The Edinburgh International Film Festival closed with Since Yesterday: The Untold Story of Scotland’s Girl Bands. It is an inspirational, engaging, relatable documentary telling the forgotten stories of the many bold, brave and beautiful girl bands that have emerged from Scotland since the 1960s. From the McKinleys, who toured with the Beatles and were the first girl band to play Wembley, to Strawberry Switchblade, who remain the only Scottish girl band to reach the UK top 10. These wonderful women have faded into obscurity alongside stacks of other talented female musicians.
Carla Easton, a Scottish musician and filmmaker, idealised the fictional girl band Jem and the Holograms growing up – she knew of no other girl bands to look up to. However, little did she know that much closer to home than an American cartoon were role-model-worthy bands. These include The Twinsets, Sophisticated Boom Boom, and Lungleg. The documentary explores their attempts at rising to fame, record deals, and American tours, before the inevitable fall into obscurity again.
Sexism in the music industry
The brutal facts laid forth by the documentary reveal a world of intense sexism. Many bands failed to get a second album deal in case they got pregnant. Reduced to their biology, they were underpaid, overexploited, and forced to turn their passion back into a hobby. Many bands were subject to the same narrative. The documentary builds a clear, powerful picture of the challenges of the music industry that women continue to face today.
Throughout the documentary, we return to a standard, relatable little girl’s bedroom. A blank wall forms a visual view of the presence of the girl bands in modern culture. Posters are added as their stories are uncovered and their influence on the little girl is shown through wild fashion and makeup choices. It is a powerful, moving, and inspiring method of visually portraying the sheer volume of talent that has been lost to the void, and the impact that these bands could have had.
Since Yesterday is a fantastic, eye-opening, fun, colourful, and heartbreaking documentary which closed the 77th Edinburgh International Film Festival perfectly. The film will be out in UK cinemas on the 18th of October – you can see a list of screenings here.
The Edinburgh International Film Festival runs from 15-21 August. Tickets and showings are available here. Brig’s coverage of the film festival can be found here.
Featured Image Credit: Screen Scotland/Euan Robertson