ballboy are:
gordon mcintyre who sings, plays guitar and writes the words
nick reynolds who plays bass
alexa morrison who plays keyboards
gary morgan who plays the drums
they all live in edinburgh, scotland.
they’ve released 5 albums in the uk. their records have been licensed across europe, america and japan.
in june 1999 ballboy signed to s l records and released four ep's over the next three years. "silversuitsforastronauts"; "i hate scotland", "girls are better than boys" and "all the records on the radio are shite". tracks from these first three ep's were released on a compilation album, "club anthems 2001".
edinburgh based production company brainhole have made films to accompany two ballboy tracks - "i’ve got pictures of you in your underwear" and "i hate scotland" which was entered in the mirrorball showcase at the edinburgh international film festival. these films were released on an sl video compilation "music is a competition" in january 2002.
their debut album "a guide for the daylight hours" was recorded at chamber studio's in granton. it was released in the uk in november 2002 and features artwork by glasgow based artist david shrigley. following a licensing deal with manifesto records in the states the band embarked on a five week tour across the states. highlights of the tour included playing a sell out show at the knitting factory in new york and in the legendary great american music hall in san francisco.
their third album, "the sash my father wore and other stories", was released last year. it’s an acoustic album, featuring strings from pete harvey and caroline evens and was recorded at cava studios in glasgow. the title track is a song about bigotry in scotland, not a version of the pipes and drums anthem so beloved by the orangemen – gordon just stole the title.
in 2003 ballboy said goodbye to keyboardist katie griffiths, who’d played with the band for the last five years, who left to move to london and get married. the band then recruited alexa morrison to play keyboards. they also released the single, "past lovers / i lost you, but i found country music" – a duet with american country singer laura cantrell.
their album “the royal theatre” was released in 2004 along with the singles “the art of kissing” and i died for love”.
since the release of their first ep they’ve received great acclaim from press and media across the uk. the late great john peel on radio one was a great fan of the band and he invited the band to record sessions for the show five times. this included a christmas show in 2003 which was broadcast live from his house. tracks from the band have featured in the Festive Fifty every year for the past 5 years (11 tracks in total).
in August 2008 ballboy set up their own record label "Pony Proof Records" and released their fifth album "I worked on the ships". they recently recorded a song for the American film "Graduation" which is to be released soon. the band broadcast a podcast through their website and which features acoustic versions of new and old ballboy songs as well the occasional cover.
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