Belle and Sebastian
Scottish indie pop band
Belle and Sebastian are a Scottish indie pop band formed in Glasgow in 1996. Led by Stuart Murdoch, Belle and Sebastian have released twelve studio albums. The band are often compared with acts such as the Smiths and Nick Drake. Belle and Sebastian took their name from a short story Murdoch had written about a boy and girl, whose title was a play on the 1965 television series Belle and Sebastian.
History
Formation, early years and Tigermilk (1994–1996)
In 1994, Stuart Murdoch and Stuart David both enrolled at Stow College's Beatbox programme for unemployed musicians in Glasgow. The pair recorded some demos, which in 1996 were picked up by the college's Music Business course, led by music professor Alan Rankine (formerly of the Associates), that produces and releases one single each year on the college's label, Electric Honey. As Murdoch had a number of songs already and the label was extremely impressed with the demos, he was granted permission to record a full-length album, which was recorded mostly live over three days, entitled Tigermilk.
Murdoch and David recruited local musicians Stevie Jackson (guitar and vocals), Isobel Campbell (cello/vocals), Chris Geddes (keys) and Richard Colburn (drums), the latter of whom shared a flat with David and was a student on the Music Business course, to perform on the album, with Murdoch describing the process as a "product of botched capitalism". The band chose the name Belle and Sebastian from a short story Murdoch had written inspired by the television series of the same name, about a six-year-old boy and his dog, named Belle, a Pyrenean Mountain Dog. In June 1996, Electric Honey pressed up one thousand copies of Tigermilk on vinyl.
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