FRETS is delighted to announce that BMX Bandits will be special guests of Norman Blake & Euros Childs (Jonny) at the Strathaven Hotel on Friday 20th Feb. It’ll be a Bellshill cracker!!
TICKETS: https://wegottickets.com/event/685253
BMX BANDITS
“If I could be in any other band, it would be BMX Bandits”, Kurt Cobain. “Britain’s ultimate cult group”, The Guardian.
“Gentle genius”, Q magazine.
2026 marks the fortieth anniversary of the release of BMX bandits first single E102.
BMX Bandits were formed in the ex-industrial town of Bellshill by songwriter and lead vocalist Duglas T Stewart out of the ashes of The Pretty Flowers, a group that featured Stewart alongside Frances McKee (The Vaselines), Sean Dickson (The Soup Dragons) and Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub).
BMX Bandits’ songs blend melodic qualities and humour with, at times, raw and heartbreaking pathos. Duglas describes their songs as being his world put to music. Starting with the exuberant E102 in 1986 BMX Bandits released a series of singles on Stephen Pastel’s 53rd & 3rd label, where they were label mates with The Vaselines and Beat Happening. In the early nineties BMX Bandits joined Creation Records, home of Teenage Fanclub, My Bloody Valentine, Primal Scream and many others. The group’s most celebrated song is the autobiographical Serious Drugs, recorded in 1991 but not released until 1993. The song has since been covered and released by several other acts. Fellow Creation Records’ band Oasis did their first UK tour dates supporting the Bandits as a favour to Creation label boss Alan McGee.
In 2005 Stewart split with his long term musical partner Francis Macdonald. 2006 saw a new wave of concert activity and the release of one the group’s most acclaimed albums, My Chain. Stewart’s writing on the album was compared to Brian Wilson, Michel Legrand, Ennio Morricone and even Alan Bennet. A highly acclaimed feature-length documentary called Serious Drugs – Duglas and the Music of BMX Bandits was premiered in Glasgow in 2011, followed by a series of international festival screenings and a DVD release. The film featured in Sight & Sound’s top films of the year list.
BMX Bandits were prominently featured in the 2017 documentary film Teenage Superstars, the National Museum of Scotland’s major exhibition of 2018 Rip It Up, chronicling the history of Scottish Pop and Rock, and the accompanying BBC TV series.
BMX Bandits are well known for their life affirming, celebrational live shows, inspiring smiles, laughter and tears. BMX Bandits have released 12 studio albums. Their most recent album Dreamers on the Run (2024) was declared by many as their strongest yet. Classic Rock magazine said “Against the odds, BMX Bandits have finally painted their masterpiece” and Uncut Magazine described it as “”a bold and seductive exploration of symphonic pop”.
Duglas T Stewart remains the only permanent member of BMX Bandits, band leader and chief songwriter. Over the years notable songwriting collaborators have included his old friend Norman Blake and Sean Dickson a.k.a. Hifi Sean, David Scott (The Pearlfishers) and Anton Newcombe of The Brian Jonestown Massacre.
2026 will see the release a career spanning “Best Of” album, a brand new studio album and the programme of reissues of their back catalogue continues with their 1997 lo-fi album Duglas Stewart’s Frankenstein being released on vinyl for the first time . The line-up of the group continues to be ever changing but the heart and soul of the Bandits remain the same, an extended musical family led by the inimitable Duglas.
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