Bay City Rollers reunion a possibility, says frontman Les McKeown

A DRAWING by a group of girl fans helped make the Bay City Rollers global superstars.

On the eve of a major new documentary, frontman Les McKeown has told The Sunday Post how their Scottish identity made all the difference.

“We helped reinvent tartan and took Scotland all over the world,” said Les, 59.

“We were so proud to be Scottish and it really helped us. Everybody loves Scots and we represented that without having to wear kilts.

“But if you look at early pictures on the first two albums, nobody had any tartan on.

“It wasn’t until the third album that we had that iconic look and that came about because of fans.

“I vividly remember girls drawing a birthday card with their fantasy of each of us wearing tartan and that gave us the inspiration.”

Les McKeown (STV Productions / BBC Scotland)

The tartan-clad look wasn’t loved by all though.

Fellow Roller Alan Longmuir, who was a founding member of the band in 1966 alongside his brother Derek and school friend, Gordon ‘Nobby’ Clark, said: “I never did like the stage outfits they’re not something I ever wore down the street.

“But when we were travelling across the world, we had to wear them because we’d be photographed going on to the plane.”

Since the band’s break-up, fans have hankered after a reunion and Les says a full get-together may be tantalisingly close.

Les, who still plays scores of gigs annually with his own Rollers line-up, was joined by Alan for a Stirling concert at the start of this month.

“I’m going to Japan and then Australia next year and I’m hoping Alan will join me,” said Les.

“And I’m planning a meet-and-greet with fans in America that I’ve asked him to come on too.

“I’m hoping he’ll join me for gigs at Motherwell and Glasgow and I’m speaking to Woody too.

“So you never know, there’s always the possibility three or more of us will play together again.”

The documentary, Rollermania Britain’s Biggest Boy Band, tells how the group went from playing in pubs and clubs to being the pop world’s biggest phenomenon since The Beatles.

And at the height of their fame the easy-going Scots were rubbing shoulders with the biggest stars in the world.

“We met everybody Steve McQueen, Barbra Streisand, Cher and they all seemed nice people,” Alan recalls.

“We were just down-to-earth guys, so for me to have a birthday party in Hollywood with Britt Ekland and Stevie Wonder attending was strange, although they probably wouldn’t even know who I was it was just the band name they would know.”

Fans at the height of Rollermania (PA Archive)

Despite such heady times, Alan’s favourite moment of his career was much more modest.

“It was in 1971, when we were in our wee studio in Prestonpans and we heard that Keep on Dancing had gone to number 30.

“That was one of the best times ever, because we were skint at the time and that was our first breakthrough.”

But there was a darker side to the fame that was to follow.

Les says his lowest-ever moment came after a car crash in Edinburgh in 1975 in which a woman died. He was convicted of reckless driving.

“The worst thing that happened was that accident,” he admitted.

“I went through a lot of psychological difficulties. Along with other stuff it led to me ending up in rehab for four months.”

The band members’ fight for royalties has been well documented over the years and that forced Alan to return to his early trade of being a plumber.

“I went back to plumbing after the band and in the last few years before I retired I was working with Scottish Water,” he said.

“It was one of the best jobs I’ve ever had. There was no pressure and I got to travel round Scotland.”

Les, who has a new album on the way, is glad the documentary focuses mostly on the good times.

“It’s a fair portrayal and it’s nice for once to look at the good things in the Rollers,” he adds.

Rollermania Britain’s Biggest Boy Band, BBC1 Scotland, Monday, 9pm.