A movie about the Scots record label boss who discovered Oasis is in the pipeline, with Spud actor Bremner in the lead role.
CREATION Records legend Alan McGee believes Ewen Bremner will be perfect to play him on the big screen — because the Trainspotting star is ugly enough.
A movie about the Scots record label boss who discovered Oasis is in the pipeline, with Spud actor Bremner in the lead role.
And Alan reckons his own lack of looks actually helped him become one of the most successful men in the music industry.
He says: “Ewen Bremner was absolutely brilliant in Trainspotting 2. He would be f***ing great at playing me.
“One of the reasons I made it was because I wasn’t a good-looking guy. No one took any notice of me. They didn’t see me coming.
“And before they knew it, I had the biggest band in the world.”
Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh has penned the script for McGee’s life story, while Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels star Nick Moran will direct, with filming due to start next year.
McGee, 57, adds: “They took the movie over to the San Francisco Film Festival last month to punt it or get funding or whatever. God knows, as films are not my world.
“But it’s a great a story that deserves to be told.”
‘Plain-looking dude no one took seriously’
Alan formed indie label Creation Records in 1983, and it went on to nurture successful acts including Primal Scream, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Teenage Fanclub, My Bloody Valentine and The Libertines.
But next year marks the 25th anniversary of the incident that has passed into musical folklore when he walked into Glasgow venue King Tut’s and signed Manchester newcomers Oasis.
Brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher and the group went on to sell 70million records worldwide before splitting for good in 2009.
And time has not proved to be a healer, with the feuding siblings still at each other’s throats.
Alan sighs: “Yes it will soon be 25 years since King Tut’s — but I’ll let Liam and Noel talk about themselves.”
The movie will also chart Alan’s infamous drug addiction, which saw him forget the whole of 1993 except for the moment he signed the Gallaghers.
However, the early years of the biopic will focus on his time playing bass in various bands in Glasgow during the punk era of the late 1970s.
And after a 40-year gap, he has recently been in touch again with singer Ian Donaldson, who formed the group H20 with him.
The East Kilbride-born music mogul explained: “I have known Ian since about 1978. I used to go and see him in this band he was in called Skroo. They were a kind of punk/pop band.
“He was a great singer and frontman. The band weren’t that good, although I really liked him. So we formed this band H20 with Ian as the singer. I’m pretty sure it was Ian’s idea and I might even have been the first member.
“He got me in to play bass. I was just 18 at the time.”
Their first gig was a huge CND rally in Glasgow’s Elder Park before going on to play the city’s Mars Bar club. He recalls: “I loved Glasgow when it was in the throes of punk rock.
“It was a good time as everyone was finding themselves.”
And Alan believes the original line-up of H20 — who went on to have 80s hits I Dream To Sleep and Just Outside Of Heaven after he left — was a talent factory.
He explains: “Andrew Innes was in the band and he went on to join Primal Scream and Neil Clark joined Lloyd Cole And The Commotions. Then you had myself, who did the whole Creation Records thing, and Ian, who took H20 into the charts.
“We were a little band of leaders. If anything, there were too many chiefs and not enough Indians. It never ended badly or with us slagging each other off. There were certainly no bad vibes.”
Alan has even been helping Ian on his latest projects — including the video for his new song Ticker Tape Parade ,which the former frontman will perform at his gigs at Glasgow’s Websters Theatre next year.
He says: “Ian’s been sending me his new stuff and I’ve been giving him friendly advice. I am also going to see his shows in February. I’m just so proud he’s still doing it after all these years.”
However, the multi-millionaire music guru — who still manages a host of groups including Black Grape — has ruled out making a guest appearance.
He laughs: “No, I don’t want to spoil the show. I kind of stopped playing guitar in the late 80s.”
And Alan, who has appeared as himself in two low-budget films The Kubricks and Svengali, is now looking forward to someone else playing him on screen.
He says: “It’s funny, because if I had looked like Ewan McGregor instead of Ewen Bremner it might have been really difficult to make it in my business.
“That was definitely one of the reasons why I achieved a lot of success — because I was just this plain-looking Scottish dude who no one took seriously.”
Ian Donaldson plays Glasgow’s Websters Theatre on Feb 9 and 10. For tickets log on to toytownrecords.com
matt.bendoris@the-sun.co.uk
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