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We wanted to be rock stars! The local band scene

Recorded 9 years ago

About this recording

Michael Tait – better known as Spike – was a prominent member of the thriving local band scene between 1979 and the mid-1980s. He played bass guitar in Wick groups British Standard, The Interest, Zero Option, One Card Trick and the Rockin’ Princes, performing at Caithness venues and as far south as Inverness and Moray. In this interview he recalls collaborating with many other local musicians of that era including Raymond Trusty, Billy Munro, Jimmy MacNab, Robin Murray, David Murray, Willie Mitchell, Keith Matheson, Roddy Mackay (“Bod”) and Jackie McMaster, and looks back at memorable recording sessions with Johnny “Fats” Sutherland. It was a time of high energy, intense creativity and boundless optimism: “We wanted to be rock stars,” he says. “Pulteneytown’s finest!”

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Michael Spike TaitBorn in 1960

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