ballboy biography
ballboy are:
gordon mcintyre who sings, plays guitar and writes the words
nick reynolds who plays bass
alexa morrison who plays keyboards
gary morgan who plays the drums
they all live in edinburgh, scotland.
they’ve released 3 albums in the uk over the past three years and are currently about to release their forth album, "the royal theatre". their records have been licensed across europe, america and japan.
they signed to sl records in june 1999 and released four ep's over the next three years. "silversuitsforastronauts"; "i hate scotland", "girls are better than boys" and "all the records on the radio are shite". tracks from these first three ep's were released on a compilation album, "club anthems 2001".
edinburgh based production company brainhole have made films to accompany two ballboy tracks - "i’ve got pictures of you in your underwear" and "i hate scotland" which was entered in the mirrorball showcase at the edinburgh international film festival. these films were released on an sl video compilation "music is a competition" in january 2002.
their debut album "a guide for the daylight hours" was recorded at chamber studio's in granton. it was released in the uk in november 2002 and features artwork by glasgow based artist david shrigley. following a licensing deal with manifesto records in the states the band embarked on a five week tour across the states. highlights of the tour included playing a sell out show at the knitting factory in new york and in the legendary great american music hall in san francisco.
their third album, "the sash my father wore and other stories", was released last year. it’s an acoustic album, featuring strings from pete harvey and caroline evens and was recorded at cava studios in glasgow. the title track is a song about bigotry in scotland, not a version of the pipes and drums anthem so beloved by the orangemen – gordon just stole the title.
last year ballboy also said goodbye to keyboardist katie griffiths, who’d played with the band for the last five years, who left to move to london and get married. earlier this year the band recruited alexa morrison to play keyboards, and also released their latest single, "past lovers / i lost you, but i found country music" – a duet with american country singer laura cantrell.
since the release of their first ep they’ve received great acclaim from press and media across the uk. john peel on radio one has become a great fan, he’s invited the band to record sessions for the show four times, including a christmas show last year broadcast live from john’s house. tracks from the band have featured in his end of year chart, the festive fifty, for the past 3 years.
ballboy's new single "the art of kissing" is available to download for free, from the 25th of october, from www.slrecords.net plus other sites. their album "the royal theatre" is ten songs primarily about different kinds of love, and it will be out 1st november.
this was last updated in october 2004.