The Wheelies | tl

The Wheelies are a lo-fi folk-pop band who formed in the summer of 1993 in Fife, Scotland. The original line-up consisted of four friends from high school - Smally (vox/songs), Slight (lead guitar), Ali (bass/the occasional lines from the occasional songs), and Moppy (guitar/whistling/bongos/black bullets). Influenced by bands like The Beatles, The Stone Roses, The Velvet Underground, Ride, and Bob Dylan, they attempted to write psychedelic pop songs, recording several lo-fi cassettes on borrowed 4-tracks or portable cassette recorders between 1993 and 1996. Collections included 'The Wheelies Forever' (1994), 'Groovin On Up In The Sun' (1995), 'Freewheelin' (1995), 'The Grassmarket Recordings' (1996), and 'Rubba Kola' (1996). Most of these tapes have since been lost, but a selection of the tracks were compiled for CD in 2004 and released as 'The Shite Album' for free download in 2009 through Cozy Home Records. Tracks from this time were often improvised and experimental with snippets of dialogue, laughter and mistakes. It is widely agreed that the 'songs' from this period were some of the most mediocre ever written and recorded in the history of song-writing.

In the summer of 1997 Smally wrote and recorded the first official Wheelies record 'Simple Songs For Complicated People', locked in a bedroom for 20 days with an acoustic guitar and a keyboard. He was helped on several tracks by Ali and 'fifth Wheelie' Martin Jose Franco Gillandrez (guitar/vox) and the finished tape was greeted with no critical acclaim whatsoever. One further cassette of experimental tracks and songs were compiled in 1998 called 'These Are The Songs...', but after that The Wheelies stopped making music. Smally started writing and painting, Slight stopped playing guitar, Ali's lung collapsed, and Moppy joined Glasgow band The People.

Then in early 2006 Smally listened to 'The Shite Album' and horrified that this would be the legacy of the band, went out and bought the cheapest guitar he could find to write a new record. In May 2006 with help from Ali, his wife Linzi, and nephew Rhys Sabin, he released 'Oh Happiness', recorded using free software on a home computer. This record became the first Wheelies release through Utica, NY based indie-label Cozy Home Records. In September of 2006 with Slight and Martin they made another record called 'Wake Me Up When It's Over'. This was the last time The Wheelies wrote and recorded together as a band.

Since then, Smally has gone on to make several more Wheelies albums on his own. 'Cosmonaut' for the Cozy Home Carboard Box-Set (Dec 2006), 'Respun' (Jan 07), and 'Strange Kid In A Daydream' (May 07) were all released through Cozy Home Records as free downloads. A backwards collaboration record called 'Ylfnogard' was made with The Amalfi Glow in September 2007 that remains unreleased, a 'Best Of' the five Cozy Home albums called 'The Wheelie' was released as a free download through Quixodelic Records in 2008, and a final record called 'A Scientific Study of Cloud Shapes' featuring Jane Gilmore (vox), Tim Schram (drums), and The Pirate Pipsqueak Band (shouting) was also released through Quixodelic in 2009. Smally has also been involved in several collaboration projects, including: Kaleidonauts with Jon of the Atom, Warchalking, and Jane Gilmore; The Painted Shuts with Paul Burnout; and The Utica Flower Company with Simon Piler, Becky N, Warchalking, Paul Burnout, Bobby Rogan, and Luke Humann.

The Wheelies have no plans to make any more records. .