began to feel much better. Now, two years after The Beta Band's demise, two of its members, John McLean and Robin Jones, have reconnected with their old mucker and formed The Aliens.
Fife and drum: Anderson is from Fife, the son of Billy Anderson, a famous bandleader and trad musician. But it was the music of Serge Gainsbourg, Brian Wilson and Brian Eno that really inspired Anderson, and as he grew up he found songs filling his head faster than he could write them down. Gordon met John McLean and the two became fast friends, writing music together and eventually forming The Beta Band. The rest is indie history: the Beta Band went on to become a massive cult band, and Dry the Rain was included on the soundtrack for High Fidelity. Meanwhile, Anderson remained in a psychiatric hospital, although his former bandmates did come to see him and report on their progress (or, more often, lack of).
Start the pigeon: Anderson gradually recovered and got himself a small cottage in Fife, where he continued to write and record music, and collaborated with his musician brothers Kenny (aka King Creosote) and Ian (aka Pip Dylan). To get Gordon's music out to the public, though, Kenny had to sneakily release some of his songs under the name Lone Pigeon. After the Betas broke up, McLean and Jones joined up with Anderson and the three began working on Anderson's vast stockpile of songs, adding beats and samples and knocking them into completion. They named themselves The Aliens because of Anderson's obsession with extra-terrestrials (he even sculpts aliens in his spare time).
Dog star: The Aliens' debut EP, Alienoid Starmonica features the exuberant track Happy. They'll release their debut album, Astronomy for Dogs, in March, and go on tour, playing a gig in Crawdaddy, Dublin on March 25th. "A lot of beauty comes from pain, and I've experienced a lot of pain," says Anderson. "But you don't focus on the bad stuff when you're in the music."
