The Scotsman

5 April 1985

Sweet ‘n’ Sharp

Glasgow girls Strawberry Switchblade are flying high with sudden success, their trademark dotty and individual look that mixes fifties, sixties and eighties images – much like their music. ‘Two scabby withhes from Scotland’ is what they call themselves!

Success is ‘groovy’ they say. ‘Being on Top of the Pops was probably the most exciting thing so far.’

Now with a new album and a spring tour there’s not a lot of time to sit around and design dresses. ‘But life hasn’t changed that much,’ says Jill, ‘though people are beginning to recognise us.’

They say that hairstyle with its ribbons, flowers, bits and pieces, takes only about 20 minutes after washing (with practice) and ‘loads of back-combing and hair spray, then we pin everything else in – and keep it in, all week.’

Why did they start dressing up?

‘Well, neither of us looks like a cover girl from magazines and if we tried to wear clothes like that we’d just look silly. So we wear things that suit us – bright things with polka dots.’

‘We used to be much weirder when we were punks,’ says Rose. That’s when they met.

‘Being a punk you didn’t have to conform or anything, and everybody would take you for what you were. It was exciting.’

Jill was at art school then, and getting into music was, she says ‘purely accidental – we knew lots of people in groups (like Orange Juice and Simple Minds) and thought we’d have a go!’

We’re grateful to the generous people at Zounds Abound for finding us this article. They do such a brilliant job of trawling vintage newspapers for music articles that people want to read today. They’re raising funds and awareness for Teenage Cancer Trust in memory of their son Noah. You can read about Noah, the care the Trust enabled him to have, and make a donation here.