How did it come to be, this four-faceted unit of musical marvel? The origins of The Lush Rollers are buried in the Seventies along with Jimi Hendrix and the eight track cartridge. To trace the development would take more space than here afforded and the modern attention span is short. As a compromise, here are some web size nuggets of dubious information to make of what you will.
FACT: The Lush Rollers received instant acclaim at their first public performance. It was in the upstairs Market Bar, Inverness, early January 1998. The line up was Willie and Tabs Macaskill on guitars, Robin Abbot on Bass, Derek Urquhart on drums and all of them singing, sometimes all at once, which was great.
FACT: prior to attaining acclaim with The Lush Rollers, Willie and Tabs were receiving hurrahs performing as Well North, two brothers on acoustic guitar singing a mix of heartfelt covers and Willie’s original compositions about being dumped. Derek, Robin and Marc were all busy getting applause elsewhere.
FACT: they continued to receive acclaim at every gig thereafter. They still do.
MEDIA BLUNDER RUMOR MILL: The Lush Rollers are named after a Scooby Doo nightmare.
FACT: Robin, Derek and Marc were all in the same high school, Inverness Royal Academy, and though Marc and Derek knew each other, played in a band together, Robin was a few years older and paid absolutely no attention to either of them.
FACT: in 2001 they were the only Scottish band to play at A2A (Access to Amsterdam) .
FABRICATION: The Lush Rollers favorite star system in the STAR WARS Universe is Dagobah.
FACT: Robin and Derek were first brought together in 1995 by Highland music legend Andy Gunn. As two thirds of the trio they forged an unbreakable backbone of rhythmic understanding throughout the gigladen next few years and continue to refine it still.
FACT: the original line-up released 3 recordings together, Out of the Woods EP (2000), Who’s Driving? (2001) and The Lush Rollers (2003), all of which are available from the shop and well worth the investment.
RUMOUR AND HEARSAY: The Lush Rollers traditionally share a post-gig bath with cigars, tins of beer and much shaking of hands whilst saying "Good game, good game".
FACT: in 2002 they were twice invited to America to play for radio and venues in Nashville, Tennessee and Austin, Texas respectively. One night in Nash the band managed to miss an impromptu gig by Johnny Cash and Emmylou Harris by trying to comprehend baseball in the bar below.
FACT: months after the third recording was released, the band’s distributor went bust and Tabs left the band.
ROCK MYTH: he just went out for fags one day and never came back…
FACT: at this point in time Marc Clement was enjoying humungous success along with the rest of the Blazing Fiddles and partaking of plenty of session and broadcasting work. If he had any ideas about joining the band he kept them from everyone, including himself.
FACT: after Tabs’ departure the other three continued as an acoustic trio with Robin converting to double bass and Derek replacing his drum sticks with a gee-tar. Willie did the same as he always done.
FICTION: for a few months they toured round Holland, Egypt, Dubai and the Congo on a paper canoe, earning crusts of booze by playing jazz versions of Tutti Frutti or the Wombles song.
HALF TRUTH: Marc joined the band in 2004, tired of his success with the blazing fiddles and not content with having a free hour in his day.
FACT: The Lush Rollers are still purveyors of the highest musical excellence. Though their recordings to date have been examples of sonic mastery, no recording can yet convey the true impact of their live presence.
UNTRUTH: they’re in it for the money and chicks.
FACT: With a new album in the works and the tightest formation yet, The Lush Rollers continue to advance the quality of existence for the population of earth with the finest of fine in audio composition and performance.
LIES: The Lush Rollers hate money and chicks.