A DUNDEE “supergroup” performed tracks from their new album yesterday while making their first—and possibly only—appearance at Piperdam Golf and Leisure Resort.

Heavy Little Elephants— Gregor Philp of Swiss Family Orbison and Andrew Mitchell of The Hazey Janes —played with Deacon Blue drummer Dougie Vipond and ex-Danny Wilson bassist Ged Grimes. The gig was recorded by Torchwood director Brian Kelly and filmed for a DVD.

Gregor and Andrew have been writing songs and recording an album over the past two years and launched it yesterday at the live gig.

“Gregor’s got lots of vintage amps and they were breaking down during the sound check, but once we started playing it all came together,” said Andrew. “We didn’t know how the songs would go down but everyone seemed to enjoy it. It was going to be our only appearance and I think that’s still the case because we’re all really busy, so the idea was to document the live set and it’ll be released on DVD.

“It was very cathartic and I wanted to keep playing.

“We picked the Riga Suite (at Piperdam) because it is a hugely atmospheric wooden structure with brilliant acoustics for recording.”

Gregor Philp said Heavy Little Elephants was initially just “a couple of mates jamming and writing stuff and having fun” with no plan to release an album.

Local businessman Chris van der Kuyl heard the material and gave them backing to complete an album, which was mastered in New York by Greg Calbi, who has worked with Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen.

Ged said, “The bottom line is great things can happen when you invest your time and energy in a collective project.

“The material is everything from full-on rock tracks to acoustic stuff and it’s a tough thing to put across, but that’s good because that mix keeps people interested.

“It would be daft to do all this work to put something together and leave it, but then again, sometimes that’s the best way.”