From Ballymena to Bay City

It was a great experience recently, to have a chat with Les McKeown of Scottish band ‘The Bay City Rollers’. I was delighted and surprised to learn that Les has visited Tasmania before, has friends that reside here and is looking forward to the bands upcoming tour. Another surprising fact Les told me was that his family had their origins in Ireland, eventually leaving Belfast to set up home in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Les tells me he was definitely always going to be a singer and perhaps slated for a career in music literally from birth, as he recounts to me a subconscious memory of his mum who sang with the Belfast Girls Choir, singing to him as she carried him around the house.

Although Les mum was a talented singer, his dad was left deaf due to nerve damage sustained in an incident and would experience his wife’s singing only by vibration. Sadly he would not hear Les sing. Both Les’ mum and dad worked in a Belfast factory, his dad as a tailor and his mum as a seamstress. His dad’s ability as a tailor would be utilised to great effect when Les joined The Bay City Rollers.

When a card from a fan arrived depicting an illustration of the guys in the band dressed in superimposed tartan jackets the guys saw the wearing of the tartan as an excellent way to pay homage to their Scottish homeland. It was Les’ dad who created the boys stage costumes including yellow flares and tartan jacket and cuffs.

An interesting piece of trivia about the band was how they got their name, the guys themselves decided to throw a dart to a map of the US which landed on Bay City.

On this tour you can expect some new songs by Les but of course Les assures me all the hits will be canvassed as well.

You can see Les and The Bay City Rollers at The Wrest Point Casino on Wednesday 19 July 2017.
Paula Xiberras