Cult Heroes: Strawberry Switchblade

*The duo of Rose McDowall and Jill Bryson projected an image that was deceptively bright, all pretty bows and polka-dots, but their minds were dark.*

Rose McDowall’s career has followed a typically cult-hero path; like Alex Chilton, she went from pop star to troubled recluse in the blink of an eye. A punk rocker from Glasgow, she was part of the same burgeoning indie scene as Orange Juice. Her first band was the Poems, in which she played drums standing up, just like Maureen Tucker of her beloved Velvet Underground. The Poems did a gig with OJ at the Glasgow College of Technology, during which half of each group appeared on stage and swapped instruments.

It was Orange Juice guitarist James Kirk who named her next outfit, a duo with Jill Bryson, Strawberry Switchblade. With their flamboyant image – all bows and polka-dot dresses – and pop hits like Since Yesterday (No 5 in 1985), they were Smash Hits cover stars. Such was their ubiquity that McDowall remembers being on Oxford Street in London and a group of girls shouting at her: “You’re trying to look like Strawberry Switchblade!” Read more >