Strawberry Switchblade fansite
LightNews LightNews
banner
strawfansite.bsky.social
Strawberry Switchblade fansite
@strawfansite.bsky.social
440 followers 98 following 1.1K posts
The comprehensive online archive of all things #StrawberrySwitchblade since 2003. Posting about the band, nattering about music in general.

https://strawberryswitchblade.net
Posts Replies Media Videos
strawfansite.bsky.social
Happy birthday to Jill Bryson, born this day 1961!

The voice, the melodies, the songs, the style, always inventive in her myriad forms of creative expression.
Jill Bryson in 1983. She's looking at the camera, heavy eye make-up, hair backcombed, a headband trails long ribbons. Jill Bryson, photogra[phed by Paul Cox, 1984. A monochrome photo, she looks at the camera, a hand with Indian finger jewellery is raised and holds ribbons trailing from a headband. The image has a high contrast, her facial features are barely defined. Jill Bryson as a young child, yet wearing a very Strawberry Switchblade outfit - polka dot pinny and a big matching bow in her hair. Jill Bryson in 2023, in her painting studio
February 11, 2026 at 11:46 AM
strawfansite.bsky.social
WTF is going on here? Strawberry Switchblade are depicted on the picture sleeve for a 1985 single by comedian Russ Abbot! 🧵
The cover of All Night Holiday by Russ Abbot - a painting of a beach scene with pop stars as descrivbed in the post.
February 10, 2026 at 4:57 PM
strawfansite.bsky.social
The songs on the session are very electronic-oriented, and it's easy to imagine the depth that Ryuichi Sakamoto would have brought to them if, as was mooted at the time, he'd produced the band's next album. Here they are together in Tokyo later in 1985.

📸©️Peter McArthur, used with permission
Strawberry Switchblade and Ryuichi Sakamoto sat round a restaurant table, David Balfe squaeezes past behind.
February 5, 2026 at 3:35 PM
strawfansite.bsky.social
Strawberry Switchblade photos from the session for the cover of debut single Trees and Flowers, 1983

📸©️Peter McArthur, used with permission
February 4, 2026 at 3:31 PM
strawfansite.bsky.social
Wonderful find from Robin Rimbaud on X - a 1984 flier for gigs promoted by Bliss, inc Strawberry Switchblade supporting Farmers Boys at Camden Electric Ballroom. It also has Nick Cave when the Bad Seeds were The Cavemen, between the recording & release of From Her To Eternity 🧵
Slightly tatty leaflet listing gigs in March, April and May 1984, including Allen Ginsberg at the Albert Hall, Cocteau Twins at the Royal Festival Hall, and Strawberry Switchblade and Nick Cave at the Electric Ballroom.
January 27, 2026 at 5:04 PM
strawfansite.bsky.social
Something odd just happened - Go Away is now Strawberry Switchblade's second most streamed track on Spotify, overtaking Since Yesterday. 🧵
Screenshot os Strawberry Switchblade's listenrership on Spotify. Trees and Flowers is top with over 39 million streams. Go Away is second with 6 million, 734 thousand, one hundred and twelve streams. Since Yesterday is third with 6 million, 731 thousand, five hundred and twenty two streams.
January 22, 2026 at 5:06 PM
strawfansite.bsky.social
Often described as a punk band, the Poems weren’t the stereotype of fast thrashing. Listening to them you can already hear elements of the hanging, atmospheric melancholia that has been present throughout the careers of Rose and her then-husband Drew McDowall
(📸©️Peter McArthur, used with permission)
Close up black and white photo looking down at three people looking up - Drew, Rose and Ian.
January 7, 2026 at 8:21 AM
strawfansite.bsky.social
Rose McDowall's polka dot fixation way preceded Strawberry Switchblade! Here she is with her earlier band, The Poems. The photo shows Rose at the left, Ian sitting next to her, her daughter Keri, and Drew McDowall in a Poems T shirt (plus unidentified person standing).
Black and white photo of five young people. Rose McDowall is leaning against a wall in two-piece trouser suit of sorts with large black polka dots.
January 7, 2026 at 8:21 AM
strawfansite.bsky.social
41 years ago this week the UK saw TV ads for Strawberry Switchblade's Since Yesterday. The single had bobbed about in the low end of the charts since Oct. The record label thought with a bit of a push it could get through the Christmas charts & be a big hit in the new year. They were right.
December 29, 2025 at 2:53 PM
strawfansite.bsky.social
And then Rose interacted!
December 19, 2025 at 3:16 PM
strawfansite.bsky.social
The use of the rock umpaut was probably at its peak in the mid 1980s, spreading far beyond its initial metal territory. If you look on the Strawberry Switchblade alubm cover they're subtly there too. Really, the whole thing should have ended with Motörhead
December 17, 2025 at 9:28 AM
strawfansite.bsky.social
Unused photos from the session for Strawberry Switchblade's debut album cover, 1984.

(📸©️ Peter McArthur, used with permission)
Monochrome photo of Jull and Rose in white dresses with black polka dots. Jill leans away, eyes closed while Rose in the foreground looks in the other direction. Monochrome photo of Jull and Rose in white dresses with black polka dots. Jill and Rose both looking to the left, in different directions Monochrome photo of Jull and Rose in white dresses with black polka dots. Jill leans backwards with eyes closed while Rose in the foreground faces right but has her head turned to look into the camera The cover of Strawberry Switchblade's eponymous debut album. A monochrome photo of Jull and Rose in white dresses with black polka dotshas been coloured so their lips are red and the plastic flowered headbands trailing ribbons are all in colour.
December 17, 2025 at 9:20 AM
strawfansite.bsky.social
Strawberry Switchblade - Hyde Park, London, summer 1983

(📸©️ Peter McArthur, used with permission)
Jill and Rose lie on the grass in the sunshine wearing polka dots and shades
December 16, 2025 at 8:45 AM
strawfansite.bsky.social
The interview, in which Jill described the band as 'scabby witches from Scotland', had their characteristic mix of their punk roots, namechecking underappreciated bands, frank talk about politics, personal trauma punk, and playful challenging of norms.
A scan of the two page feature in Smash Hits, with one page taken up with a photo of the band.
December 7, 2025 at 3:10 PM
strawfansite.bsky.social
41 years ago this week, December 1984, if you were rushing out to buy the latest Smash Hits you'd have found Strawberry Switchblade on their first ever national magazine cover.
Cover of Smash Hits magazine featuring Strawberry Switchblade in all their ribboned, backcombed polka dot finery, looking at the camera
December 7, 2025 at 3:10 PM
strawfansite.bsky.social
Strawberry Switchblade in the studio during the recording of their album, mid 1984. As befits a practical, work-focused day they are underdressed by their standards (though still flamboyant by anyone else's).
Four people stand in a room against a wall, smiling for the camera. Rose McDowall and Jill Bryson are in the middle in short dresses and hairbands with plastic flowers and long trailing ribbons. They are flanked by two casually dressed men of a comparable age. The walls have pictures of musicians, it appears to be one of Ringo Starr just behind Jill.
November 26, 2025 at 8:06 AM
strawfansite.bsky.social
Household names like Altered Images, The Bluebells, and Aztec Camera are mixed in with cult heroes like the Shakin' Pyramids, Sophisticated Boom Boom and the French Impressionists - & Rose McDowall's other band The Poems.
November 22, 2025 at 11:23 AM
strawfansite.bsky.social
The Hellfire Club’s owner David Henderson still has the studio ledger and has been kind enough to share it with us. It's a who's who of the phenomenally vibrant Glasgow indie scene of the early 1980s.
Front page of the Hellfire Club ledger with its address, owners' names and the founding date, 4 July 1980
November 22, 2025 at 11:23 AM
strawfansite.bsky.social
44 years ago today, 22 November 1981, an indie quartet called Strawberry Switchblade went to record a demo at the Hellfire Club, a 4-track studio in Glasgow. The 4 young women made a 3 song tape to help them get their first gigs. 🧵
Page from the Hellfire Club ledger dated Sunday 22 November 1981, listing the three songs and which instrument goes on each of the four tracks on the master tape. Page from the Hellfire Club ledger listing the Strawbery Switchblade songs recorded and the instruments used.
November 22, 2025 at 11:23 AM
strawfansite.bsky.social
Strawberry Switchblade backstage at Reading University, 42 years ago today, 12 Nov 1983.

Jill: ‘That was our dressing room – we had to get ready in the public toilets! There we are with a table of beer & crisps in the toilet. The glamour!’

(📸©️Peter McArthur, used with permission)
Rose and Jill sit wearing black polka dot flamenco dresses and large headbands with colourful plastic flowers. in front of them are numerous open beer bottles on a table, beside and behind them are hand basins.
November 12, 2025 at 4:30 PM
strawfansite.bsky.social
If you were rushing out to buy the new Smash Hits this week in 1984 you'd find future Pet Shop Boy Neil Tennant was reviewing the new singles. He declared Strawberry Switchblade's Since Yesterday to be 'one of the few records this week which isn't trying to sound like something else'.
Scan of a section of a page of Smash Hits. It reads: Singles reviewed by Neil Tennant STRAWBERRY SWITCHBLADE Since Yesterday (Korova) This begins, if I’m not mistaken, with a snatch of something famous by the composer Sibelius, and then ventures into a wistful melody, sung in brittle harmonies which touches the heart. One of the few records this week which isn’t trying to sound like something else.
November 9, 2025 at 1:00 PM
strawfansite.bsky.social
Strawberry Switchblade's Jill Bryson & Stephen McRobbie of @thepastels.bsky.social. Taken by Peter McArthur, Jill's partner & prime photographer of the early 1980s Glasgow indie scene. They look bored as it's just Peter testing camera flashes. Outside Peter & Jill's flat, West End Park St, c.1982.
Two young people outside a doorway in a sandstone building. Stephen is on the left in a duffel coat, Jill on the right in blue jacket, daisy print dress and very thick eyeliner. Neither looks like they're posing for the camera. The same two young people outside the doorway in a sandstone building, but taken from further back. As before, Stephen is on the left in a duffel coat, Jill on the right in blue jacket, daisy print dress and very thick eyeliner. Both have their hands in their pockets. Neither looks like they're posing for the camera.
October 31, 2025 at 12:23 PM
strawfansite.bsky.social
Happy birthday to the one & only Rose McDowall, 66 today! The talent, the voice, the endless musical exploration of melancholy beauty, the amazing self-definition & an absolute goth style icon too.

📸 Sin Bozkurt 2016, Peter McArthur c.1983, Gilbert Blecken 1989, unknown
October 21, 2025 at 7:27 AM
strawfansite.bsky.social
Strawberry Switchblade's 1982 4-Piece Demo EP now available on grape coloured vinyl. Pressed for Japan earlier this year, a few copies are now available direct from the label @nightschoolrecords.bsky.social:

night-school.bandcamp.com/album/1982-4...
October 20, 2025 at 3:44 PM
strawfansite.bsky.social
A year ago today Jill Bryson & Rose McDowall were at Glasgow Film Theatre for a panel discussion after a screening of the documentary Since Yesterday: The Untold Story of Scotland's Girl Bands. In this clip they look back on Strawberry Switchblade
October 19, 2025 at 2:58 PM