Shoot The Moon
Ronnie Davidson - vocals, guitar
Alex Fairley - guitar, vocals
Cris Radford - bass, vocals
John McNaught - drums, vocals
Mike Baxter - keyboards
After the band ‘Cirkus’ split up in February 1980, ex band members Ronnie Davidson, Alex Fairley and John McNaught decided to start a new band to keep the momentum going. 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 Glasgow in September 1980 playing their own material with some covers from Genesis, The Police, Squeeze and Joe Jackson. It wasn’t 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 songs and fast becoming known as a band to look out for. They played their first outdoor gig at Custom House Quay on the Clyde side in May 1981 and later that summer they played at the Kelvingrove rock festival in front of an audience of 4000. 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, winning through to the semi finals in Manchester. That same night they were spotted by Sean Hardy who worked for BBC Scotland, he wanted the band to appear on a TV 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 with lyrics tackling varied subjects from alcoholism to John Wayne including a stand out catchy but sombre a number called ‘White Corridors’ about a man put into an asylum who thinks he is only in 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 UK 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 band’s success and their up and coming appearances on Street Buzz and Battle Of The Bands 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 Pollock House, Clarkston Parish Church in Airdrie and the band’s favourite, The Musical Swap shop In the south side of Glasgow. On the 24th of March 1982 Shoot The Moon 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 TV in front of 12 million viewers on Saturday the 27th of March, this would mean that they will have appeared on TV 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 covering Edinburgh, Aberdeen Fort William and Inverness and in between going to areas few other bands had ventured before. Ronnie and John and still play to this day in the very successful 60s/70s cover band Itchycoo Park playing to crowds from the UK, Argentina, Sweden and the USA.
The Battle of the Bands Trophy Shoot The Moon won in August 1981
Photos taken from The Street Buzz TV Show.
A special thanks to the Shoot The Moon / Itchycoo park guys for giving so much input to the site. Almost all of the Dial Inn adds etc used on some of the pages were from Shoot The Moon and Ronnie Davidson. Thanks guys.
