Kevin Francis McDermott (born 10 February 1962 in Glasgow, Scotland) is a Scottish musician, singer and songwriter.
Early life
Kevin Francis McDermott was born 10 February 1962, to Evelyn and Frank McDermott. He has two younger brothers, Paul, and Jim. When his family emigrated to Canada for a period, he attended the Holy Name School in Toronto. Upon their return to Glasgow, he attended Our Lady of the Assumption School, in Ruchill, and then St Charles School, and St Columba of Iona School, in Maryhill.
The first album McDermott bought was Buddy Holly Lives. He was influenced by both Buddy Holly, and The Beatles. He was given an acoustic guitar by his Uncle Joe, at age 14, and taught himself to play by ear.
McDermott joined Yarrow Shipbuilders Limited in 1978, when he was sixteen years old, working as a ship draughtsman.
Inspired, after attending the farewell concert of The Rezillos at The Apollo (Glasgow), McDermott started to write and perform live, both solo, and with The Suede Crocodiles.
The Suede Crocodiles
In 1982, McDermott (vocals/guitar) formed Glaswegian band, Popgun, with Davie McCormick (drums), and Ross Drummond (bass/vocals). They were later joined by Roddy Johnson (vocals/guitar).
In 1983, having changed their name to The Suede Crocodiles, they released a single, Stop The Rain, written by McDermott, on the NoStrings record label run by Nick Low and Grahame Cochrane. Low had started managing the band after seeing them perform at The Venue, Glasgow, in 1982.
The Suede Crocodiles joined Nick Heyward on a UK wide tour, including two sell-out gigs at the Dominion Theatre in London.
Alan Cruickshank later replaced Davie McCormick on drums, but the band split up before releasing their second single, Paint Yourself a Rainbow.
Johnson and Drummond went on to form The Forth Room, and McDermott went solo. Stop the Rain, a compilation of unreleased material, was released in 2001 on Accident Records, and re-released in 2010 on Fastcut Records.
McDermott's "swinging" Stop The Rain was described as "hook heaven" on Soundblab.
Solo career: 1980s
In 1986, McDermott released an acoustic album, Suffocation Blues, on the NoStrings label. The record was produced by Rab Noakes.
In 1986, McDermott contributed the track The Right to Reply to the Honey at the Core fanzine's compilation cassette. The compilation was described as "the '86 school of most likely to" by NME (who had recently released their own C86 compilation), and was created by John Williamson.
Later that year, McDermott played at The Marquee and the Sheffield Leadmill with Del Amitri.
In August 1986, McDermott travelled across the United States, alongside Del Amitri, playing impromptu gigs, whilst travelling from coast to coast in a borrowed van. They performed 12 shows, in six weeks, in record shops, bars, and restaurants. By the time he returned to Scotland in September 1986, McDermott had decided to form a band of his own.
Kevin McDermott Orchestra
McDermott formed the Kevin McDermott Orchestra/KMO, with an initial line-up of Jim McDermott on drums, Steph Greer on bass, and Chris Bramble on percussion. They started performing the material that would become KMO's first album. Early support slots included The Icicle Works and The Monochrome Set.
McDermott distributed KMO demos to record companies, the recordings now without Bramble, and with Iain Harvie, and they were soon signed to Island Records. In 1989, KMO recorded Mother Nature's Kitchen. The line-up for the album recording was Jim McDermott, Steph Greer, Robbie McIntosh, Blair Cowan, and David Crichton.
Marco Rossi joined KMO on guitar, having been recommended to McDermott by Robbie McIntosh. The band then began touring Mother Nature's Kitchen in the UK, and Ireland.
In 1990, KMO embarked on a US tour with The Alarm, and then, for the next four years, on stadium support tours, with Sting, INXS, and Simple Minds. They played at Wembley Stadium in 1991, supporting Rod Stewart on his Vagabond Heart tour, alongside Joe Cocker.
When Island Records founder Chris Blackwell sold his stake in the company, KMO were one of several bands who lost their investment during the shake-up, and subsequently left the label.
In June 1990, KMO played at George Square, Glasgow; part of The Big Day concert. The Big Day, a highlight of the European City of Culture celebrations, was the largest free concert ever to be held in Scotland, with a quarter of a million fans attending.