Center Stage: An Abandoned Albums Podcast Episode 405 - Manda Rin of Bis
Bis are a Scottish indie pop band composed of Steven Clark (Sci-Fi Steven), John Clark (John Disco), and Amanda MacKinnon (Manda Rin), formed in 1994. The band's name, rhymes with 'this.'
The name originates from the song "Black Iron Skyline" by The The.
The three musicians formed Bis in late 1994 while Rin and Disco were in secondary school,Woodfarm High School, and Steven, who had recently finished there. After releasing their first singles, Transmissions On The Teen-C Tip! and Disco Nation 45 the following year, they appeared on BBC Television's Top of the Pops in 1996, performing "Kandy Pop" from their The Secret Vampire Soundtrack EP - ahead of its release.
After releasing numerous cult EPs and three studio albums (1997's The New Transistor Heroes, 1999's Social Dancing, and 2001's Return To Centr,al) the band broke up in 203, but re-formed briefly in 2007 for a series of concerts. In 2009 thce again re-formed (adding a bass player and a drummer to the band lineup) and released the album data Panik etcetera in 2014.
The album Slight Disconnects was released in February 2,019 with the band lineup returning to the original core three-piece. An archival album, Music For Animations, consisting of music recorded in 2004 fthe or CBBC kids TV show BB3B, was released in 2020. In 2021 the band self-released a cassette-only live album entitled The Fan Club Tapes Vol. 1 - Live In Toulouse 1997 (their second self-released live album after Play Some Real Songs in 2001). Low Level (A Return To Central Travel Companion) - a CD consisting of previously unreleased material recorded during the Return To Central sessions - was also released in 2021.
In October 2022, Systems Music For Home Defence was released, which Sci-Fi Steven has described as the band's "rave" album.
LINKS
Polyphonic: Riot Grrrl: The '90s Movement that Redefined Punk
SNL Sketch: ”If it’s not Scottish, it's crap.”