Alternative rockers Goodbye Mr MacKenzie make their Courier Country comeback this weekend – and they’re on a roll.
The Edinburgh-based outfit hit form on their first dates in almost two years in Stirling and Elgin last week, and are all set for both a return to PJ Molloys in Dunfermline tonight and their debut at Dundee’s Church tomorrow.
GMM’s frontman Martin Metcalfe says the seven-piece “really missed making a racket together” after their impressive reunion following 25 years apart was cut short by the pandemic.
‘It was too much fun to stop’
When asked about the timing of the band’s return following the easing of restrictions, the singer insists there was never any doubt about maintaining efforts to build on the hugely successful series of gigs they played in 2019.
“it was just too much fun to stop,” he said.
Martin, who founded the goth-tinged combo in Bathgate in the mid-’80s, says he’s relieved the band have emerged from the global crisis in good shape.
“The last two years have been tough for everybody,” he declares.
“We were booked in to do Belladrum in June 2020 and we’re doing that in 2022 now, so that’s how far it kicked the can down the road.”
GMM’s legendary guitarist John Duncan had virtually given up playing due to health issues before rejoining and admits he wasn’t sure if he had it in him to go back to being a pivotal member of the band.
“When Martin first asked me if I could do this I was definitely going, ‘No sorry, I can’t,'” he says.
‘I can do this…’
“Not only was my walking suffering but my hands suffer as well from my MS. I mean it took a couple of weeks to basically kick my own a*** shall I say, and get myself into gear.
“Instead of playing guitar once a month and getting frustrated, I ended up playing every day and within a couple of weeks I was like, ‘Oh, I can do this.’
“So I’m on the phone and going, ‘I think I can do this, it’s all or nothing’, so here I am.”
Big John now believes being on stage has its own medicinal qualities.
“I never thought in a million years that I would be in this situation again – playing in a band, let alone getting up on stage,” he adds.
“The feeling’s just unbelievable. And we were just on our way up – selling out the Barrowlands at the end on 2019 – and then 2020 happens and it’s like, ‘Okay, so, here we are now, start again.'”
But wait, there’s more…
Besides his Mackenzies commitments, Metcalfe is also known for a host of other projects.
These include his work alongside his GMM bandmates Derek Kelly and Fin Wilson in The Filthy Tongues, his continued involvement in Shamanic with Fay Fife and Maria Rudd – who’s behind the cover art for the Macs’ repackaged album The Glory Hole – plus his writing credits for Fife punk legends The Skids.
He’s also undertaken acoustic tours with the Dunfermline band’s frontman Richard Jobson, including a series of Scottish dates in early October that featured a set in Strathearn at Crieff’s Strathearn Arts.
That same venue is now set to host a visit from The Skids themselves, who are due to perform at the Comrie Street venue on January 22.
The unplugged gig will feature Jobson alongside guitar maestros Bruce and Jamie Watson.
The trio will play classics such as Into The Valley and The Saints Are Coming in between a few entertaining tales from acclaimed orator Richard.
In other news
Elsewhere in gig news, Tyneside songsmith Sam Fender’s Assai Records show at Dundee’s Fat Sams on Thursday is completely sold out, as is Scottish alt-metal behemoths Biffy Clyro’s double-header at the same venue on January 16.
Looking further ahead, Dundee-based Assai have a further album tie-in live set at the South Ward Road venue featuring Glasgow synth-popsters Chvrches on March 10.
Separately in 2022, the Caird Hall has lined up a couple of big shows to keep a bit of a warm glow amid the winter gloom.
These are much-travelled ex-Mike And The Mechanics troubadour Paul Carrack on February 5 and pop-rock legends Texas, who’ll play the City Square landmark two nights later.
