Ballboy are a four piece indie

Indie (music)

In music, independent music, often shortened to indie music or "indie" is a term used to describe independence from major commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, and an autonomous, Do-It-Yourself approach to recording and publishing....

 band from Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. Formed in the late 1990s, the band have released five album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

s between 2001 and 2008.

Biography

Originally comprising Viv Strachan (vocals), Gordon McIntyre (guitar), Nick Reynolds (bass), and Alexis Beattie (drums), Ballboy played gigs around Edinburgh for a few years, and recorded tracks for the Edinburgh indie compilation it's a life sentence..., released by the newly formed SL Records label in 1997.

By 1999 Gordon McIntyre, the band's main songwriter, had taken over vocal duties. Katie Griffiths had joined on keyboards, and Gary Morgan had taken over the drums. The band signed to SL Records that year, and released a series of EPs. The tracks from these EPs were collected on 2001's Club Anthems

Club Anthems

Club Anthems is a compilation by Scottish group Ballboy, released in 2001. It is a collection of the songs released on their first three EPs, Silver Suits for Astronauts , I Hate Scotland , and Girls Are Better Than Boys , although some tracks were re-recorded for the album release.-Track listing:#...

. The band toured the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in September / October 2002 and McIntyre's journal of the tour was published in The Scotsman

The Scotsman

The Scotsman is a British newspaper, published in Edinburgh.As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 38,423, down from about 100,000 in the 1980s....

newspaper.

Their "proper" debut album, A Guide for the Daylight Hours

A Guide for the Daylight Hours

A Guide for the Daylight Hours is the debut album by Scottish group Ballboy, released in 2002. The album artwork was provided by David Shrigley.-Track listing:# Avant Garde Music# Where Do The Nights Of Sleep Go To When They Do Not Come To Me...

, was released in November 2002, featuring artwork by Glasgow-based artist David Shrigley

David Shrigley

-Life and career:Shrigley was born in Macclesfield on 17 September 1968, the younger of two children born to Rita and Joseph Shrigley. Shrigley grew up in Oadby, Leicestershire, England...

. This album was followed in 2003 by the acoustic, and often melancholy, The Sash My Father Wore and Other Stories

The Sash My Father Wore and Other Stories

The Sash My Father Wore and Other Stories is the second studio album by Scottish group Ballboy, recorded in 2003. The title track is a reaction to sectarianism in Scotland, and is named after the Ulster loyalist anthem "The Sash my Father Wore"....

, virtually a solo record by McIntyre.

In 2004, Ballboy returned to full band mode, with a new keyboard player, Alexa Morrison, and their third album. The band continue to play live occasionally and released their fourth studio album I Worked on the Ships

I Worked on the Ships

I Worked On The Ships is the fourth studio album by Scottish group Ballboy, released in the UK on 25 August, 2008. The album is the first to be recorded on the band's own label, Pony Proof Records.- Track listing :#The Guide to the Shortwave Radio...

in August 2008. Gordon McIntyre has begun work on a side project, ++Money Can't Buy Music.

From their early releases, the band were popular with the late DJ John Peel

John Peel

John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...

, and had several tracks featured in the Festive Fifty

Festive Fifty

The Festive Fifty was originally an annual list of the year's fifty best songs compiled at the end of the year and voted for by listeners to John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show...

 charts. They recorded several sessions for his BBC Radio 1

BBC Radio 1

BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...

 show, including a Christmas special live from Peel Acres, where McIntyre recorded a duet with American country singer Laura Cantrell

Laura Cantrell

Laura Cantrell is a country singer-songwriter and DJ from Nashville, Tennessee. She used to present a weekly country and old-time music radio show on WFMU in New Jersey called The Radio Thrift Shop...

.

In Autumn 2008, McIntyre composed the soundtrack for the Traverse Theatre Company production of Midsummer [a play with songs] by David Greig

David Greig (dramatist)

David Greig is a Scottish playwright and theatre director.Greig was born in Edinburgh in 1969 and was brought up in Nigeria. He studied drama at Bristol University. He has been commissioned by the Royal Court Theatre, the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company amongst others.His...

. Midsummer performed at the Traverse Theatre

Traverse Theatre

The Traverse Theatre is a theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded in 1963.The Traverse Theatre commissions and develops new plays or adaptations from contemporary playwrights. It also presents a large number of productions from visiting companies from across the UK. These include new plays,...

, Edinburgh, from 24 October to 15 November 2008.

Studio albums

• A Guide for the Daylight Hours
  A Guide for the Daylight Hours
  A Guide for the Daylight Hours is the debut album by Scottish group Ballboy, released in 2002. The album artwork was provided by David Shrigley.-Track listing:# Avant Garde Music# Where Do The Nights Of Sleep Go To When They Do Not Come To Me...
  
  (2002)
• The Sash My Father Wore and Other Stories
  The Sash My Father Wore and Other Stories
  The Sash My Father Wore and Other Stories is the second studio album by Scottish group Ballboy, recorded in 2003. The title track is a reaction to sectarianism in Scotland, and is named after the Ulster loyalist anthem "The Sash my Father Wore"....
  
  (2003)
• The Royal Theatre
  The Royal Theatre
  The Royal Theatre is the third studio album by Scottish group Ballboy, released in 2004.-Track listing:# Let's Fall In Love And Run Away From Here# I Don't Have Time To Stand Here With You Fighting About The Size Of My Dick# The Art Of Kissing...
  
  (2004)
• I Worked on the Ships
  I Worked on the Ships
  I Worked On The Ships is the fourth studio album by Scottish group Ballboy, released in the UK on 25 August, 2008. The album is the first to be recorded on the band's own label, Pony Proof Records.- Track listing :#The Guide to the Shortwave Radio...
  
  (2008)

Singles / EPs

• "Silver Suits for Astronauts" (1999)
• "I Hate Scotland" (2000)
• "Girls Are Better Than Boys" (2001)
• "All the Records on the Radio are Shite" (2002)
• "Where Do the Nights of Sleep Go to When They do not Come To Me" (2002)
• "A Europewide Search for Love" (2003)
• "Past Lovers" / "I Lost You But I Found Country Music" (2004)
• "I Died for Love" (2005)