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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

New repress of Strawberry Switchblade's 1982 4-Piece Demo EP! The label @nightschoolrecords.bsky.social keeps the EP in print, when a batch sells out they get more made, usually in a new colour. They're now issuing it on 500 green vinyl copies. Order from night-school.bandcamp.com/album/1982-4...

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Continuing our celebration of the anniversary of Strawberry Switchblade's Jolene, here's a rundown of the releases. It came out on 🍓Strawberry shaped picture disc in the UK 🍓7" & 12" black vinyl in the UK 🍓7" in Japan 🍓Limited edition 33rpm 12" in the Philippines

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Contact sheet of photos from the session for the Strawberry Switchblade album cover, 1984. (Pics by Peter Anthony McArthur, used with permission)

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Carla J Easton, Radhika & Jill Bryson - three generations of Glasgow singer-singwriter women together at the Old Fruitmarket in the city last night where they performed the Strawberry Switchblade classic Since Yesterday (video hopefully coming soon....)

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Strawberry Switchblade's Jill Bryson will perform Since Yesterday with @henhoose.bsky.social musicians this Sunday in Glasgow! Tickets: www.glasgowlife.org.uk/event/1/hen-...

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Jill Bryson in one of the new Strawberry Switchblade T shirts! The first official band merch in 40 years. There are still some left at @nightschoolrecords.bsky.social Bandcamp: night-school.bandcamp.com/merch

A smiling Jill Bryson wears a black T shirt of the cover artwork from Strawberry Switchblade's Since Yesterday single.

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Strawberry Switchblade, 1984. Jill Bryson told us: ‘That’s a record company promo shoot by Paul Cox. It was the first posh studio shoot that we did for Warners. It was so hot, there was somebody fanning us, I thought we’d look horrendous because it was so sweaty!'

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Strawberry Switchblade, 1985. 📸Midori Tsukagoshi for Japanese magazine Music Life

Close up black and white photo of Jill Bryson and Rose McDowall's faces, both are looking at the camera with gentle smiles

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

"Jill Bryson is a third-year student at art school... when she’s not making dresses, she plays lead guitar in an all-girl band called Strawberry Switchblade." Style tips from a 21 year old student with a big future, Jackie magazine, 12 June 1982

Page from UK teen girls magazine Jackie. Titled 'she's got designs on you', it featured five photos of young women wearing very bright clothes, and text about how Jill Bryson makes her own clothes and accessorises to match.

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Strawberry Switchblade shirts are finally here & shipping! For the first time in 40 years, official band merch. @nightschoolrecords.bsky.social who released the 1982 4-Piece Demo EP are distributing them. night-school.bandcamp.com/merch

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

Good news - for the first time in 40 years there are official Strawberry Switchblade T shirts, so we can get them in whatever size we've become over years! Distributed by @nightschoolrecords.bsky.social who released the 1982 4-Piece Demo EP night-school.bandcamp.com/merch

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

Strawberry Switchblade, with Rose's trademark Antigua finish Fender Coronado II taking pride of place. She bought the guitar from James Kirk of Orange Juice, who also thought up Strawberry Switchblade's name & played on their first two BBC radio sessions. Thanks, James!

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

This week in 1985, Strawberry Switchblade were cover starts of No.1 magazine, a UK weekly music mag for teenagers, with an interview talking about their recent move to London & Jill's agoraphobia.

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

Rose McDowall live in Glasgow! The fabulous @nightschoolrecords.bsky.social, who released Strawberry Switchblade's 1982 4-Piece Demo EP, are having a 15th anniversary celebration at the Fairfield Social Club on 29 and 30 August.

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

This week in 1985, both Smash Hits and No.1 magazines had full page lyric posters for Strawberry Switchblade's new single Let Her Go

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 14/03/2026

There is this photo of Alan Horne, head honcho of Postcard Records, interviewing Viv Albertine of the Slits, while a pre-Strawberry Switchblade Jill Bryson looks on (Glasgow City Hall, 26 September 1979). Gotta wonder if that was for the zine.... 📸©️Peter Anthony McArthur, used with permission

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

41 years ago this week Strawberry Switchblade released Let Her Go - in the UK it came on a limited edition strawberry shaped picture disc. A very few were issued uncut and have become one of the major Strawberry Switchblade rarities.

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Continuing our week marking the anniversary of Strawberry Switchblade's Let Her Go in 1985: the single was given full-page ads in the UK music press - 'from the girls that know'

Black and white advert for Let Her Go. The cover art is large and central, it features Rose and Jill in trademark polka dots with headbands of plastic flowers that trail long ribbons. The text says: "Strawberry Switchblade the new 7 inch and 3 track 12 inch single Let Her Go. 12 inch includes the extra track Michael Who Walks By Night. From the girls that know".

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

There's also the reissue of Rose McDowall's Cut With The Cake Knife album, her demos recorded immediately after Strawberry Switchblade

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

It's Bandcamp Friday! It you order stuff before midnight all the money goes to the label and band. It's a good day to pre-order the new Strawberry Switchblade T shirts (first official merch in 40 years!) night-school.bandcamp.com/merch

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

Strawberry Switchblade official merch, the first in 40 years! Night School Records, who released the 1982 4-Piece Demo, have worked with the band to produce three T shirt designs night-school.bandcamp.com/merch

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

Happy birthday to Jill Bryson, born this day 1961! The voice, the melodies, the songs, the style, always inventive in her myriad forms of creative expression.

Jill Bryson in 1983. She's looking at the camera, heavy eye make-up, hair backcombed, a headband trails long ribbons.

Jill Bryson, photogra[phed by Paul Cox, 1984. A monochrome photo, she looks at the camera, a hand with Indian finger jewellery is raised and holds ribbons trailing from a headband. The image has a high contrast, her facial features are barely defined.

Jill Bryson as a young child, yet wearing a very Strawberry Switchblade outfit - polka dot pinny and a big matching bow in her hair.

Jill Bryson in 2023, in her painting studio

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

WTF is going on here? Strawberry Switchblade are depicted on the picture sleeve for a 1985 single by comedian Russ Abbot! 🧵

The cover of All Night Holiday by Russ Abbot - a painting of a beach scene with pop stars as descrivbed in the post.

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

The songs on the session are very electronic-oriented, and it's easy to imagine the depth that Ryuichi Sakamoto would have brought to them if, as was mooted at the time, he'd produced the band's next album. Here they are together in Tokyo later in 1985. 📸©️Peter McArthur, used with permission

Strawberry Switchblade and Ryuichi Sakamoto sat round a restaurant table, David Balfe squaeezes past behind.

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

Strawberry Switchblade photos from the session for the cover of debut single Trees and Flowers, 1983 📸©️Peter McArthur, used with permission

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

Wonderful find from Robin Rimbaud on X - a 1984 flier for gigs promoted by Bliss, inc Strawberry Switchblade supporting Farmers Boys at Camden Electric Ballroom. It also has Nick Cave when the Bad Seeds were The Cavemen, between the recording & release of From Her To Eternity 🧵

Slightly tatty leaflet listing gigs in March, April and May 1984, including Allen Ginsberg at the Albert Hall, Cocteau Twins at the Royal Festival Hall, and Strawberry Switchblade and Nick Cave at the Electric Ballroom.

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

Something odd just happened - Go Away is now Strawberry Switchblade's second most streamed track on Spotify, overtaking Since Yesterday. 🧵

Screenshot os Strawberry Switchblade's listenrership on Spotify. Trees and Flowers is top with over 39 million streams. Go Away is second with 6 million, 734 thousand, one hundred and twelve streams. Since Yesterday is third with 6 million, 731 thousand, five hundred and twenty two streams.

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

Often described as a punk band, the Poems weren’t the stereotype of fast thrashing. Listening to them you can already hear elements of the hanging, atmospheric melancholia that has been present throughout the careers of Rose and her then-husband Drew McDowall (📸©️Peter McArthur, used with permission)

Close up black and white photo looking down at three people looking up - Drew, Rose and Ian.

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

Rose McDowall's polka dot fixation way preceded Strawberry Switchblade! Here she is with her earlier band, The Poems. The photo shows Rose at the left, Ian sitting next to her, her daughter Keri, and Drew McDowall in a Poems T shirt (plus unidentified person standing).

Black and white photo of five young people. Rose McDowall is leaning against a wall in two-piece trouser suit of sorts with large black polka dots.

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

41 years ago this week the UK saw TV ads for Strawberry Switchblade's Since Yesterday. The single had bobbed about in the low end of the charts since Oct. The record label thought with a bit of a push it could get through the Christmas charts & be a big hit in the new year. They were right.

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

The use of the rock umpaut was probably at its peak in the mid 1980s, spreading far beyond its initial metal territory. If you look on the Strawberry Switchblade alubm cover they're subtly there too. Really, the whole thing should have ended with Motörhead

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

Unused photos from the session for Strawberry Switchblade's debut album cover, 1984. (📸©️ Peter McArthur, used with permission)

Monochrome photo of Jull and Rose in white dresses with black polka dots. Jill leans away, eyes closed while Rose in the foreground looks in the other direction.

Monochrome photo of Jull and Rose in white dresses with black polka dots. Jill and Rose both looking to the left, in different directions

Monochrome photo of Jull and Rose in white dresses with black polka dots. Jill leans backwards with eyes closed while Rose in the foreground faces right but has her head turned to look into the camera

The cover of Strawberry Switchblade's eponymous debut album. A monochrome photo of Jull and Rose in white dresses with black polka dotshas been coloured so their lips are red and the plastic flowered headbands trailing ribbons are all in colour.

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

Strawberry Switchblade - Hyde Park, London, summer 1983 (📸©️ Peter McArthur, used with permission)

Jill and Rose lie on the grass in the sunshine wearing polka dots and shades

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

The interview, in which Jill described the band as 'scabby witches from Scotland', had their characteristic mix of their punk roots, namechecking underappreciated bands, frank talk about politics, personal trauma punk, and playful challenging of norms.

A scan of the two page feature in Smash Hits, with one page taken up with a photo of the band.

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

41 years ago this week, December 1984, if you were rushing out to buy the latest Smash Hits you'd have found Strawberry Switchblade on their first ever national magazine cover.

Cover of Smash Hits magazine featuring Strawberry Switchblade in all their ribboned, backcombed polka dot finery, looking at the camera

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

Strawberry Switchblade in the studio during the recording of their album, mid 1984. As befits a practical, work-focused day they are underdressed by their standards (though still flamboyant by anyone else's).

Four people stand in a room against a wall, smiling for the camera. Rose McDowall and Jill Bryson are in the middle in short dresses and hairbands with plastic flowers and long trailing ribbons. They are flanked by two casually dressed men of a comparable age. The walls have pictures of musicians, it appears to be one of Ringo Starr just behind Jill.

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

Household names like Altered Images, The Bluebells, and Aztec Camera are mixed in with cult heroes like the Shakin' Pyramids, Sophisticated Boom Boom and the French Impressionists - & Rose McDowall's other band The Poems.

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

The Hellfire Club’s owner David Henderson still has the studio ledger and has been kind enough to share it with us. It's a who's who of the phenomenally vibrant Glasgow indie scene of the early 1980s.

Front page of the Hellfire Club ledger with its address, owners' names and the founding date, 4 July 1980

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

44 years ago today, 22 November 1981, an indie quartet called Strawberry Switchblade went to record a demo at the Hellfire Club, a 4-track studio in Glasgow. The 4 young women made a 3 song tape to help them get their first gigs. 🧵

Page from the Hellfire Club ledger dated Sunday 22 November 1981, listing the three songs and which instrument goes on each of the four tracks on the master tape.

Page from the Hellfire Club ledger listing the Strawbery Switchblade songs recorded and the instruments used.

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

Strawberry Switchblade backstage at Reading University, 42 years ago today, 12 Nov 1983. Jill: ‘That was our dressing room – we had to get ready in the public toilets! There we are with a table of beer & crisps in the toilet. The glamour!’ (📸©️Peter McArthur, used with permission)

Rose and Jill sit wearing black polka dot flamenco dresses and large headbands with colourful plastic flowers. in front of them are numerous open beer bottles on a table, beside and behind them are hand basins.

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 09/11/2025

If you were rushing out to buy the new Smash Hits this week in 1984 you'd find future Pet Shop Boy Neil Tennant was reviewing the new singles. He declared Strawberry Switchblade's Since Yesterday to be 'one of the few records this week which isn't trying to sound like something else'.

Scan of a section of a page of Smash Hits. It reads:

Singles reviewed by Neil Tennant

STRAWBERRY SWITCHBLADE
Since Yesterday
(Korova)

This begins, if I’m not mistaken, with a snatch of something famous by the composer Sibelius, and then ventures into a wistful melody, sung in brittle harmonies which touches the heart. One of the few records this week which isn’t trying to sound like something else.

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

Strawberry Switchblade's Jill Bryson & Stephen McRobbie of @thepastels.bsky.social. Taken by Peter McArthur, Jill's partner & prime photographer of the early 1980s Glasgow indie scene. They look bored as it's just Peter testing camera flashes. Outside Peter & Jill's flat, West End Park St, c.1982.

Two young people outside a doorway in a sandstone building. Stephen is on the left in a duffel coat, Jill on the right in blue jacket, daisy print dress and very thick eyeliner. Neither looks like they're posing for the camera.

The same two young people outside the doorway in a sandstone building, but taken from further back. As before, Stephen is on the left in a duffel coat, Jill on the right in blue jacket, daisy print dress and very thick eyeliner. Both have their hands in their pockets. Neither looks like they're posing for the camera.

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

Happy birthday to the one & only Rose McDowall, 66 today! The talent, the voice, the endless musical exploration of melancholy beauty, the amazing self-definition & an absolute goth style icon too. 📸 Sin Bozkurt 2016, Peter McArthur c.1983, Gilbert Blecken 1989, unknown

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

Strawberry Switchblade's 1982 4-Piece Demo EP now available on grape coloured vinyl. Pressed for Japan earlier this year, a few copies are now available direct from the label @nightschoolrecords.bsky.social: night-school.bandcamp.com/album/1982-4...

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

A year ago today Jill Bryson & Rose McDowall were at Glasgow Film Theatre for a panel discussion after a screening of the documentary Since Yesterday: The Untold Story of Scotland's Girl Bands. In this clip they look back on Strawberry Switchblade

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

Strawberry Switchblade record company promotional photos for the press, 1984. 📸1 - unknown 📸2 - Peter McArthur 📸3 - Paul Cox

Black and white photo. Face to face from the side, turned to the camera.

Black and white photo, close up of faces. Rose lies down with eyes closed, Jill leans over her from behind and looks at the camera

black and white shot from across the room. High contrast so subtle details are lost. Both wear a lot of white polka dots.

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

Strawberry Switchblade, September 1985, around the time of their Jolene single. 📸 Mike Prior for No 1 magazine

Close up photo ina studio. Jill has red lipstick, crimped red hair and a hairband with red plastic roses. Rose stands next to her in a black PVC catsuit with black crimped hair and a diamante tiara, with purpley blue lipstick.

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

Strawberry Switchblade, 1984/5. The person in their 1980s body warmer unintentionally serves to highlight the dramatic pizzazz of the band's aesthetic.

Outdoor photo, unposed, with Jill and Rose smiling at an unknown person. It's a sunny day, on the left is a person turned away from camera with long dark hair, wearing a red body warmer, checked shirt and blue jeans. In the centre is Jill Bryson with red back combed hair and a green strapless dress with black polka dots and black velevet sleeves. On the right is Rose McDowall in a white dress with black polka dots and ra-ra skirt.

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

Happy birthday to David Balfe, ex-Teardrop Explodes keyboard player & Strawberry Switchblade manager. Balfey produced debut single Trees & Flowers & final single I Can Feel, played keyboards on tracks like Beautiful End, & co-wrote Black Taxi too. (Pic captions in next post 🧵)

Black and white sepia toned photo of Balfe sat in a chair staring into space next to Jill and Rose.

Bright sunny day sat round an outdoor table at a cafe or restaurant. Balfe, Jill and Rose look surprisingly subdued for people who've just bagged a record deal. It has the air of 'we're restlessly waiting for our food, why are you taking a photo?'

Rose, Jill and Sakamoto sat at a restaurant table, Balfe stands beside it.

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