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The Herald Scotland

How The Raincoats shaped a Glasgow indie music scene

'Now this is such a great Glasgow story,' Jane Mckeown of Riot Grrrl band Lung Leg told me when I asked how The Raincoats served as the key inspiration for, and have continued to inspire, her band. Read more Stepping out of her Glasgow flat that afternoon, Jane recognised Shelley and said hello. He told her he was in town to play with The Raincoats, and Jane remembers going 'BERSERK!' She asked for tickets to the gig, and Steve did her one better — he got her in touch with Gina and Ana, who then invited Lung Leg to open for them that night. Lung Leg had zero time to practice but would never turn down such an offer. The band's guitarist Annie Spandex had learned violin in her first all-girl band We Are the Men because she'd been inspired by The Raincoats, and she was naturally ecstatic to share a stage with her idols. At the end of that Cathouse gig, The Raincoats welcomed Lung Leg up on stage to sing 'Fairytale in the Supermarket' with them. 'It was the best thing that could ever happen,' Annie exclaims. 'Not only had The Raincoats reformed, but we were actually on stage singing with them!' Members of The Pastels were also in the audience that night. Katrina Mitchell handwrote a letter to The Raincoats the following week, inviting them to participate in an upcoming Pastels-curated art exhibition at Glasgow Art School titled 'Flightpaths to Each Other.' Katrina admiringly asked the band about placing some of their album art alongside artists such as Lung Leg, Orange Juice, Daniel Johnston, Stereolab, Galaxie 500, and many more. In her note to The Raincoats, Katrina added, 'It was really great to see the Raincoats in Glasgow — it was my favourite show of the year so far, + it'll take a bit of beating!' Author Audrey Golden (Image: A Golden) Stephen Pastel and Annabel Wright ('Aggi' in The Pastels) also found a sense of artistic inventiveness from The Raincoats. 'This notion that everything you're doing as a musician is in the service of a total art performance — that's the central inspiration The Pastels drew from The Raincoats,' Stephen explains. 'We tried to have a totality approach: The art would be the music, us as people, and even the clothes we wore. We wanted everything to be connected.' Annabel adds that they also taught The Pastels to blur the line between 'music performance and art-with-a-capital-A.' For Annabel, The Raincoats' songs take on the form of 'brush strokes,' and 'not just any band could do that,' she says. Lung Leg would go on to open for The Raincoats at venues across the UK in the '90s, and even when they were headlining their own gigs, they were known for always doing an encore cover of The Raincoats' hit "Fairytale in the Supermarket." Their connection to the resurrected Raincoats also tethered Lung Leg to other Riot Grrrl bands who'd likewise been inspired by those experimental and expressive sounds, including Bikini Kill. And it was that connection, Jane and Annie muse, that brought their Glasgow band to the attention of American indie label darlings Kill Rock Stars and K Records. The Raincoats' reach also extended well into the outskirts of Glasgow. They influenced indie rock band bis, formed in East Renfrewshire in the mid-90s, who would also share a bill with them during that decade. Much to the surprise of drummer and keyboardist Amanda MacKinnon (aka 'Manda Rin'), the feminist punk trailblazers from London opened for bis, rather than vice versa, at a handful of Scotland dates in 1996. 'They supported us…gulp!' Manda remarks. The book is out now (Image: White Rabbit) When Lung Leg reformed in 2021 for a sold-out Glasgow show, they drew Raincoats fans (like Jon Slade of fellow UK Riot Grrrl band Huggy Bear) who were tickled to be treated, once again, to their cover of "Fairytale.' In many ways, it was a shared affinity for The Raincoats that would bring all of these artists back together in 2025 for an inspired collaboration. This October, Lung Leg will release their first new music in decades, a collaboration with 'the Huggy Bear boys,' Jane and Annie explain, and Annabel Wright. Jon Slade and Chris Rowley of Huggy Bear formed a new band for the sheer purpose of supporting Lung Leg on an innovative split 7-inch single, and Annabel's colourful and kinetic brush strokes are the visual center of the sleeve. The sleeve design is based on live sketches of Lung Leg, composed by Annabel's hand, during the recording of the music. The riotous Glasgow indie music scene is alive and well, and its ties to The Raincoats endure. This September, upon release of the first comprehensive biography of the experimental punk pioneers, Shouting Out Loud: Lives of The Raincoats (White Rabbit, 31 July 2025), The Raincoats will appear together again in Glasgow. Just as they've catalysed artists in Glasgow over the years, it's also a place where they too find inspiration and influence. Indeed, they've mused, if they lived anywhere other than London, it would be Glasgow. And that comes as no surprise to the artists who call Glasgow home. 'It's a really special place,' says Annie Spandex, smiling knowingly. Shouting Out Loud: Lives of The Raincoats is out now published by White Rabbit