Old pals help Average White Band

By Alan Grant
BBC Scotland

The Vikings in 1966. Dougie Wightman, Mike Fraser, Drew Larg, Alan Gorrie and Donny Coutts.

Legendary Scots group Average White Band is taking to the stage in Dundee on Friday and it will follow the oldest support band it has ever played with.

The support band will be a one-off group of local musicians who played with the band's bass player, Alan Gorrie, in his teenage years in Perth and Dundee.

And while one or two of them may be approaching 70, they perform regularly.

The one thing they all share is a love of 60s and 70s soul music.

As a teenager in Perth, Gorrie played with several groups - most notably The Vikings. Their contemporaries in Dundee were the Poor Souls, with both bands going on to record singles.

"You had to go to London to do it," said Alan, adding: "The Poor Souls' records and the Vikings' records were made in London.

"We didn't make the grade but it was a great experience and it meant that, when we did get another chance to go and record, we weren't trembling."

The Average White Band makes a point of using local support bands when they tour and, when the idea came up for an amalgam of Dundee bands from 30 and 40 years ago to support them at the city's Fat Sam's nightclub, Alan leapt at the opportunity.

"These guys have continued the tradition of belting out good soul music and that means people will always keep coming to the pubs and clubs and the live gigs," he said.

Among those performing will be former Vikings vocalist Drew Larg and ex-Poor Souls frontman Dougie Martin.

The Poor Souls in 1965. John Casey, Chic Taylor, John Moran and Dougie Martin

Both are now 68 years old but are still playing in venues around Dundee and, to some extent, band members can be interchangeable.

"My outfit goes from two to 14 players depending on who's available," said Dougie.

"In the 60s all these bands were competing but the camaraderie was amazing.

"We all played in each other's bands and sometimes you forgot which band you were in."

Ex-Vikings drummer Donny Coutts has been organising the group, which has been called Poor Souls 09.

"Drew and Dougie are people that guys like myself and Alan looked up to, because they'd already been in bands in the late 50s, so they were the guys we aspired to be and these friendships have continued throughout the years," he said

Poor Souls 09 and the Average White Band are even set to end the gig on stage together with a performance of the O'Jay's "Love Train" - and the aptly titled Average White Band classic "Let's Go Round Again".