bis will celebrate thirty years together in 2024. What the hell?!
Collating the Eclectic Guitar mixtape for the weekend highlighted that my entire collection of bis music was missing, a casualty of my hard drive crash earlier this year. Thankfully, retrieving it wasn't a problem. I had a handful of singles from the 1990s and early 2000s, all present and correct on my back up of the back up hard drive. The bulk of my collection has came more recently, with my membership to Last Night From Glasgow and access to its digital vault, including four bis albums.
bis is Manda Rin, John Disco and Sci-Fi Steven aka Amanda MacKinnon, John Clark and Steven Clark. I remember their debut appearance on Top Of The Pops in 1996 with Kandy Pop, billed as "the first unsigned act" to appear on the show.
It was the appearance of Eurodisco on The Chart Show in 1999 that really grabbed my attention. By now signed to Wiiija Records and with a budget for wardrobe, a limo and a video, this was great pop. Follow up Action And Drama (the featured song on Eclectic Guitar) was also really good; first time I've seen the video but both songs should have been massive.
bis most recent album, Systems Music For Home Defence, was released in December 2022 and it's chock full of pop gems, something they've continued to hone over the last three decades.
Stress was released as a single in April this year, sporting a nostalgic and energetic remix from the legendary Altern8. There's also a few live versions available on YouTube, including this exhilarating performance at St. Luke's in Glasgow on 19th May.
A Dubhed selection will follow once I've tracked down the previous bis albums that aren't available via LNFG. Until then, head over to the bis shop on Bandcamp. Not just music but lots of lovely merch, including T-shirts, badges, fridge magnets and selections of Manda's art.