The Pastels
 When
The Pastels formed in Glasgow in the early 80s, Postcard Records
boss Alan Horne assumed they had been invented by Orange Juice's
Edwyn Collins "just to annoy him". A decade later, Kurt
Cobain would name them as his favourite band.
Therein was the enigma of The Pastels; loathed by those who
misconstrued them as twee anorak-clad waifs, hailed by others who
saw them as the archetype of an almost forgotten indie realism.
Consequently, fey front man Stephen Pastel has acquired a unique
cult status at odds with his day-to-day existence behind the
counter of the record shop he co-owns in Glasgow.
Born Stephen McRobbie, Pastel admits that his group's career
was "probably the oddest trajectory of any band
ever".
Releasing their first single, Heavens Above, in 1982,
they spent the next four years jingle-jangling their way from
Rough Trade to Creation, then Glass - by which time they'd been
hijacked by NMEs mid-80s indie zeitgeist, C86.
With The Pastels finally gaining new fans and with Stephen
helping to launch the 53rd & 3rd label, instead of basking in
his fame as 'The King of Schmindie', he was studying to become a
librarian at Strathclyde University!
After a personnel shake-up in 1991 (the year their single Speeding
Motorcycle made NME 'Single of the Week') the group
became extremely sporadic. The ensuing decade saw just two studio
albums, a remix CD and a film soundtrack (featuring a vocal cameo
from Jarvis Cocker).
The Pastels celebrated their 20th anniversary in 2006 and
Stephen still refuses to give up his day job.
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