James King and the Lonewolves

In the early 1980s, while Scottish pop was getting brighter and shinier, Glasgow was home to a bunch of misfits who were kicking up a storm with their sinister Americana influenced compositions. James King and the Lonewolves would eventually become the epitome of ‘Cursed, Poisoned and Condemned’, to quote a line from the New York Dolls and Johnny Thunders’ ‘Subway Train’… But in the early eighties, they were on the edge of greatness. The only obstacle they faced would be themselves.

Signed to Alan Horne’s Swamplands label in 1984, alongside Davy Henderson’s WIN! and Steven Daly’s Memphis, they sealed their fate with an ill fated performance on The Old Grey Whistle Test when their generous use of profanities drew countless complaints from viewers. Swamplands washed their hands of this unmanageable collection of individuals just a year after signing them. An album recorded with John Cale at the height of his madness would never see the light of day and the band’s two main protagonists embarked on a twenty-five year long feud.

James King and Jake McKechan finally put aside their differences in 2011 to play a memorial show for former agent, Alan Mawn. All present were stunned by the performance and, bolstered by their reception, the band returned to the studio.

The first recorded fruits of the revamped Lonewolves were revealed in May 2013. ‘Pretty Blue Eyes’ sounded like it should have been a double-sided 7” on Ork Records from 1975, just as cool as ‘Little Johnny Jewel’ by Television. ‘Fun Patrol’ kicked in like The Smiths’ ‘How Soon is Now’, then morphed into The Glitter band meets The Stooges – and James still had that famously vicious tongue.

Now, having hooked up with Edinburgh’s Stereogram Recordings (home to The Cathode Ray and Roy Moller), that fantastic, long-lost album ‘Lost Songs of the Confederacy’, will finally see the light of day, entirely re-recorded and re-mastered.

You’ll find them on Facebook here.

Check out “Fun Patrol” right here: