Bill Aitken
(This part of the site is still under construction - sorry some links on the right may not be active yet !
Please contact Bill directly through his Myspace page here for more info)
Please contact Bill directly through his Myspace page here for more info)
BILL AITKEN
A founder member of popular '60s Glasgow band The Pathfinders, who later recorded on the Beatles' Apple label under the name White Trash,
in the 1970s Bill Aitken was a recording engineer and producer at BBC radio, as well as a freelance. (Read Bill's Full Biography here)
He worked on recording sessions and live broadcasts with many top names, including: Duane Eddy, Don Everly, Gene Pitney, The Kinks, Pink Floyd, Elton John, Rod Stewart, Queen, Yes, Genesis, Thin Lizzy, Roxy Music, David Bowie, Annie Lennox, Sting, The Police ... to name a few ... (Read Bill's amazing John Peel Session Memoirs here)
On the 18th July 1974, Bill recorded Starry Eyed And Laughing for the John Peel show.
As Bill shared SE&L's fascination with all things West Coast, he quickly established a rapport with the band, and didn't have to be asked twice when they asked him to record their second album
at Rockfield Studios in April 1975.
Uniquely among BBC staffers, Bill was asked to perform his own songs on the John Peel show in December 1975, and soon after recorded an album 'Far Behind The Chimney Pots', featuring SE&L's Tony Poole (12str guitar) and Iain Whitmore (bass), together with Kim Turner (drums, Andy Fraser Band) and Francis Monkman (keyboards, Curved Air) - unfortunately never released, but now available as a free download on this website. (Check it out here !)
After a wondrous career - during which he invented the legendary SynthAxe, had a hit record with
The Singing Sheep (almost equally legendary), composed and produced at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, and worked on a variety of multi-national business ventures in telecoms, cable tv, multimedia and internet - Bill has now returned to gigging, performing his own material, as well as
near-perfect re-creations of classic rock tracks from the 50s to the 80s,
and released a brand new album 'The First Of May' - available here on this website.
As Bill shared SE&L's fascination with all things West Coast, he quickly established a rapport with the band, and didn't have to be asked twice when they asked him to record their second album
at Rockfield Studios in April 1975.
Uniquely among BBC staffers, Bill was asked to perform his own songs on the John Peel show in December 1975, and soon after recorded an album 'Far Behind The Chimney Pots', featuring SE&L's Tony Poole (12str guitar) and Iain Whitmore (bass), together with Kim Turner (drums, Andy Fraser Band) and Francis Monkman (keyboards, Curved Air) - unfortunately never released, but now available as a free download on this website. (Check it out here !)
After a wondrous career - during which he invented the legendary SynthAxe, had a hit record with
The Singing Sheep (almost equally legendary), composed and produced at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, and worked on a variety of multi-national business ventures in telecoms, cable tv, multimedia and internet - Bill has now returned to gigging, performing his own material, as well as
near-perfect re-creations of classic rock tracks from the 50s to the 80s,
and released a brand new album 'The First Of May' - available here on this website.
