Lindsey’s band play to raise cash for roller girls

Lindsey Watson can still recall the nicest compliment she received when playing roller derby.

“Someone called me a nuisance once, after a game,” says the woman who skates under the name Haberbashery.

“Normally that’s rude and I’d be offended, but here I was like ‘Yes, you can’t get past me!’.”

Lindsey is the Amphetameanies’ trombone player and a blocker with the Glasgow Roller Girls team, the rough and tumble sport recently spotlighted on the big screen in Drew Barrymore’s Whip It.

But a world of Hollywood glamour is a long way away from the girls’ current status in Glasgow, and that’s why the Amphetameanies, Scotland’s purveyors of ska-punk, will be headlining a bill at Stereo on Friday night, aiming to raise funds for the team.

“When you’re a roller girl, no-one actually makes money from it” says Lindsey.

“It’s non-profit. Hiring halls to practice in and getting uniforms can all add up, so you always need to find funds. Some of us will travel abroad to play, so it can go towards things like travel and accommodation.”

Roller derby has exploded in popularity over the past few years. The Glasgow Roller Girls team became the first in Scotland when they started up in 2007, and now they’ve proved so popular that they have a waiting list, as well as two teams.

The sport itself centres around a “jammer”, who scores points by passing opponents as they race around a track. Her team-mates attempt to create room for her by blocking and barging opponents as they go along.

And for Lindsey, there’s a shared buzz in taking part in roller derby and in performing with the Amphetameanies, who are fresh off supporting Toots & the Maytals when the legends visited Glasgow.

“The buzz is quite similar. It always comes, with both things. It makes you raise your voice too, whether you’re shouting to your teammates or bandmates. There’s not as much padding with the Meanies though!”

Sitting alongside Lindsey are two fellow Roller Girls, Shona Marshall, who’s a sound engineer at Stereo, and Sarah McMillan, a charity worker.

All are keen to emphasise the fact that roller derby is suitable for all shapes, sizes and ages of women.

“It’s a very inclusive sport – that’s what so good about it. You don’t get people looking down on you for the way you look, or anything like that.”

“Women like the fact it’s women only and that all different types of women can play,” suggests Sarah.

“And men like it because it’s a bit different – when guys watch it, they can’t believe it – the ooohs and aaaahs are genuine. That’s when you know you’ve had a big hit.”

And Lindsey feels that Friday’s Stereo gig will offer a fitting line-up, as there’s always been a cross-over between punks’ DIY spirit , and the origins of the roller derby revival.

“It’s all about doing what you love. It was a bunch of punk girls who really led the resurgence out in places like Austin, Texas, and there’s that DIY thing – it’s run by the skaters, they’re the ones who organise and arrange everything. You don’t have to be a punk to be a roller girl though, you can like, say, the music of Tom Jones too!”

As for Lindsey’s work with the Meanies, that maybe isn’t progressing at quite the frantic pace of a roller derby match, but it is moving ahead.

The ska collective first formed 13 years ago, and initially included Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos, inset left, as one of their number. The nine-piece outfit have since released two albums in that time, with a third release apparently on the way, with the band having been working out at Belle & Sebastian’s studios in Finnieston.

And, according to Lindsey, roller-derby can influence your life in other ways too.

“I was at a Proclaimers concert and this guy was trying to skip the queue. I just went to block him!

“My boyfriend looked at me, and I was like ‘it doesn’t matter, I’ve got my back set’, which is how you block.

“He was like ‘I don’t think that matters’. But the guy didn’t make it through, anyway…”