Will movie give forgotten Scots punks a hit 45 years on?
When they released it in the 1970s, struggling Scottish punk band The Limps naturally hoped their single would be a hit – but it sold only 50 copies.
Now, though, the group’s former members, all aged 66, may have the success they craved – after the song was picked for the soundtrack of a new American movie.
Their guitarist Andrew Semple, otherwise known as Andy Septic, told The Sun: ‘The news arrived just as I received my concessionary bus pass for senior citizens, so it was a welcome boost to say the least.’
Mr Semple formed The Limps in 1978 in Annan, Dumfriesshire.
The band consisted of Mr Semple’s friends – drummer Derek Watson, Norman Jardine on bass and lead singer Tom Davidson.
Discovered at last, The Limps’ almost unknown song features in new movie Snack Shack
Theatrical release poster for Snack Shack movie
Mr Semple admits that they ‘weren’t very good’ but remembers writing the song Someone I Can Talk To in his bedroom.
But after a year of playing near-empty gigs, the band quit.
Decades later, though, director Adam Rehmeier came across Someone I Can Talk To on a streaming platform.
He decided to use it in an emotional scene between a father and son in his movie Snack Shack, a coming-of-age comedy about best friends who get the chance to run a snack bar at a pool in Nebraska.
Mr Semple said: ‘When Adam got in touch to ask if he could use the song, we thought it was a joke. It only sold about 50 copies.’ As a result of the film, the song has been viewed by 11,000 people on YouTube.
The single also featured on the Jeremy Vine show yesterday.
Mr Semple said: ‘That is pretty remarkable in itself because not many people have ever heard it. If it wasn’t for the internet, the song might have been lost altogether and certainly would not have been heard by a film director living in Nebraska.
Short lived former punk band The Limps
‘As American audiences are leaving movie theatres, they’re leaving to that song we wrote as The Limps between 1978 and 1979. We’re just blown away.’
Mr Semple is now a Labour councillor in Cockermouth, Cumbria, where he was once mayor. He is a married father of two.
Mr Watson, who was known as Dee Dee Tee, became an NHS manager in Middlesbrough.
Mr Jardine, aka Chuck Abnormal, worked for the European Commission in Brussels and Mr Davidson, whose nickname was Tam Limp, owns an art gallery.
Mr Semple said: ‘We’ve probably mellowed over the years but at heart we’re still those young punks.’
