However, on 31 May 1979 something happened which changed the then 8-year-old Francis’ life forever. His sister took him to see the Police, supported by the Cramps, playing at The Apollo in Glasgow.


“I remember it clearly. I immediately became the world’s biggest Police fan, and then I became the world’s biggest fan of their drummer Stewart Copeland,” said Francis.


“I used to play along to their records with kniting needles on the couch so my mum bought me a snare drum for my birthday.


“Luckily for me my mum liked a bargain. When she heard the school was offering free guitar lessons she offered to pay for drumming lessons if I took up the guitar too.


“It was a good move on her part. It was good for me to learn another instrument as it made me a beter musician.”


Aſter leaving school Francis studied marketing at university rather than music but at a time when the independent scene was thriving in Glasgow there was plenty of opportunity to indulge his passion.


70 September 2015


Hanging around the music scene and playing with a variety of bands turned out to be great experience as Francis picked up valuable lessons on how records were produced and promoted.


“There were a lot of bands in Glasgow then. I quickly became the guy people called when they needed a drummer,” said Francis.


By 1986 he had been asked to join the BMX Bandits and another band called the Boy Hairdressers which turned out to be the forerunner of Teenage Fan Club, the group he still plays with today.


Hanging around the music scene and playing with a variety of bands turned out to be great experience as Francis picked up valuable lessons on how records were produced and promoted.


It was therefore no surprise to anyone when in 1996 he set up Shoeshine Records, adding another talent to his rapidly expanding musical career portfolio. Among the many groups and artists he worked with he was instrumental in helping New York Country singer Laura Cantrell get her major break in the UK and Europe in 2000.


“I got sent a couple of her songs and I loved them so much I helped her finish her album and put it out. The response was fantastic. John Peel really went for it in a big way. He even said it was his favourite album of the last 10 years or even possibly his life.


“As a result of the exposure she built up a really big fan base and has never looked back.


“A couple of months ago I was in Spain drumming for her in a couple of shows. I heard her husband telling a Spanish promoter that one of the cleverest things they had done was to go with a Glasgow record label instead of ‘doing that London thing’ and how it had really worked for them.”


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