A Glasgow-band without anyone being from Scotland, never mind its biggest and best city. Is such a thing possible?
Of course, it is!! Zoey Van Goey were very much part of the fabric of the musical smorgasbord in the city and country between 2007 and 2012, releasing two albums and a handful of 45s and EPs, as well as playing numerous gigs, all of which (certainly the ones I attended) were very enjoyable.
They were initially a trio consisting of Matt Brennan, Michael John McCarthy and Kim Moore, all Glasgow-based but originally from Canada, Ireland and England respectively. They got off to the most wonderful of starts in 2007 with their debut single, Foxtrot Vandals, released on the Glasgow-based Say Dirty Records, being produced by Stuart Murdoch. Further pop royalty got involved the following year, with Paul Savage producing the follow-up 45, Sweethearts In Disguise, again on Say Dirty.
In 2009, the debut album, The Cage Was Unlocked All Along, was released to a lot of critical acclaim in Scotland. It was a self-funded and self-released effort that wasn’t always easy to find in the shops, and before the year was out, they had signed with Chemikal Underground with the album given a re-release.
A fourth member, Adam Scott, joined the fray – yet another who was not from round these parts. They continued to work hard at their craft, recording and gigging when the opportunity enabled, and 2011 saw them release their second album, Propeller Versus Wings, again on Chemikal Underground.
And then…..silence. A band that had been very active on the live front seemed to suddenly stop playing. There was never any official announcement that they had called it a day, but it was soon clear that the lack of activity meant it was all over.
The individual members are still part of the Glasgow and wider music scene, but in different ways.
Matt Brennan is a Professor of Popular Music at the University of Glasgow, and a well-kent face at gigs of all shapes and sizes across the city.
Michael John McCarthy has become a celebrated composer for stage and screen, including commissions from the National Theatre of Scotland. In 2022, he returned to ‘popular’ music, thanks to being one of the main members of Album Club, a collective whose debut album was one of the best records to be released in 2022. Adam Scott was another part of that collective.
Kim Moore has also become a composer, best-known for the creation of dark ambient soundscapes that have been used in film, theatre and dance productions.
I think it is fair to say that Zoey Van Goey was just a stepping stone for what the band members would go onto achieve, and while what they do is all rather different from the indie-pop days, I hope they all retain a love and affection for their songs. This was the debut:-
mp3: Zoey Van Goey – Foxtrot Vandals
When I started out this Saturday series away back in February 2015, I always imagined Zoey Van Goey would be the last to feature. But nope, there’s a few singers and bands whose songs have only come my way in recent years. There’s at least one more ‘Z’ to feature and then, and I’ll be running back through the alphabet again to pick anyone I’ve not featured before….oh, and I also forgot about those whose names are associated with numbers. They’re on the list for the next few weeks.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 