Band line up
Ronnie Davidson-
Lead vocals , guitar
Alex Fairley-
lead guitar, vocals
Cris Radford-
Bass , vocals
John McNaught-
Drums , vocals
Mike Baxter- Keyboards
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fter the split up of “ Cirkus” in February 1980 ex band members Ronnie,Alex and John decided to start a new band, to keep the momentum going that they had built with Cirkus ……They played in pubs and clubs around Glasgow under the name of “Burgundy” temporarily recruiting bass player George Dunnachie (later to become bassist for The Dolphins )
While rehearsing in the Maccabi youth centre in Giffnock they also held auditions for a permanent Bass player and keyboard player, eventually Cris Radford (bass) and Mike Baxter (keyboards) joined, after much deliberation a name was found and “Shoot The Moon” were born.
The band played their first gig at the “Lincoln inn” in September 1980 playing some of their own material with some covers from Genesis, The Police, Squeeze and Joe Jackson…
It was not long before they were playing the circuit in Glasgow in places like “The Amphora” and the “The Maggie”, building up a following, incorporating more of their own material and fast becoming known as a well drilled outfit.
They played their first outdoor gig at “Custom house Quay” in may 1981 and later on that summer at the Kelvingrove rock festival in front of an audience of 2000 people.
On August 16th 1981 the band entered the first round of The Battle of the Bands competition held at “Tiffany’s” night club in Glasgow ..and won, winning through to the semi finals in Manchester. That same night they were spotted by Sean Hardy who worked for B.B.C. Scotland and he wanted the band to appear on a T.V. show to be screened early in 1982 called “Street Buzz”…The show was to feature up and coming Scottish bands. playing their own material They were told to prepare five songs, three of which were to be used on the show.
By now Ronnie was becoming an accomplished writer with songs like “Strawberry fields will never” (a tribute to The Beatles), “Haven’t got time” and “Every contact leaves a trace”, Mixing pop, reggae and light rock,... musically the whole band had an input…. lyrically they tackled very varied subjects such as alcoholism, growing up, unreliable friends and a brilliant number called" White Corridors” about a man put into an asylum and he thinks he is only there “ for the weekend”.
The semi final of Battle of the bands was held in Manchester on November 8th 1981 and the band won through to the final inspired by the busload of fans that made it down to support the band ….
Later on that November they recorded “Strawberry fields will never” for R.C.A. records, this was for the Battle of the bands album and would be released to coincide with the final, to be held at London’s Dominion theatre in March 1982. By now the band were getting attention from radio Clyde and radio Scotland as well as countless newspaper and magazine articles, most notably a full two page article in the Radio Times under the title “Sounds Special” it covered the bands success and their up and coming appearances on Street Buzz and B.O.T.B. in March.
Street buzz was televised on March 26th with the band playing three numbers. “Crash goes la viva”, “Haven’t got time” and “Strawberry Fields will never” playing two songs live in the studio and one song shown as a video…..The video was shot earlier in the year in locations such as, Pollock House, Clarkston parish church in Airdrie and the bands favourite.. The Musical Swap shop. In the south side of Glasgow.
On the 24th of March 1982 they played the Final of “Battle of the Bands” coming third in the competition but the band were not too disheartened as the show would be broadcast on T.V. in front of 12 million viewers on Saturday the 27th of March …..This would mean that S.T.M. will have appeared on T.V. twice in two different programmes on the same weekend giving the band invaluable exposure. to a massive audience
The band carried on playing the circuit in Glasgow and due to the fan mail they received they set out on their “Beyond the beaten track tour “playing gigs all over the country from Edinburgh to Aberdeen Fort William to Inverness, and going to areas were few other bands had ventured before.
Ronnie & John and still play to this day in the very successfull “Itchycoo Park” a sixties tribute band playing to crowds from all over the Uk, Argentina and Sweden Having seen the band Live recently it is not surprising that they can pretty much pick and choose where and when they play and when they want to....Keep up th e good work guys!!
