Originally comprising Viv Strachan (vocals), Gordon McIntyre (guitar), Nick Reynolds (bass) and Alexis Beattie (drums), Ballboy played gigs around Edinburgh for a few years, and recorded tracks for the Edinburgh indie compilation ''it's a life sentence...'', released by the newly formed SL Records label in 1997. By 1999 Gordon McIntyre, the band's main songwriter, had taken over vocal duties. Katie Griffiths had joined on keyboards, and Gary Morgan had taken over the drums. The band signed to SL Records that year, and released a series of EPs. The tracks from these EPs were collected on 2001's
Club Anthems. The band toured the
United States in September / October 2002 and McIntyre's journal of the tour was published in
The Scotsman newspaper. Their "proper" debut album,
A Guide for the Daylight Hours, was released in November 2002, featuring artwork by Glasgow-based artist
David Shrigley. This album was followed in 2003 by the acoustic, and often melancholy,
The Sash My Father Wore and Other Stories, virtually a solo record by McIntyre. In 2004, Ballboy returned to full band mode, with a new keyboard player, Alexa Morrison, and their third album. The band continue to play live occasionally and released their fourth studio album
I Worked on the Ships in August 2008. Gordon McIntyre has begun work on a side project,
++Money Can't Buy Music. From their early releases, the band were popular with the DJ
John Peel, and had several tracks featured in the
Festive Fifty charts. They recorded several sessions for his
BBC Radio 1 show, including a Christmas special live from
Peel Acres, where McIntyre recorded a duet with American country singer
Laura Cantrell. In Autumn 2008, McIntyre composed the soundtrack for the Traverse Theatre Company production of
Midsummer [a play with songs] by
David Greig.
Midsummer performed at the
Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, from 24 October to 15 November 2008. In 2018 the
National Theatre of Scotland staged an expanded version of the play for the
Edinburgh International Festival. ==Discography==