A new band dedicated to the Vale has been created by a local man - with their album detailing his life growing up in the area in the 1960s and 1970s.
Ian Retson created the band, The Bank Street Martyrs, as a reflection on his life growing up in the Vale, recruiting his cousin Andrew Marsland and his friend Joe Watema to turn his poems into rock songs.
The 65-year-old had written a poem for his 60 birthday titled, ‘Leven the Vale’, about returning to the region to die, which was helped turned into a song by his now band mates.
Ian described how it came about, he said: “For my 60 birthday, I wrote a poem about leaving the Vale, and I had approached my cousin about turning it into a song.
“After that, all the songs started pouring out of me, and I wrote the album in a couple of months.
“The song ‘Leven the Vale’ is melancholy; it’s about me returning to the Vale to die.
“The song takes inspiration from the 60s and 70s because most of the songs are set in that era but with a modern twist.
“You always write about what you know, and it’s either that or advanced computing for me.
“What’s unique about us is that our music is all about the Vale, but it’s not about striding through the heather but rather the people and the culture. From McDougall’s lemonade factory to Haldane.”
The group got their name because Ian believes that no one stood up for Bank Street.
Andrew and Joe are roughly 40 years younger than Ian, but Ian believes that age doesn’t matter when it comes to music.
He said: ”The lyrics are written by me, then the music is made by my cousin Andy and his mate Joe.
“There is obviously an age gap between myself and them, but when it comes to music that just disappears.
“They are wizards when it comes to music and the technical side.
“The hardest thing is to take words and turn them into music, but in another way, it is a creative thing, but that is what these guys have done.
“They are world-class.”
The group launched the album for the first time in person on Saturday at Alexandria Library.
