A former Raploch man has put together a book to celebrate Forth Valley’s popular music scene spanning six decades.
Davy Lowe, who played drums with the band Midas Touch in the 1970s and 1980s, researched and wrote the book as a labour of love.
Numerous bands are mentioned in its pages along with venues including Stirling’s Plaza Ballroom, Cowie Miners’ Welfare, Bannockburn Town Hall, Raploch’s St Margaret’s Church Hall, Dunblane’s Victoria Hall, Bridge of Allan’s Museum Hall and Stirling Miners’ Welfare/Little Theatre.
Music fan Davy, now 73, said: “I feel that the myriad of local entertainers very seldom or sometimes never feature in anything about Scottish music heritage’.
“This was, maybe still is, the domain of the big names and those who made their place there.
“The ‘little people’, and there were/are thousands of them did this to earn some pocket money or just for the love of entertaining.
“I hope this book redresses the balance and gives some of them the credit they are due.”
Davy carried out much of the research for the book through social media.
He said: “A lot of the material in the book has come from my personal memories going back to the early 1960s when I was in my teens.
“But I also collected a lot of information from a variety of Facebook Groups across central Scotland and read many books.
“ I also searched a variety of newspaper archives, those that were availabe during Covid, and spoke to and interviewed many local musicians and fans.”
The former St Modan’s High School pupil now lives in Skelmorlie in Ayrshire and still plays the drums with village band the Skelmorlie Skanks.
He described Midas Touch, with members from Stirling, Falkirk and Denny, as talented, popular and hard-working.
Davy pointed out: “The original line-up included three ex-members of the vocally strong Natural Harmony and an ex-member from Stirling’s Trespassers.
“Members were Falkirk brothers Roy (lead vocals) and Duncan Leask (guitar/vocals), Davy Lowe (drums/vocals), Bill Ritchie (lead guitar/slide steel guitar/vocals, ex-Trespassers) and Bobby O’Donnell (bass/vocals).
“In the late-1970s me and Bill Ritchie left to join The Rustics but both of us returned to the band around 1980 with Bill reverting to bass/vocals.
“At the height of its popularity in the mid-1970s, the band is reputed to have played more than 220-gigs in one year!
“The band had a long-term residency at The Falcon Bar in St Ninians and did a two-month stint at the popular Tullibody Working Men’s Club.
“They later took-up several Edinburgh-area club residencies until 1986 when I left for university and Bill moved on to pastures new.
“We were replaced by John McKail (drums, Fallin) and Robert ‘Rab’ Fotheringham (bass/vocals, Cowie).
“Other members included Tam Tulloch (Linlithgow) and Davy Mann (Fallin) both bass/vocals and Barry Taylor (drums).
“In later years Midas Touch operated mainly as a trio with the Leask Brothers and Jerry Smith (bass/keyboards/vocals) and then with various other musicians augmenting the Leask Brothers.
“The Leasks and Bill Ritchie later joined forces with Liam Kelly (keyboards) to form Reloaded. Bill also played with a ‘reformed’ Bay City Rollers and the Spaced Out Cowboys and I played with several Lothian-based bands including Driving Sideways and Tuxedo Junction.”
‘Keeping the Stories Alive: Stirlingshire & Clackmannanshire Entertainers & Venues Pre-1950s to 1989’ is available at Europa Records in Stirling.
