Named after the film of the same name, BMX Bandits are (were...?)
a Glaswegian tweepop band, formed in the mid-late 80s and still around
in the present day, and perhaps the most quintessentially C86 band around,
without actually being on the tape. Sharing, at one time or other,
members with The Vaselines, Teenage Fanclub, Orange Juice and the
Soup Dragons, not to mention Belle and Sebastian. The band is fronted
by Duglas Stewart, who also used to appear once in a while on Mark Radcliffe's
graveyard shift radio show.
Early lineup was:
Tensions between Sean and Duglas lead to Sean moving on, and Norman stepping
out from behind the drums to take on guitars, replaced on drums by
Francis
Macdonald.
Most of the early BMX Bandits' singles were released on 53rd and
3rd, encouraged by Steven Pastel (of The Pastels). There've been more
different lineups than I'd care to list at the moment, the band serving
as some sort of nexus for up-and-coming stars of the Glasgow scene.
The original band was formed from the remnants of The Pretty Flowers;
the members left when Frances McKee ran off with Eugene Kelly to form
The Vaselines. Eugene Kelly himself joined the band for a short while after The Vaselines split, and before forming Eugenius.