Since Yesterday: New film celebrates Scotland’s girl bands and their fight to chase pop-star dreams against the odds

They were the pioneering all-female Scottish bands whose impact on the music industry was forgotten and whose songs went largely unheard.

But a new documentary, which receives its world premiere in Edinburgh this week, hopes to right those wrongs and demonstrate that the groups deserve to be recognised alongside the country’s bestselling pop and rock acts.

Since Yesterday: The Untold Story Of Scotland’s Girl Bands uncovers a decades-long fight against misogyny as young women chased their dreams to be pop stars, despite insurmountable barriers being placed in front of them at every turn.

Against the odds

“It’s important to highlight the film isn’t about victimising, but about celebrating what they did in the face of what they were up against,” said Carla J Easton, the film’s co-director. “As a girl band, the odds are stacked against you. They went out, made glorious music, and in some cases got up on stage when it was dangerous to even be in the audience. That is success when the odds are against you.”

Carla, a musician who has faced the challenges of being in an all-female band when she was part of TeenCanteen, began working on the documentary with music filmmaker Blair Young eight years ago.

“Part of the reason for the documentary is to shine a light on bands overlooked simply because they were women,” Blair said.

© Peter McArthur

Bands featured in the film include Strawberry Switchblade, whose Top 5 hit the film is named after, The Ettes, The Twinsets, Lungleg, The Hedrons, Sophisticated Boom Boom and His Latest Flame.

But the story begins with The McKinleys – sisters Jeanette and Sheila – in 1964. They toured with groups like The Hollies, Manfred Mann, Gerry and the Pacemakers, and were the first girl band to play Wembley Arena when they supported The Rolling Stones.

Surviving sister Jeanette reveals in the film that Brian Epstein wanted to manage them, but their record label told him they already had management – which wasn’t true.

Blair said: “We’ll never know how two sisters would have done in the charts if they had someone like Brian Epstein and that’s quite sad. Individually they had good careers abroad but here they remain virtually unknown.”

DIY ethos

The do-it-yourself ethic of the punk era inspired more women to form their own groups, with The Ettes using cardboard boxes as a makeshift drum kit to record a demo for John Peel’s show.

“I discovered The Ettes around 2006, when I saw their name on a CD compilation of Edinburgh post-punk bands while I was browsing in Avalanche Records,” Carla said. “I was obsessed with girl groups of the 60s and I wondered if the name was in reference to The Ronettes, The Marvelettes, and so on.

“It was, but then I was annoyed, because I couldn’t find out anything else about them apart from what was in the CD liner notes. They became my holy grail, trawling the internet trying to find more about them, and while I was doing so, I discovered The Twinsets, and it just built up.

“Before forming bands, I used to DJ with my best pal Jenna when I was studying at Edinburgh College of Art, and at a flat party one night she brought out a Strawberry Switchblade record and said this was from Scotland and I’d love it. That was the catalyst to dig deeper.”

The documentary features interviews with the likes of The Twinsets, who recall a gig at Saughton Prison that Jimmy Boyle requested they play, and Sunset Gun.

“When you start making music, you want to find someone to relate to,” continued Carla. “Speaking to the women for the film, to have that immediate kinship about first rehearsals and first gigs was brilliant. I didn’t feel like a fan girl but an equal, decades apart but with shared experiences.

“I describe it as discovering a family tree and finding out you’re part of a lineage. Bands from different decades have been introduced; now Lungleg are best friends with The Twinsets and The Hedrons are meeting Strawberry Switchblade, and we realise we’re all in this together. It’s a powerful thing, 60 years of music coming together now.

“I’m a huge consumer of music, including biographies and documentaries, and I felt I wasn’t seeing my experience of a band represented. You’re treated as an anomaly. After making the film, I feel less alone and feel more belonging in what I’m doing, and hopefully people in the audience will feel that way too.”

Motherhood and misogyny

Motherhood is mentioned throughout the film. Sophisticated Boom Boom, fronted by future River City star Libby McArthur, were about to support Simple Minds in the first gig at the Barrowland Ballroom’s new rock concert era in the mid-80s when she announced she was pregnant and left the band, taking the name with her.

With a new singer and name, His Latest Flame, the remaining members were the first band to take to the now legendary Barrowland stage.

Perhaps the most shocking story – because it is so recent – comes from The Hedrons, whose management told them in 2010 that no major record labels were interested in signing them because they were at an age where one of them might become pregnant.

© EUAN ROBERTSON

“Becoming a parent is a thread throughout the film,” Carla said. “Sometimes it’s easier to look at the 80s and say it was a different time, but this was 14 years ago. It really highlights there are no policies in place to protect musicians in the industry. My band played our first gig the following year – of course we were going to fail when that was the climate we were born into.”

Despite the huge issues women continue to face in music – a Misogyny in Music Inquiry report from earlier this year found women working in the industry face “endemic” misogyny and discrimination, where sexual harassment and abuse is common – the documentary ends on a positive note, focusing on the many grassroots music communities in Scotland for female and non-binary creatives, such as Hen Hoose.

Blair said: “We could have ended it by talking about how bad things still are, but we felt it was more important to say there’s people out there now instigating change and hopefully that will spur on others.”

Edinburgh premiere

The filmmakers are delighted the world premiere is taking place at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

“It feels right that Jeanette, The Ettes, Lungleg, Strawberry Switchblade can come and see it. They should be there – it’s their film, we just made it,” commented Carla.

Following the Edinburgh premiere, the film will receive a UK cinema release from October 18, with a special showing in Glasgow to be followed by a one-off reunion gig by Sophisticated Boom Boom, with Jeanette Gallacher (The McKinleys) and Louise Rutkowski (Sunset Gun/This Mortal Coil) also on the bill.

© Peter McArthur

The filmmakers hope the next chapter in the story is the release of a compilation album featuring songs from the documentary.

“I’m desperate for a label to come along and put that out – there’s about 40 tracks on the film, all women. I’d love to see that,” Carla said. “We have to get it out on streaming sites so young people can consume it. Accessibility has to be at the heart of everything. It’s great that we have the demos of The Ettes in the film, but they’re nowhere online.”

Blair said: “Strawberry Switchblade’s incredible sound really resonates with a young audience. My partner’s middle kid is into that sound – I didn’t give it to them, they discovered it themselves.”

© Graham Gavin

The filmmakers hope audiences around the world will watch the film and then delve into their own culture’s history of all-female bands who forged a path, despite the many obstacles that prevented them from reaching the top.

Carla added: “It’s saddening to realise it’s a fight that’s decades-old and it’s not over, but it’s also a comfort to know you’re not alone in that fight and people before you did push for change and did try.

“In some way, all those baby steps have made one giant leap. All those things they did mattered.”