In The All-Night Cafe - Stuart David

IN THE ALL-NIGHT CAFE - A MEMOIR OF BELLE AND SEBASTIAN'S FORMATIVE YEAR - STUART DAVID

There's an argument to be had to say that all the best bands from the United Kingdom come from Scotland. Think about it. Just make a list of all the Scottish bands you can remember off the top of your head from any era and the evidence will be right there. It certainly puts paid to any foisted-upon-the-world notions of Scottish culture as being all kilts, caber tossing and those tins of biscuits tied with tartan ribbon. Adding to this illustrious off-the-top-of-your-head list is Belle And Sebastian, from Glasgow. The uncrowned doyens of Indie, and according to the blurb on the back of Stuart David's book 'one of the most influential and beloved bands of all time'.

Stuart David is the co-founder of Belle And Sebastian and In The All-Night Cafe is exactly what it says in the strapline: 'A memoir of Belle And Sebastian's formative year'. That's 'year' as in the singular and it's an important point.

Obviously, it needs to be asked: Why would anyone want to write specifically about a band's formative year? Why would you not rather just go straight for the jugular and write about the sex, the drugs and the rock'n'roll? The reason, of course, is because this is Belle And Sebastian we're talking about and it's one of the reasons why they're so likeable.

Belle And Sebastian are a nice band of nice people playing nice music, and rather than mocking this in an Alexi Sayle 'Nice! Nice is a biscuit!'-type way, it should be welcomed and applauded. Just as there is room in the world for a band such as Insane Clown Posse for example, so is there room in the world for Belle And Sebastian. Who's to say that one is better, more worthwhile or even more rock'n'roll than the other? Alice Cooper would famously cavort onstage with a python whilst chopping up baby dolls but then after the show he'd go home to play a nice round of golf. Who's to say that after playing what might be called by some as the musical equivalent of a round of golf, that Belle And Sebastian don't go home and cavort with pythons and chop up real babies? Who knows?

Stuart David, it should be noted, played bass in Belle And Sebastian but left the band in 2000 to concentrate more on his writing and his own band, Looper. Stuart Murdoch is the lead vocalist and still sings with Belle And Sebastian to this day.

Anyone who has ever been in a band will recognise and no doubt identify with what Stuart David is writing about as he lays bare all the frustration, the doubt, the hardship and ultimately the satisfaction that comes with forming a band. In Nicolas Roeg's 1970 film, Performance, the character played by Mick Jagger at one point says 'The only performance that makes it, that really makes it, that makes it all the way, is the one that achieves madness'. It's a very good quote and if true might this idea also apply to Belle And Sebastian, that most gentlest of bands?

The answer on reading David's book is an unequivocal 'Yes' due mostly, it must be said, to the singularity of vision of their lead singer. Were it not for him, Belle And Sebastian would never have existed or at least not in the form that caused Seymour Stein, the head honcho of Sire Records, to fly over from America to Scotland to personally meet them, wooing them with a display of wealth and decadence reminiscent of a Roman emperor. 

Belle And Sebastian with the backing of Seymour Stein (who had previously signed Madonna and given The Smiths their American deal) could have ruled the world but because the band didn't wish to tour America at that point, the deal fell through and instead (like the title of one of their songs) they ended up ruling their school. Following on from this, however, Belle And Sebastian have gone on to release twelve studio albums, to play a sell out concert at the Hollywood Bowl and even more importantly to become immortalised with an appearance in The Simpsons where they were depicted as the band playing at Groundskeeper Willie's wedding.

In regard to Stuart David, his moment of madness came one afternoon in 1994 when he decided to learn how to play bass guitar as a way of starting afresh in forming a band. The idea came to him from nowhere but was one that was to change his life forever. Previously to this he had been claiming benefits for eight years and trying to form a band but with him on lead guitar, foiled constantly by the failure to acquire a bassist. Almost as soon as he began learning to play bass himself, along came guitarist, vocalist and song-writer Stuart Murdoch. The rest, as they say, is history and the first year of their playing together leading up to the recording of their debut album is the whole story of In The All-Night Cafe.

It's a very heartwarming story that ends happily, and it shows that the success of Belle And Sebastian as a band is well deserved. Nowadays they're obviously not quite the same band as when they began as penniless, geeky outsiders but the fact that they're still going whilst so many other bands from that period have long since died is testament to their belief in the gift to life that is music. 

John Serpico