The Story

A brief history of bandkind

Before Panache there was a school, and in the school there were bands. The 2D Sparklers at Greenock High wrote “I Think I'm Going Out Of My Head” — Archie Petrie on melodica, with John Dunn and John McGeoch — and someone kept the lyric sheet.

Then Violent Sabbath: Dougie Campbell on guitar and vocals, George McClarkin on drums and vocals, John McGeoch on lead guitar and Alasdair Cameron on bass. Then the Slug Band — George, John and Alasdair with Raymond Wallace singing.

McGeoch left Greenock and became one of the defining guitarists of British post-punk, with Magazine, Visage, Siouxsie and the Banshees and PiL. He died on 4 March 2004. The bands he played in first are on this page because they are where he started, and because two of the men beside him carried on and formed Panache.

Auricle

From the Greenock Telegraph (6th June 1974), Auricle was the band George, Alan and I formed with Ian Parker. We used to play 20 minute-long instrumentals at the Burns Howff pub in Glasgow.

Ian wrote some cool tunes and we stretched our chops to play some fancy chord charts and time signatures.

Ian is now with the Hollies and has had an impressive musical career to date. When Auricle split up, George, Alan and I stayed together in various guises, playing the social clubs as a trio called the “Blue Shoes” and pursuing original music with other musicians. Dougie Campbell

A tape of Auricle survives, recorded on a ghettoblaster at the Burns Howff in 1974. They were all around eighteen to twenty years old.

Panache, 1976

Panache was formed during 1976 when Alan Mackie (bass), George McClarkin (drums) and Dougie Campbell (guitar) joined forces with Pat Hamill (vocals) and Robert Williams (keyboards), in an attempt to become Scotland's “Steely Dan”.

They were based in Greenock, with a regular gig at the Victorian Carriage in Inverkip Street. They played Kid Charlemagne and Haitian Divorce, songs by Stevie Wonder and Hall and Oates — and all the while they mixed in their own songs, and explored tasty arrangements and five-part harmonies.

The focus of the band was the unique voice of Pat Hamill: sometimes sweet and soulful, sometimes soaring and passionate. The other musicians were just as serious about their craft, and Panache became a kind of collective music academy in pursuit of musical excellence.

There were a couple of line-up changes. Robert left and Alastair Sinclair joined on keyboards. George left and Derek Taylor joined on drums. In the few years Panache played out across the West of Scotland their sound turned into a funky fusion of rock, soul and jazz — good enough to attract interest from the music industry in London and the United States. In 1978 they recorded at their publisher's studio in London.

The tapes

Very little of this was ever pressed. It exists because people kept things: a reel from the Victorian Carriage recorded on two microphones into Dougie's old Revox, rehearsals at the Red Dragon in Greenock, a jam at what was probably Auchmountain Halls, and an Akai ghetto blaster left running in the corner of a room in 1977.

One of the best recordings only came back in 2025. Alan Cumming, who roadied for the band, had taped two Glasgow gigs at the Dial Inn and the Amphora and kept the cassettes for the best part of fifty years. He ran into Alan Mackie by chance and handed them over. Dougie cleaned them up from South Africa.

The reunion, July 2009

In July 2009 Panache played again in Greenock. Alan, Dougie and George were joined by Paul, Suzanne, Brian and Storme; Gerry filmed it and Hugh ran the sound; Groovefellas and The Verdict played too. The shows raised £1,100 for CHAS, the Children's Hospice Association Scotland, and £150 for the Haven project in Port Glasgow.

We had a great time and raised some funds for charity. Maybe we'll do this again sometime! From the band's website, 2009

Pat Hamill was not there. He had died some years earlier, and the tapes carrying his voice would not begin to go online for another fifteen years.

Hear the recordings →