In the late '90's in Britain the music charts were dominated by boy/girl bands and dance acts. Now this was fine if you happened to like that sort of music, but what if you didn't? What if you hankered for a catchy tune and inspired lyrics? Most people looking for these things listened to music by older bands. The smart ones, however, turned to a little known band from Glasgow in Scotland. I refer, of course, to Belle and Sebastian.

The Band

There are not, as you would imagine, two members of Belle and Sebastian. There are, in fact, seven. They are:
Stuart Murdoch - VOCALS - Guitar
Stevie Jackson - GUITAR - Vocals
Sarah Martin - VIOLIN
Richard Colburn - PERCUSSION
Mick Cooke - TRUMPET - Bass
Isobel Campbell - CELLO - Vocals
and Chris Geddes - KEYBOARDS

So how did they get the name Belle and Sebastian? As you may be aware, there was a novel released in France in the '70's about a little boy called Sebastian and Belle, his dog. This was later turned into a television series. Stuart Murdoch was inspired by this to write a story about Belle and Sebatian, who in this case were a boy and a girl who formed a band. When the band formed for real they kept the name.

The Music

Belle and Sebastian have released 4 albums and 6 singles. The albums, in order of release, are:
Tigermilk
If Your Feeling Sinister
The Boy With the Arab Strap
and Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant.
Tigermilk was originaly released in 1996 as part of a project by students at Stow College in Glasgow. It was only available on vinyl and only 1000 copies were made*. It was re-released in 1999 on CD and tape as the band found out that fans were being ripped of for bootleg copies of the album.

The six singles again in order of release are:
Dog On Wheels
Lazy Line Painter Jane
3..6..9 Seconds Of Light
This Is Just A Modern Rock Song
Legal Man
and Johnathon David.
The first three are available as a box set called the Lazy Line Painter Jane Collection. If, however, you have all three singles already, you can purchase the slip cover to complete the collection.

Belle and Sebastian songs are melodicaly crafted and usually tell a story. The subjects have included rape (The Chalet Lines), dealing with people's visions of what you should do (Expectations), record company bigwigs (Seymor Stein) and that old favourite, love. The lyrics are sometimes downhearted but can be inspired. For example, Legal Man is about a coouple who are declaring their love for one another, but as one is a lawyer, he can only express his feelings in legal jargon. This has seen them compared to '80's band The Smiths They also use a wide range of instruments both in their songs and live.

The Policies Of The Band

Belle and Sebastian do not regularly talk to the press. This has seen them portrayed by the media as strange, and saw Stuart Murdochs first interview for music paper NME become front page news. They also have a policy of not releasing singles from albums and only allowing songs to appear in one place. This is why the song which is heard briefly in High Fidelity is not on the soundtrack. The reason for this is that they do not want to rip of the fans by making them pay for the same song twice. One exception is The State I Am In, which appears on Tigermilk and Dog On Wheels. However it is worth noting that 1) the version on Dog On Wheels is a demo version of the song and 2) at the time Dog On Wheels was released Tigermilk was on limited release.

The Brit Awards Incident

In 1999, Belle and Sebastian were nominated for Best British Newcomers* at the Brit Awards. This award was sponsored by Radio 1 and voted for by their listeners. 1999 was the first time you could vote on - line. Steps, at the time, were Britains biggest boy/girl band and were also nominated. There was surprise, however, when the winners were announced as Belle and Sebastian*. Even the band members who were present were surprised to win as they were told just to turn up and get autographs. Then, on the Saturday after the awards, The Sun* ran a story claiming that Belle and Sebastian had rigged the vote in their favour, using students from two universities. That a lot of students voted for the band should not have been a surprise because 1) at the time the band had a largely student fanbase and 2) Isobel Campbell was about to graduate from one of the universities in question was ignored.

The Sun then ran their own Best Newcomers poll and Steps won with Belle and Sebastian coming third. When asked about this B and S simply said they did not care as they had won the award that counts. The following year there was a Brit Award for Best Pop Act and Steps were presented with a special award.

Links to band websites

There are two Belle and Sebastian websites. The first is the bands own websitewhere you can buy t-shirts and other merchandise, read writing and the band and contribute top ten lists and submit your own. The second website is run by the bands record label, you can order singles and albums, find out the FAQ's about the band, read the cartoon version of Stuart's story about hte band, read lyrics and read and submit misheard lyrics from the bands songs. You can also sign up for email notification about the bands future plans. And at Sinister mailing list you can join a emailing list along with just under 1500 other Belle and Sebastian fans.