25th July 2005

Town carves its tribute in rock to an AC/DC legend

FOR a town which boasts a tradition focusing on gingerbread and Peter Pan, it is a particularly raucous tribute.

Kirriemuir, the Angus community famous for its confectionery and status as J M Barrie's birthplace, is lauding its favourite tearaway son – Bon Scott, the late frontman of the heavy rock band, AC/DC, who died aged 33 back in 1980.

The town's museum, Gateway to the Glens, is holding an exhibition entitled Bon Scott – Rock Legend Son of Kirriemuir, featuring an array of musical memorabilia.

Among the tributes is a statue of the singer made out of rock confectionery. Using the same 120-year-old recipe used by the town's Star Rock Shop, Eddie Summerton, a sculptor, has also created 400 sticks of rock emblazoned with the phrase "Let There Be Rock", in tribute to the band's classic song.

It is perhaps the antithesis to traditional rock 'n' roll celebrations, but for Scott, renowned for his high life as much as his high notes, such inconspicuous surroundings were once home.

Even before Ronald Belford Scott arrived in 1946, his family were known in the town courtesy of their Bank Street bakery which helped churn out Kirriemuir's beloved gingerbread.

Indeed, a young Scott's earliest exposure to music came through his father, Chick, a stalwart of the Kirriemuir Pipe Band.

Despite emigrating to the Australia with his wife, Isa, when Scott was aged six, Chick's piping continued. Scott later joined his father in the local pipe band in Fremantle, near Perth.

Having quickly mastered the drums and dabbled in vocals, Scott fled from the port town and threw himself head-first into a succession of bands across the country.

However, it was not until he joined up with two fellow Scots, Angus and Malcolm Young, that he found his calling.

Initially working as a chauffeur for AC/DC, he soon took centre-stage in front of the microphone. The group's combination of power-chords, distortion and larynx-shredding vocals – not to mention their off-stage antics – earned them a worldwide following.

Sadly, for Scott at least, it was not to last. The singer drank himself to death in 1980 at the age of 33, earning himself a place in the morbid canon of popular musicians to have died before their time.

But in Kirriemuir, his memory lives on.

The exhibition, which runs until August 20, may not be to everyone's taste, but the town's business community can hardly grumble. The museum's visitors' book reveals French, German and Australian fans all beating a path towards Kirriemuir.

Now a fundraising drive is in full swing to erect a plaque to Scott in the town centre.

BY MARTYN McLAUGHLIN

Source www.theherald.co.uk