The Exile

The Exile

Formed in February 1977 they were one of Glasgow's first punk bands though the band classed themselves as rock or 'new wave' and like many others got sucked into punks vortex. In their career the band released two singles. They were however committed to music. Hampered like many other Scottish bands by lack of venues and unable to get gigs in London they managed only 14 gigs in 9 months in Scotland. To improve the situation for them and other bands they started up their own club at Gigis in Glasgow for bands to play at. According to the band the club never even opened. They also offered fellow bands The Subs and Backstabbers a record on their own label but were turned down. General apathy to their second release in early 1978 caused the band to lose Robert Kirk and struggle on weary but fighting on until the end of 1978 before splitting.

Graham Scott - Guitar & Vocals
Stan Workman - Lead Guitar
Dougie Burns -Drums
Robert Kirk - Bass


Kingdom Comes Sep 78 above & April 78 below - Click for larger readable image

Like so many other The Exile failed through apathy towards them and a lack of places to play. Shortly before splitting up they gave an interview to fanzine Kingdom Comes which is reproduced above. Two quotes sum up the band and their (and indeed all bands) spirit:

"I was going down the pubs in Glasgow looking for rock 'n' roll bands but there wasn't any......we got caught up in the punk thing because punk audiences were the only ones interested in rock 'n 'roll...we set out to change things."

"We're just a band -we've got no gimmick. We're worthy of a contact, but even if we don't get one we'll keep pissing about for a while...really the band should have split up age ago, but if we get a chance, we'll see if we have a future."