GREGOR PHILP
Photo Provided by: Gregor Philp
03 April 2020
Gregor Philp first began to play guitar from the age of 10 but, it wasn’t until he was 15 when he began “mucking about with friends in bands.” Being brought up in a music family with his dad playing guitar and his mum playing piano, this heavily influenced his musical taste. His first list of favourites began with ‘The Beatles’ and ‘The Jungle Book’ before progressing onto rock (‘AC/DC’, ‘Thin Lizzy’) and punk (‘The Sex Pistols’) bands.
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During the 80s and 90s when Gregor was playing in bands such as ‘The Swiss Family Orbison’, he feels that the music industry was becoming “healthy.” In Dundee, a promotions company, Dance Factory was established by Stuart Clumpas who also set up T in the Park. Stuart was the entertainments officer for Dundee University and began putting bands on, in the music venue, Fat Sam’s.
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“He did the best he could, and he treated the bands really well, so they kept coming back. Bands like ‘Love and Money’, ‘Hue and Cry’, ‘Hipsway’, ‘Deacon Blue’, ‘Danny Wilson’, all kind of were supported by Stuart in that little venue.”
Photo Provided by: Gregor Philp
This was also the first time, Gregor reveals, that record producers and A & R men came to Scotland to check out a band: “I know a few stories of people who actually got signed and had successful careers where one famous friend, Danny and my friend, Ged and Kit who were in Danny Wilson.”
They had previously been “struggling away” in London however, found better success back here in Scotland which is the same case for Glasgow band, Deacon Blue: “they thought, ‘we’ve tried all the London things, we’ll create our own wee buzz up here’ and that worked.”
Photo Provided by: Gregor Philp
Before playing in ‘Deacon Blue’ Gregor played guitar for ‘The Swiss Family Orbison’, formed by Kit Clark from Danny Wilson. The line-up also included Keith Matheson, Dougie Vipond and Colin Davidson, describing it as, “a kind of power pop thing.”
I asked Gregor why the name, to which he replied: “Well, as usual with bands from Dundee, they can’t help to not take themselves seriously… I mean the pub is the only explanation… the Swiss Family Robinson/Orbison… band names in Dundee are littered with puns, so no great revelation there.”
In 2016 the original line up reunited, creating “a racket for a few days and it was good fun.”
“He did the best he could, and he treated the bands really well, so they kept coming back"
After ‘The Swiss Family Orbison’, Gregor began creating music for TV, film and computer games for 10 years whilst still professionally playing music. It is not until after those ten years of working in the film/TV sector, that he began writing music for himself again. So, in 2006 Gregor released his album called Heavy Little Elephants with Andrew Mitchell/Wasylyk who is currently in Idlewild and a solo artist.
Although a low-key project, the album allowed Gregor to be viewed as a dedicated songwriter which is a reason Gregor feels is why he and Ricky Ross, the lead singer from ‘Deacon Blue’, connected. In 2008, Gregor joined the Glasgow pop band with the help from friend, Dougie Vipond who also happened to be ‘Deacon Blue’s’ drummer.
“He always wanted for me to get in the band…So, at one point he managed, to persuade them that they needed a new bass player and guitar player.”
Photo Provided by: Gregor Philp
As a result, Gregor and Ged Grimes were drafted into the band, at the same time Gregor immediately began helping Ricky create demos and write music, which has continued throughout.
After a few years, Ged went on to play bass in ‘Simple Minds’ and was replaced by Lewis Gordon in 2011, who Gregor describes as, “absolutely fantastic.” The current line-up for ‘Deacon Blue’ includes Ricky Ross and Loraine McIntosh on vocals, Dougie Vipond on drums, James Prime on keyboard/piano, Gregor Philp on guitar and Lewis Gordon on bass.
Photo Provided by: Gregor Philp
However, ‘Deacon Blue’ is not the only thing Gregor keeps himself busy with. A recent project included a short tour with American musician, Kevin Montgomery alongside Kelly Jones. Kevin Montgomery who is a “great songwriter and artist in his own right” also happens to be Bob Montgomery’s son who was Buddy Holly’s first song writing partner.
“it’s Buddy and Bob, they put out records and wrote songs and some of those songs are the biggest songs that Buddy ever did like ‘Wishing’, ‘Flower to my Heart’ and ‘Heartbeat.’”
Kevin and Gregor first met on a song writing camp and when Kevin learnt Gregor also played the electric guitar after playing a gig with him; Kevin asked Gregor to accompany him and Kelly on their Scottish tour dates. Kelly is a singer and fiddle player with a strong essence of Cajun music, “so that was interesting for me to hear that different influence.”
“it’s Buddy and Bob, they put out records and wrote songs and some of those songs are the biggest songs that Buddy ever did"
Other projects include recently visiting New York to work with his friend and collaborator, Hugo Vereker, to work on music for an album. However, working with young artists is what Gregor is really passionate about, coming across “amazing talent and, I try and help them realise their creative vision." Based in Broughty Ferry, Gregor has his own studio for these types of projects.
I asked Gregor to mention some of his highlights during his career which included winning an award in New York for a film he created music for: “It was a very lowly thing; it was an independent film thing, but it was great.”
Photo Provided by: Gregor Philp
There have been many memorable moments with 'Deacon Blue', including co-producing their new album City of Love which came out on March 6th this year. However, playing on the stage of The Royal Albert Hall to around 4000 people, is what Gregor describes as “surreal."
“I had knocked back a chance to play on the stage of The Albert Hall, maybe in the 90s because I had another commitment…folk had said ‘you’re absolutely nuts’ and I went ‘no, it’s not about that’… and funnily enough, it came round.”
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"I try and help them realise their creative vision"
To end, I asked Gregor, what advice he would give aspiring musicians: “just do what it is that you love, and do it to the absolute best of your ability, regardless of who it’s for and what it’s for.”
Author: Karina Caulfield
Photo Provided by: Gregor Philp