Roy Moller

Roy Moller (born July 3, 1963) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, formerly with outfit , who embarked on a solo career in 2004. He is well respected in indie pop circles and has collaborated on numerous occasions with Belle & Sebastian guitarist Stevie Jackson. He writes 60s-influenced guitar pop and has earned comparisons to The Kinks' singer Ray Davies.

Biography

Roy Moller was born in Edinburgh and grew up in Leith before moving to Glasgow to attend Strathclyde University. He was the joint winner of the university's Keith Wright Poetry Competition in 1985 with two sonnets: one about Allen Ginsberg and one about Jim Morrison. After graduating, he played in The Huxleys (1989 to 1991) who were fronted by fellow student and future author Laura Marney.

Meth O.D.

In 1994, Moller joined Meth O.D., playing guitar alongside former Golden Dawn frontman Rob Smith. Moller featured prominently on 1995's Cyberbilly EP, 1996's Avoid Freud EP, 1997's Texas God Starvation album and 1998's Dry Riser album. After Meth O.D. split, Moller and frontman Rob Smith continued writing together under the RobRoy moniker.

The Wow Kafe

In 2000, Moller formed instrumental guitar band with Bill Wright. Their 2001 Over Kansas EP featured Moller on lead guitar on "Who Shall Apologise To The Emperor", a song "NME" described as "utterly ace".

Solo career

Moller released his first solo single, Maximum Smile, on the German label Felicite in 2003. The song, one of the tunes co-written with Rob Smith, received positive press and went on to appear on Moller's 2006 debut album.

After the success of the Maximum Smile single, Moller left The Wow Kafe to pursue a solo career. In 2004 he released Second City Firsts, a six-song polycabonate lathe-cut on Heliotone. The following year produced the Fermez La Bouch maxi-single on Pickled Egg and saw Moller begin recording songs for his debut album.

Moller's debut album, Speak When I'm Spoken To, was released in December 2006 on Book Club Records. It featured appearances from Belle & Sebastian members Stevie Jackson and Bobby Kildea, as well as Gary Thom (The Moondials, Astrid), Zac Ware (The Proclaimers touring member), Bill Wright (The Wow Kafe), Ulric Kennedy (Golden Dawn), Stef La Batteur (Meth O.D., The Wow Kafe, Twin Atlantic), Warren Macintyre (The Moondials, The Ducks), Craig Laurie (The Starlets), Ronan Breslin (Hardbody, The Ducks) and Sporting Hero. Stevie Jackson co-produced a number of tracks, while Ulric Kennedy produced two songs.

In 2007, Moller contributed Magnificent Dreams to the bonus disc of The Beautiful Music's second Television Personalites tribute album, I Would Write A Thousand Words.

Collaborations

Roy Moller has co-written Belle & Sebastian songs with guitarist Stevie Jackson, including "Seymour Stein" and "Chickfactor" (The Boy With The Arab Strap, 1998), "Roy Walker" (Dear Catastrophe Waitress, 2003), "I Believe In Travellin' Light" ("I'm A Cuckoo" single, 2004), "I Took A Long Hard Look" ("Funny Little Frog" single, 2006) and "Portland, Oregon" (unreleased). He also briefly appears in the video for Belle & Sebastian's "The Wrong Girl".

Moller and Jackson have been friends for approximately 15 years. They met at an Elvis Costello concert and bonded over a mutual love of the same music. They first worked together when Jackson produced Moller's Maximum Smile single for Felicite.

Moller also played guitar on German pop group The Happy Couple's 2005 single, "Hopeless Case". The song appeared on their Fools In Love EP, released on .

Roy Walker

As well as co-writing "Roy Walker", track 11 on 2003's Dear Catastrophe Waitress album, Roy Moller is also the subject of the song. In a 2006 interview with "Rave Magazine", Moller revealed the story behind the composition.

"I'm not a particularly good sleeper. And when I used to live in flats in the West End of Glasgow - the artsier part, cobbled streets, delis and so on - I would walk the streets with my walkman on, just soaking up the atmosphere. I would think about what it was like in the past in those places, ad that's where the song developed from really. Stevie and I wrote it about someone who's open to the idea of different times co-existing with the present."

Dyspraxia

In 2005, Roy Moller was diagnosed with dyspraxia. He formed Adult Dyspraxia Scotland with Sheena Wannan and became Executive Musical Director of Dyspraxia USA for which he wrote and recorded the theme song "I'm Wired".

Writing

An occasional writer, Moller has also contributed to magazines such as Strathcyle Telgraph (including an interview with Monty Python's Terry Jones in 1982), Top, Meantime, Bigwig (including an interview with Belle & Sebastian members Stuart Murdoch and Stuart David in 1986) and isthismusic? (interviews with Josef K, Orange Juice and Aztec Camera guitarist Malcom Ross in 2006).

Solo discography

*"Maximum Smile" (single on Felicité label, 2003)
*Second City Firsts (six-song polycarbonate lathe-cut EP on Heliotone, 2004)
*"Fermez La Bouche" (maxi-single on Pickled Egg, 2005)
*Speak When I'm Spoken To (album on Book Club Records, 2006)

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