By Anna Battista
Having talked for a while about Jim’s present career, we take a step back to his previous experiences with Superstar. The band was formed in 1991, signed to Creation in 1992 and release a mini album ironically entitled “Greatest Hits Vol.1” (Creation, 1992), followed by the album “Superstar” (Creation, 1994). The band resurfaced after a break of a few years in 1997 with a new mini album, “18 Carat” (Camp Fabulous, 1997). It was around that time that Superstar turned down the opportunity to work with Brian Wilson, “It was a decision taken by a band, by four people,” Jim remembers, “I think we were keen to get away from all those Beach Boys references and stuff like that. We were trying to get away from the Glasgow scene. Rod Stewart did a cover of one of our songs, and it was bizarre enough to get over that. We thought we were too tied up with Teenage Fanclub, we wanted to be separated in people’s minds, we wanted to be a distinct band.” Superstar released some beautiful albums and singles, the band is indeed considered by many people as one of the most underrated on the planet. I wonder if Jim agrees with those who think so, “Aye, I do,” he vigorously nods, “the two last albums, ‘Palm Tree’ and ‘Phat Dat’, were wonderful and I just don’t think they got heard enough. I don’t want to be thought like a cult hero, but those records became exactly cult stuff.” Since Quentin McAfee, Superstar’s drummer, went to live and work in London and he’s not into the music business anymore, Jim mainly keeps in touch with Joe McAlinden and Alan Hutchison, the latter, apart from occasionally playing with Jim during live gigs, is also helping him with the Green Peppers’ website, “Joe and Alan are both involved in my project in one way or another,” Jim says, “I think they wanted me to do it a long time ago, but I wasn’t ready to do it before, I didn’t have the confidence. I was writing in the house, but I wasn’t singing because I had no idea and no intention to sing.” Ex-Superstar members are not the only ones who supported Jim while he reinvented his career: the local Glasgow scene proved to be a source of inspiration and encouragement, “In Glasgow there’s a very healthy scene, but I was out of it for a while, so I didn’t really know who was doing what,“ Jim states, “It was very exciting to get back into it, because folk have been very encouraging with me and tried to make sure I did well. For example, ‘Joni’s Garden’ was partially recorded at David Scott’s East Kilbride recording studio and I found working with David very good. I worked with him on and off before, we did for example a Beach Boys tribute gig in East Kilbride a while back. So I phoned him at the studio and talked to him about the album. I had most of the ideas done on 4-track demo format, but he had the enthusiasm for me to translate it all to a record. It was very appropriate to work with him because he was very helpful and gave me a lot of confidence.”
Among Jim’s new projects there is a new album, “I’ve actually got half of it done in demo format,” he announces, “but the other half is in my head. I know exactly what it’s going to sound like, it’s just hard to find the time to actually do it, because my wife and I just had a wee baby boy and he’s only six months old. In the meantime, I’m planning new gigs: the next one will be on 9th January at Glasgow’s Barfly and then I’ll do a gig in London on 9th February at 12 Bar Club in Denmark Street, Soho.”
Just before saying goodbye to Jim, I ask him if something has changed in the way he makes music now compared to when he was in a band. He answers saying that no, nothing has really changed: he was excited about music then and he’s still excited about music now. After all, I silently add in my head, a special album such as “Joni’s Garden” could have only been written by somebody genuinely and really excited about making good music.