Top of the Pops and Beastie Boys - 30 years of Bis

Bis first formed in 1994 and will mark 30 years with a special gig

When Bis first formed they had one goal in mind.

“All we dreamed of was putting out a 7 inch single,” says singer Amanda ‘Manda Rin’ McKinnon.

The Scottish trio achieved a lot more highs and lows than that, from Top of the Pops and jumping in the Beastie Boys swimming pool to a hate campaign from the music press and a bitter falling out.

Now the band are marking three decades together with a special anniversary gig in Glasgow on Saturday.

The band were still teenagers when they became famous in the mid 90s

“We were always regarded as the young ones, so it’s strange to think we’ve been spending 30 years doing this,” says Amanda.

“I’m so happy that I’ve got friends that I can do that with. There’s so many people coming from abroad for the show – we’ve got fans coming from America, Finland, Germany and France so we feel pressure that they enjoy themselves”.

Amanda and bandmate John Clark (aka John Disco) were still at Woodfarm High school in East Renfrewshire when they joined John’s older brother Steven (Sci-Fi Steven) to form Bis.

Within months first single Transmissions On The Teen-C Tip arrived, combining all their interests – pop music, DIY fanzine culture, punk energy and art – into one bundle.

Top of the Pops

Future singles built momentum for the band and then everything exploded in March 1996, when they became the first unsigned band to appear on Top of the Pops.

“We were doing a joint headline tour with the Super Furry Animals,” recalls Amanda.

“There were no mobile phones back then so we got this call to a venue looking for our manager and asking if we could go on Top of the Pops that week.

“It aired the next day and I remember us all watching it in the Super Furries hotel room. My mum worked in a bar at the time and was delighted – she said she was pointing at the telly and showing everyone.”

Amanda had to cope with attacks from the music press

However there was a vicious backlash against the group from the music press, with the NME particularly vitriolic.

Amanda found herself being insulted for her looks and her weight, while the music weekly printed death threats from readers who hated the band and their twee image, which stood out during the swaggering Britpop era.

“I was 19 when we did Top of the Pops and John is a year younger, so the fact NME found it a nice thing to print death threats to teenagers was just sick.

“I’m amazed I got through it, because I don’t have a lot of confidence, musically or appearance wise. Being told you’re unattractive is not something any teenage girl wants to hear. If it wasn’t for the good people, maybe I wouldn’t have got through it all.”

Those good people included supporters at home and abroad, from other musicians like Garbage and Pavement to a devoted fanbase.

Bis ended up signed to Grand Royal, run by Beastie Boys

The trio found themselves whisked off to America, where they signed a deal with Grand Royal, the label run by rap greats Beastie Boys.

“I hadn’t been abroad other than going to Majorca with my family, so to go to America to be picked up in a limo, and be wined and dined was unbelievable,” she recalls.

“We went to [Beastie Boy] Mike D’s house and the guys swam in his swimming pool, and we checked into our hotel and people like Morrissey and Axl Rose were wandering about. It was just weird.”

However the three-piece’s greatest overseas success came in Japan, where they earned a devoted following. Two tours of the country included three sold-out nights in Tokyo.

“There is nothing that compares to it here,” says Amanda.

“You get off the plane and there are fans waiting at the airport. You get the bullet train, and there’s fans waiting at the station for you. They all give you presents, and they’ve put a lot of thought into them.

“They launched a Bis Baby-G watch when we were out there! I’ve still got them somewhere in a box…”

The group say they are always looking to make new music

Japanese success was all the more impressive given that the band were already hindered by personal difficulties – namely, Amanda and then boyfriend Steven breaking up.

“I think the attitude we’ve always had is to just keep going, through anything. Steven and I fell out so badly there’s no way we should have kept going. We hated each other and it was horrible. We had split up just before the Super Furries tour, and that made it really awkward

“I remember having these big fights in Japan, but the band continuing was never an issue.”

Eventually the group did call it quits in 2003, only to form a new act, data Panik. It wasn’t long before Bis reactivated though, firstly for a string of shows in 2009 and then again in 2014.

More albums have followed – the most recent coming in 2022, with Systems Music For Home Defence released through the Last Night From Glasgow label.

The band have to juggle other responsibilities with the group now, from being parents to their health, with Amanda being diagnosed as having multiple sclerosis.

She jokes that although she falls over sometimes “on a stage I’ve got a keyboard to hold onto” but, much like Bis in general, she carries on despite difficulties.

Plans are already under way for more shows next year and new music is always being talked about but the immediate focus is their anniversary show at Saint Lukes in Glasgow.

“I was saying to my husband the other day that I wonder if I’ll get emotional onstage, because I never have before, but this is the biggie,” she admits.

“When we got all that criticism back in the day and were treated so bad by a lot of the media, we also did good for a lot of people who needed that.

"We’ve had many messages from people saying how much certain songs meant to them and I like to think of those people.

“That’s who we were doing it for.”