Into the Galleries!
The music of seminal punk band The Skids will echo down the years in the musicians’ Dunfermline home town this year.
Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries will showcase an exhibition celebrating the work and music of Richard Jobson and the Into the Valley stars from April 28 to August 26.
From 1977, the year that the influential group formed in Dunfermline, right up to the release of their first album in 35 years, the exhibition will include some unusual pieces of memorabilia, artwork and photographs.
The cultural hub holds a significant place for the band.
In the building’s former guise, a teenage Jobson would seek warmth to pen lyrics to some of The Skids’ earliest hits under the roof of the world’s first Carnegie Library.
Some of these original lyric sheets will be on display in the exhibition.
Jobson said: “I’m very proud of our roots here and want to be part of Dunfermline’s renaissance as the coolest town in Scotland – it’s really important that we all contribute to making the town a success and that it is seen by the rest of the country as a creative hub, a place where people make things happen.”
Jobson’s artwork Scared to Dance will also be displayed, along with footage from their gigs.
Jobson has spoken of The Skids being slightly different, as punk was an urban entity and the band came from the mining villages of Fife.
The Skids played their first gig on August 19 1977 at the Belleville Hotel in Pilmuir Street. Within six months they had released the Charles EP on the No Bad record label.
Guitarist and co-writer Stuart Adamson left the band after the recording of their third album The Absolute Game.
He went on to scale new heights as Big Country’s frontman, while The Skids continued on for one more LP release before calling it a day at their peak in 1982.
A series of talks and celebratory events will also be held, with music venue PJ Molloys promoting a Skids convention with social events, acoustic sessions and film screenings around the town.
The convention takes place at the end of Festival of Museums week on May 19 and 20.
