There I was sitting in a bar in the west end of Glasgow. Again. Of course I had something important to do there. Something like a live review as I recall. Then I saw this guy. He looked a bit familiar. A quick conversation with the sound guy followed. Kevin McDermott is that guy, he said. Comes in here every now and then apparently
Considering this trivial thing -as I often do - to be a sign from God, the Bluesbunny Vinyl Vault was opened up once more. Oddly enough, there was but one contribution from Kevin McDermott in the archives - his second album (as the Kevin McDermott Orchestra) entitled "Bedazzled". Released in 1991, this album would have followed on the coat tails of the likes of Deacon Blue in the days when there was a Glasgow "sound". It is a collection of melodic guitar driven rock - but certainly not wimpy like Deacon Blue - songs that give little sign of being born of Glasgow ("She Comes From The Sun " having a touch of Cajun spice, for example). Likewise "Are We Could Having a Good Time Yet?" is in the style of mainstream rock of that time period and would surely have won airplay on American radio. Certainly, Kevin McDermott has a good voice and the musical support, especially from his brother Jim McDermott (who later played with The Silencers) on drums, is solid. I took a special liking to the uplifting ""Somebody to Believe In" - it's definitely a song that needs to get to a wider audience. If I were not the epitome of cool, then I might just have been singing along with that one.
This album has had a couple of releases on CD so it should not be difficult to track down - and it is worth tracking down - even though it appears to be out of print in this country. A bit of further research tuned up a recent (2008) album by Kevin McDermott called "Wise to the Fade". Think I might dig up a copy…