For a film about a punk wheeler-dealer sensibility to music promotion and a climax centred around the chaos of organising a heavy metal show, Dave McLean’s Schemers has more in common with MOR.

“That boy is Dave McLean, a chancing gig promoter originally from Dundee who built up quite a rep for himself at the turn of the 80s that eventually lead to a three-decade long career in the music industry, nowadays perhaps best known for managing Placebo.  This here is an independently-produced biopic about those early days, specifically the ones leading up to him successfully booking a fast-rising Iron Maiden to play Caird Hall, co-written and directed by the man himself, and, as the opening titles state, ‘proudly made in Dundee.’  Aiming for the midpoint between Michael Winterbottom’s classic Tony Wilson biopic 24 Hour Party People and the sprightly mostly-light-hearted japery of early Guy Ritchie gangster movies, McLean’s debut turn behind the film camera (in any capacity) is diverting enough but fails to leave any lasting impression and ultimately feels forever half-cocked.”

Full review exclusively at Soundsphere Magazine (link).

Callie Petch slides on tracks like home plate.