Craig Methven, singer with legendary Dundee post-punk band the Scrotum Poles, has died aged 54.
Mr Methven, a married father-of-five, passed away following a short illness.
The band were a feature of the city’s post-punk scene in the late 1970s and early 1980s, with their two self-funded releases now collectors’ items.
Bandmate Steve Grimmond, now Fife Council’s chief executive, said: “He was a guy that was full of energy, ideas and a real zest for life.
“My recollection of the Scrotum Poles at the time was just really great memories of being involved in the post-punk scene in Dundee.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=UB87tfSfKiI%3Frel%3D0
“We got a kick out of playing and Craig was really the beating heart of the band. He very much led the band.
“My latter contact with Craig was promotion of music and he was continuing to manage the legacy of the Scrotum Poles, with website promotion and doing various deals for record releases in Germany, Japan and elsewhere, which kept alive in a small way the stuff we made 35 years ago.”
After some early changes, the band’s line-up was Craig on vocals, Steve on bass, Colin Smith on guitar and drummer Glen Connell.Retro Dundee: Yep, It’s Scrotum PolesAfter releasing the Auchmithie Calling cassette, a limited edition of 100, in 1979, the band pressed 1000 copies of five-track e.p. Revelation.
Mr Methven told Punk77 website: “We photocopied the covers because we couldn’t afford to print them, and then glued them together in my mum’s kitchen. The remaining 300 were sold by our bass player a few years after the band split up to a dealer who re-issued them with another cover.”
https://youtube.com/watch?v=ddD1VYH6nV0%3Frel%3D0
The band split up in the early 1980s following a farewell gig at the Tayside Bar. A compilation CD was released in 2009.
His son Arch, 19, said that his father was an “intelligent, kind and thoughtful man”, adding: “To say he put people before him was an understatement.”
Mr Methven lived in Tunbridge Wells and Tunbridge Wells FC, whose website Craig developed, also paid tribute, saying he would be sadly missed.