A 35-year-old song penned by a band of Angus teenagers has become an unexpected cult sensation among football fans from Scotland to Canada.
The song, Anyone Fancy A Chocolate Digestive?, was picked up by the makers of a sports podcast who used it to accompany a section in which guests talk about their favourite biscuits.
It was written by the band of the same name, who were formed in 1985 at Brechin High School by singer and bass player Calum ‘Nam’ Clark from Brechin, drummer Stuart Finnie from Edzell and Dundee-born guitarist David Barnett, then living in the village of Friockheim, near Arbroath.
Outside of the school music room, they played just one proper gig – at the 1986 Angus Show in Arbroath’s Victoria Park.
The group split up before leaving school and headed their separate ways into the world of work.
David moved to London where he remained in the music business for several years and in 2007, he put together a new band called The New Royal Family for a charity gig.
He resurrected the songs he’d written with his old school pals, including their theme song.
Although the event was supposed to be a one-off ,The New Royal Family were offered another gig and the track was later released as a single by the Filthy Little Angels label.
It received airplay on Radio 1 and 6Music, but after the band officially retired on David’s 40th birthday that seemed to be the end of the story for the song.
Canadian football podcast brought tune back to the fore
However, when football-mad Fifer Michael McColl was looking for a suitable tune to go with a segment in his Vancouver White Caps soccer podcast five years ago, he stumbled on the ideal soundtrack in Anyone Fancy A Chocolate Digestive.
The song became a regular feature, accompanying a segment in which the hosts ask team players and other guests about their biscuit-dunking habits.
Michael said: “The song has become a cult classic over here in Vancouver, with people constantly tagging me in photos of them buying digestives or seeing them in shops.”
And the song came full circle when the Canadian podcast feature was introduced on Michael’s other podcast, Glory Days of Gold. He runs with his friend, Lee Gillies from Glenrothes, in celebration of East Fife FC.
David stumbled across the podcast by accident after a friend Googled the song and asked if the football fans were friends of his.
“I couldn’t believe it,” he said.
“These football fans had been playing this 35-year-old stupid song from my school band for several years and even featured the New Royal Family as their artist of the month last year.”
Music a passion, not football
David has since been invited as a special guest on both shows’ Christmas specials to round off 2020.
But he had to confess the main reason why he hadn’t chanced upon his old tune sooner.
“I don’t even like football,” he admitted
“I’ve only been to one football match in my life – Aberdeen reserves against Forfar Athletic in 1978.”
Now 50 and living in London with his partner, Nikki and four-month-old daughter Daisy, David is a freelance social media researcher.
He also revealed the inspiration behind the quirky band name.
“There was a free diary with Smash Hits magazine at that time and the punchline to one of the items in it was ‘anyone fancy a chocolate digestive?”
“We basically decided we wanted a theme song like The Monkees and that’s how it came about
“It was probably the worst song I’ve ever written – and the most successful by miles.”
