The Skinny on…Tricia Reid from Sophisticated Boom Boom

Carla J. Easton and Blair Young's new film, Since Yesterday: The Untold Story of Scotland’s Girl Bands, is a sparky music documentary celebrating some of the Scottish girl bands who should be on every Scottish teen’s wall but aren’t – bands like Strawberry Switchblade, The Ettes, The Twinsets, The McKinleys, The Hedrons and Lung Leg. Also featured in the doc are excellent 80s Glasgow outfit Sophisticated Boom Boom (later known as His Latest Flame) and they’ll be helping launch Since Yesterday at the Glasgow premiere on 18 October by headlining a post-screening gig at Mono. Ahead of Sophisticated Boom Boom’s return to the stage, we asked the band’s guitarist, Tricia Reid, to take on our monthly Q&A.

What’s your favourite place to visit and why?
I like to travel, so I have lots of favourite places. Paris and New York spring to mind, and more recently Hong Kong, but I’ve been lucky enough to spend a bit of time in India, which is a feast for the senses. If I really had to choose, it would be India.

Favourite food and why?
Probably South Asian, because I’m Glaswegian. Glasgow is a city deeply in love with the curry house after all. Also, it’s excellent for vegans and veggies, so my children basically.

Favourite colour and why?
I’ve taken a liking to purple recently, mostly because it suits ma auld grey heid, but also because it’s the colour synonymous with the 1970s, which is the best decade for music.

Who was your hero growing up?
[Celtic and Scotland legend] Jimmy Johnstone because he made all the people I loved so very happy.

Whose work inspires you now?
I retrained as an academic, so I’m currently big into cultural theorists like Sara Ahmed, Stuart Hall and Jack Halberstam. In Scottish music, I’m inspired by the Hen Hoose collective, which I really wish had been around when I was young. I would have bloody loved that.

What three people would you invite to your dinner party and what are you cooking?
Muriel Spark, Patti Smith and Caryl Churchill. I’d make aash reshteh for the hot-fired garlic and onions.

What’s your all-time favourite album?
This is a ridiculous question, but if forced I’d have to say Hounds of Love [Kate Bush, 1985].

What’s the worst film you’ve ever seen?
Titanic [1997] because of the song and the bad ageing makeup.

What book would you take to a desert island?
A Thousand Nights and One Nights because I haven’t read it and I understand it’s very long but also varied and saucy.

Who’s the worst?
J. K. Rowling

When did you last cry?
Yesterday. I cry all the time. I heartily recommend it. It’s good for you.

What are you most scared of?
Something bad happening to my children or my partner.

When did you last vomit and why?
I don’t vomit often, so maybe 15 years ago and that would have been food poisoning. Hasn’t put me off oysters, though.

Tell us a secret?
I once took acid and had a rather interesting conversation with a seagull.

Which celebrity could you take in a fight?
Russell Brand. Anytime.

How was the experience of being featured in Since Yesterday?
It was great, really. A bit discombobulating being sucked back in time, but great to reminisce with the girls in the band, and to feel that our contribution to Scottish music, however minimal, was being valued and restored to the historical record. Also, every single woman featured in the film is a legend in her own right, just for having the sheer audacity to get up there in the first place. It’s really gratifying and very cool to be in such excellent company. Carla and Blair have done a wonderful thing. Truly.

What’s your favourite memory of playing with Sophisticated Boom Boom?
Camaraderie, dressing up, getting into songwriting, meeting John Peel. It was all fabulous.

What’s your most memorable interaction with an audience member?
Walking past a group of guys in Hurricanes bar in Glasgow and hearing one of them say “That’s that girl from Sophisticated Boom Boom. She looks like a fucking witch.” I remember laughing and thinking, “My work here is done.”

---

Since Yesterday: The Untold Story of Scotland’s Girl Bands is in UK cinemas from 18 Oct
Screening dates and locations at sinceyesterdayfilm.com