Craig Rennie grew up slowly in the Highland hamlet of Bettyhill, sustained by a diet of cola flavoured Mr T ice lollys and sand. His idyllic surroundings and 3 class-mates were the early inspiration for his growth as an artist - an attempt at painting the garage floor in 1984 ending in disaster when he started at the outer edges and worked his way in. With that humiliating experience behind him, Craig moved south, where he was prompted to ask the entirely reasonable question, “Where is the beach?” Alas, there was no beach, but art remained on the agenda - a drawing of Puss in Boots earning him second place in a local contest and a ?5 voucher for John Menzies.
Music kept him awake at night, fuelling an imagination primarily concerned with snow drifts, wrestling and waking up taller. And so it continued, until one day, with little else to do, Craig headed north once more. Not so far this time, but far enough to discover that the things he couldn’t do before seemed somehow easier amid the rarified air of his new surroundings. Once more within walking distance of the beach, his artistic juices began to flow like kia-ora at a children’s party. Inspired by all the usual stuff, he acquired a guitar thanks to a generous donation of Argos vouchers from the co-founding father of Moojuice Records, Big Al (not the last time their paths would cross). Both day and night stringed instruments would ring forth with noises akin to torture itself as Craig and fellow guitar-playing novice/brother Jonny concoted songs largely centred on the activities of Spanish hamster breeding veteran, Perence Suldbo.
Soon, as winter drew in, the songs became darker. Perence was cast into the sea, charged by a bull and had fun poked at him. Craig and Jonny became The Extenders - gigging regularly to a gathered audience of soft animals and their third, long suffering, brother - Lawrence. The guitars gently weeped, wondering if a new chord would ever be found. It never was. But nobody minded, after all, it was just for fun. One day, however, when fun seemed a long way off, Craig took to heart the suggestion that only the afore-mentioned animals would ever tolerate his unfortunate vocal range. Sitting down alone he tried to build from the bottom. Tried not to sing. Just speak, and see what happened. It sounded much better, he thought. Jonny and Lawrence agreed - as did Gift, Simon Peter, Percy and the other animals.
And the rest, as they say, isn’t really that important. Except to mention that more songs came, and yet another journey south brought about a reunion with Moojuice master Al, who said he would like to record Craig’s songs. Craig said OK. Al and fellow Moo kingpin, Neil, pressed record, and a third of a decade later, Craig’s first record, Under, was complete. Prompting a feeling of satisfaction, Craig thought, comparable with writing about himself in the third person. |
