PLEASE NOTE SCHEME MUSIC IS CURRENTLY NOT FOR SALE PLEASE DO NOT MESSAGE ASKING TO BUY MUSIC.****Denny Oliver And John Smith from Scheme are currently playing with The Scheme Experience Visit http://www.myspace.com/theschemeexperience for gig info.
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Scheme must go down in Scottish history as the most successful band never to get any proper recognition from a record company, in no way was this a reflection on their ability as song writers , musicians or performers, but there was a lack of balls from any major record label to take the band on because of the lyrical content of some of their material , by todays standards Schemes lyrics are quite tame in comparison. There is also the common view that Scheme refused to be changed or be moulded into anything else other than what they where, In your face, straight to the point with attitude, This appealed to the average guy in the street and the band had the musical know how and ability to back it up, this is also why they were known as The peoples band.Originally calling themselves Olivers Army the band played in pubs and clubs in the east end of Glasgow like The Dalriada and The El Paso in Barlanark and the Centaur bar in Easterhouse . They built up a following playing cover versions and gradually incorporating their own material, mainly written by Denny and a couple from John.The band changed their name to Scheme and it wasnt long before their set was mostly self written. They started to play gigs in the centre of Glasgow in places like The Muscular Arms Toffs and Maxwell Plumbs very rapidly building a massive fan base Inspiring their song Growing Stronger.In the summer of 1982 Scheme brought out an E.P. single under their own label Schemesongs with four tracks including Growing Stronger All Grown Up C.N.D and Your Eyes.After a slight line up change with a new drummer in Des Osbourne and Rab taking over on bass guitar, Schemes popularity started to outgrow the venues they were playing and they were headlining most of the outdoor concerts in Glasgow at that time. The pinnacle of their playing career was when they sold out Glasgows legendary Apollo on the 8th of September 1984 the only unsigned band ever to achieve this, They carried on to play a few concerts in the Pavillion theatre, this was never heard of before and will probably never be repeated again by a local band.T.V. appearances include, news reports on The Peoples march for Jobs 1983 with the band singing an acoustic version of Bow out Maggie, The band appeared on a Scottish topical discussion programme called Talk Back playing two songs on each show (not sure how many shows, around six I think!)Channel four made a documentary called Innocent As Hell in 1986 dedicated to Scheme, looking at the bands local success , with clips from a concert they played in George square in Glasgow and one of the Pavillion concerts , The documentary also had interviews with the band ,local celebrities and fans .Scheme brought out their long awaited first L.P. called Black and Whites in 1986 with an equal mix of rock and reggae tracks, a few years later they recorded two home made albums called Late Again and Non ReturnableTheir live set had some hard hitting and controversial songs like Jail for the weed Another Five years Bow out Maggieetc...tackling subjects from legalising marijuana to getting rid of Margaret Thatcherthen there were the anti war numbers like Young Warrior Self destruct and C.N.D .these songs all had a message but what was almost never written about was that these songs were well constructed and had ample musical content with tight three part harmonies, brilliantly executed guitar solos and their trade mark (Cant get it out of your head ) choruses.It was always a misconception that Scheme were just a protest band. they had a lot of positive non political numbers in their set, like... Keep your head up Give me an up song Growing stronger Turn on tune in All Grown Up Time and Twotone etc.. these were all good clean pop/rock songs that if ever given the chance would have stood up to anything being played on the radio at that time.SOME PERSONNEL INFODenny Oliver, The brains behind Scheme a prolific song writer and the musical director of the band along with John, if you where at your first Scheme gig you would think that Denny was Just the rhythm guitarist that sings some of the songs every once in a while, by the end of a gig you know better, with the odd look or nod to the rest of the band you realise he is the man in charge, a perfectionist who knows how to write and does not care if his words offend the people he was writing about, his voice was very different to Rab McEwan more Rasping and laid back but easy to the ear in songs such as Growing Stronger and All Grown Up.John Smith, lead guitarist with Scheme he was known mostly for his guitar solos and catchy guitar riffs, every once in a while he would blow you away with a last chord of the song guitar lick that would have you looking around the room for Clapton or Gilmour, the striking thing was that he always played his solos with his eyes shut (How do you do that?) He got the chance to let loose on songs like Jail For The Weed the original version of Bow Out Maggie and the bands version of the Carlos Santana/ Buddy Holly song Well Alright full of guitar riffs and solos which were always impeccably handled. He also had a major role in the production of most of the bands studio work and helped Denny Oliver with the writing with songs such as Only a cowboy and Sixteen TodayRab McEwan, Lead singer and bass player although he did not always play bass with the band he only took over on bass in 1983 when the band settled down to the five members most people know about now, He had a very sharp voice very similar to Colin Hay from Men At Work a band which Scheme were always compared to.
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