Solo

Internationally acclaimed Scottish singer-songwriter JJ Gilmour made his recording debut in 1989 with The Silencers, one of Scotland’s top bands who enjoyed huge success throughout Europe. A naturally gifted musician, (in his youth, JJ came very close to a career in classical music as a tenor) he first joined the band as a backing vocalist though later in the bands career JJ progressed seamlessly to lead vocalist.

Seven action-packed years of gigging and recording ensued during which The Silencers had gold albums, sold over half a million records for BMG/RCA, headlined major rock festivals and were regulars on hit TV shows across Europe. However, all good things must come to an end and after this successful period with the band, JJ decided he needed to take on new challenges and embarked upon a solo career.

After an initial period of prolific song-writing in 2001 at his home in Jersey (Channel Islands), JJ left for New York to record his critically acclaimed debut solo album ‘Sunnyside P.A.L’ Produced by Dan Wise (Scissor sisters) and mixed by Michael Brauer (Coldplay) the album was inspired by the memory of a childhood friend Paul Anthony Lennon and was released in February 2002. The album became the catalyst for establishing his now fiercely loyal fan base and gained wide spread acclaim from his peers as an ‘outstanding debut album’.

In between the release of his first solo album and the long awaited equally successful second album ‘The Boy Who Didn’t Fall’ (released in 2009), JJ’s desire to write a musical began to take shape in 2006. This was where he began to sow the early creative musical seeds and formulate ideas for the show ‘Dancing Shoes’, based upon the life of footballer George Best. After an impromptu meeting with Pat Gribben from the Irish group The Adventures, JJ and Pat  joined forces to write additional songs for the musical, teaming up further with great Irish playwrights Marie Jones and Martin Lynch to create a remarkable show which has been well received by audiences and critics alike.

JJ is currently living in Ireland where he has recorded his third album "Slocomotion" due for release in July 2012 alongside compiling a songbook of his works as a solo artist. he has also started work writing songs for a new musical play production "The Titanic boys".

The Silencers

It was in London in 1985 that four Scots met and formed the band ‘Fingerprintz’ : Jimme O’Neill, Cha Burns, Martin Hanlin and Joe Donelly were a ‘Smiths’ inspired new wave ‘combo’ who released three albums on Virgin Records (The Very Dab, Distinguish Marks and Beat Noir) but despite some stunning reviews the band were largely ignored in Britain and Europe, their ‘quirky dark surreal pop’ did however attract a following in America.

After the demise of Fingerprintz, the four began to demo new tracks at Scarf Studios in South London. The concept was guitar-based atmospheric pop with ‘one foot in the 60′s and one in the 80′s’. Written by Jimme in a little room in Battersea, the songs were less quirky and more melodic than the Fingerprintz material, yet more passionate and personal.

Record companies in London love the demos and the band ultimately sign to RCA and in May 1986. The band, newly named ‘The Silencers’, commence recording their first album. Two months and several breakdowns later, they scrap it and start again… They arrange to restart at Castlesound Studios in Edinburgh however, on the day before they are due to start recording Cha has a brain haemorrage in London. Recording goes ahead because at this point the rest of the band have no idea whether he’s going to recover or not. Six weeks later, Cha is back playing guitar, still re-learning to read… not music but his ABC.

‘Painted Moon’ is eventually released in Britain in April 87. It gets no play on British radio. The band tour with the Pretenders in Europe and Britain and follow this with their own British tour which receives limited coverage. In America, however the album is warmly received and ‘Painted Moon’ begins to take off on radio. The band tour coast to coast in the U.S, first on their own, and then with Squeeze, however two days before the biggest gig on the tour, (Madison Square Garden with Squeeze), Cha has a convultion and is hopitalized. Despite fearing the worst Cha emerges the next day to perform the gig which goes down a storm, … America says ‘come back soon !’.

In early 1988 the band tour Europe with The Alarm. ‘Painted Moon’ gets re-released in Britain and is played to death on Radio 1 for about 7 weeks. The second Silencers album, ‘A Blues For Buddha’, is then written and recorded at CaVa Studios in Glasgow with Flood (U2, Smashing Pumpkins, etc…) at the helm. The songs are more folky/bluesy/country. The band tour Europe for four months with management stable-mates Simple Minds including a date at Wembley Stadium, which Jimme claims is the only gig ‘he didn’t enjoy’. Meanwhile America decides that the new album is too dreamy and not rock enough and they never regain their good relationship with the States. The band begins writing the third album with new addition Davie Crichton on fiddle, accordion & keyboards but run into . They try to write ‘by committee’ but it doesn’t work. They enter a difficult time of demoing and rehearsals and tensions build culminating in Jimme and Joe (Donnelly) having a fist-fight during a game of five-a-side footy in Glasgow, the sad thing is, they’re on the same side. Joe decides to leave the band two weeks later, Martin Hanlin stays for a week, then he goes too. The Silencers now have no rhythm section.

Curiously, this trauma proves inspirational on the songwriting front and Jimme experiences a welcome burst of creativity. Two new members are recruited, Tony Soave on drums and Lewis Rankine on bass, and the third album is recorded in the summer of 1990. The new albums music is a mixture of pop, Celtic rock, experimental funk, blues and country and different from anything the band have done before. They start the album with John Leckie at the controls, but predictably sack him after a couple of months and continue with Mark Wallis (who had mixed a few tracks on A Letter From St. Paul including Painted Moon).

Before the tour of Europe, Jimme decides that the vocal department could do with a bit of strengthening and James ‘Jinky’ Gilmour joins the band. Jinky had been hanging around locally and had sung at Jimme’s New Years Party impressing all those present. The Silencers become a 6-piece and by now the are hugely successful in France and in Spain where ‘Bulletproof Heart’ is the radio record of the year. This was a song about ‘the troubles’ in Ireland which Jimme had originally recorded with Fingerprintz back in 1980. The song becomes a huge radio record in Europe and, almost by design, is released (and banned) as the Gulf War starts (‘no songs about guns please !’)

By the end of 91, the band has a massive following in Scotland, France, Spain, Switzerland, Italy and Germany. Lewis Rankine is replaced by Stevie Kane on bass after Tony (the drummer) has stated that one more concert might push him over the edge and violence (towards Lewis) is likely… The band continue touring in their own inimitable style and those who attended gigs will remember just how hard The Silencers rocked and played during this period, whilst indulging in some legendary excesses of rock stardom. Davie Crichton however, becomes disillusioned during this period and a combination of personal problems and tour fatigue leads him to leave the group. Stevie Kane has a brother Phil who’s a great piano player/accordionist/organist and he slots in to replace Davie.

Despite healthy sales in Europe, (two gold records in France and one in Spain), the band are in massive debt to RCA due to a lack of success in England. For a while it looks like the band may not get to make another record for the label, but eventually they manage to record ‘Seconds of Pleasure’, Jimme co-produces the album with Kenny MacDonald in Glasgow’s Park Lane Studios. ‘I Can Feel’ It is the single and, once again, it gets played all over Europe but is blanked in Britain.

During the ‘Pleasure Tour’, Jinky starts having heart problems (literally) his heart rate races and doesn’t stop. He has to get electric shocks to slow it down. They even consider bringing a nurse on the tour instead of a tour manager but the show must go on! The live show has now developed to the stage where the band are flying each night with so much energy and commitment. They give their audience 120% and they respond accordingly. Unfortunately however the band can only tour in the areas where they can finance their own operation, receiving no support from RCA, this narrows things down to France, Scotland and Switzerland.

The band signs to BMG in France and Permanent in Britain and, during the summer of 94, record ‘So Be It’. At the same time, they are contacted by the Scottish Tourist Board to record ‘Wild Mountain Thyme’ for an advertising campaign. They take time off from the album to do this.

They tour in Europe again in May 95, which proves a difficult time with only limited support from BMG France and therefore smaller audiences. Jinky and Tony take this as a signal that it’s all over and go on a massive bender/downer during the tour as those Rock n’ Roll demons strike again. The shows are still excellent and the audience response is still brilliant, but inevitably Jinky and Tony leave the band after the tour.

Jinky rejoins briefly, but his heart (no pun intended) isn’t in it and he bows out finally in the New Year. Jim McDermott (Kevin McDermott Orchestra) comes in to help out on drums and Jimme’s daughter, Aura, who’d shared the vocals on ‘Wild Mountain Thyme’, also joins the band.

The band continues to release albums and gig occasionally in Scotland and Europe and are gearing up for a new era.

Dancing Shoes

My desire to write a musical started a long time ago after seeing the brilliant Willie Russell’s ‘Blood Brothers’. I set to work on it one day back in 2006/2007. I can’t remember exactly when but it meant a big headache for me as I’d never attempted anything like it before. I started initially writing a song and then a scene to go with it, I could see all the visions and pictures swirling around in my head like an in-house movie. I knew I had the right emotions and feelings for a musical but you also need the skill. I would write another song then another scene and leave it for a few months, write another and so the pattern continued. I was living in Jersey (Channel Islands) at the time and I played the songs and idea to a great friend of mine Mark Carmichael, who has now unfortunately passed away. I remember his words very clearly… ‘Jinky my dear boy I think this could be your finest hour’.

I’m sure Mark understood my passion for it right there and then and that gave me the confidence to carry on. After Mark passed away I left jersey and arrived in Belfast. The rest as they say is history. I got to work with three other writers, Pat Gribben, Marie Jones and Martin Lynch who all helped me realise the dream. I think we’ve done a good job and it’s inspired me to write musical number two and three.

Dancing Shoes toured the UK and Ireland and played to over 70,000 people. JJ is now writing songs for "The Titanic boys" due for release in August 2012 in Belfast.