Iona’s seventh Song of the Week (Part two) comes from a band that formed from the ashes of a great local Glasgow band that we used to go and see regularly back in the early to mid-80s. The lead singer was working with our pals, Dave Hutchinson and Gordon Brown, in the architectural firm of Keppie Henderson and, at night, played with his band, the Snakes of Shake, in the pubs and taverns of the vibrant Glasgow music scene.
The band, stable mates of Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, moved south in search of ‘fame and fortune’, and sadly, we lost touch with them. However, we made contact again in September 2017 when the band that Snakes of Shake morphed into, Summerhill, played in the Griffen pub on the 17th of September. Now, Summerhill was precisely the kind of band we would have travelled to see back in the day, but unfortunately, we were unaware of them, and it was just by chance that we found out that they were playing a gig in Glasgow that night as they were billed as “Summerhill + Snakes of Shake + Mick Hargan’.
So Dave and I went along to the Griffen and had a great time; the music was superb, and, by a strange twist of fate, Iain Sloan, whom I had known through his then band, the Wynntown Marshals, was playing pedal steel! We also chatted over old times with Seori Burnett, Dave’s erstwhile workmate and lead singer of Summerhill/Snakes of Shake! As it turned out, the gig was their first after a hiatus of 29 years. It certainly was an odd reunion after so many years!
And so, here is our choice of the week Hold back the Heartbreak by Summerhill:
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