For decades they have lain hidden in a box in the attic, candid snaps of some of the biggest stars in Scottish pop history frozen in time.
Now a collection of rare photographs featuring famous musicians from Scotland performing at intimate gigs in London 30 years ago is set to form a new book, which will chronicle the ambitious work behind Zine, a cult 1980s fanzine.
Among the unique pictures, found in the attic of photographer Adrian Sensicle’s home in Newcastle upon Tyne, are shots of Deacon Blue performing their debut album, Raintown, at an industry launch in the Marquee Club.
“Deacon Blue hadn’t had the mass press coverage by then
“I didn’t know them at all, but I remember their energy on stage, and was very taken by the strength of their music and their confidence,” said Sensicle.
“They were right at the start of their career and they hadn’t had the mass press coverage that they ended up with. I think that’s why the pictures are so intimate.”
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The pictures include images of Deacon Blue’s original guitarist Graeme Kelling who died of cancer in 2004 at the age of 47. Orange Juice star Edwyn Collins and Billy MacKenzie of the Associates, who died in 1997, also feature in the treasure trove of fly-on-the-wall scenes, the originals of which have never been published.
“The photographs were only ever published as photocopies in Zine,” said Sensicle, 54. “I shot on film with a camera, and the negatives are all still there. They have never been seen in their original quality before.”
Sensicle’s images were part of the work done by a small team of music enthusiasts behind the self-published Zine fanzine, which ran for two years and 10 issues from 1985.
The publication had a print run of 500 and focused largely on alternative and unsigned acts. The cache of unpublished pictures also features evocative shots of Paul Weller of the Jam, American singer Cyndi Lauper and John Peel, the influential radio presenter and journalist.
Sensicle plans to launch a fundraising campaign on social media, via the Zine80s Facebook page, to release the photographs and their accompanying articles as a book by the end of the year.
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This Saturday, Deacon Blue mark the 30th anniversary of Raintown with a concert at Edinburgh Castle.