The stars look very different today. Rest easy Garry Alexander Borland.

Waking to the news that Garry Alexander Borland of Heavy Drapes is no longer with us has set a dark tone for the day for those who knew him.

The loss, the hurt, the confusion, and so many other conflicting emotions that his family and band mates will feel cannot be easily put into words.

When any of us lose someone that we are close to then the feelings are individually unique, but equally as traumatic.

The world stops making sense, the earth beneath our feet feels that little bit less stable, and the waves of grief ebb and flow without any real rhyme or reason.

One minute all is fine, and the next it is not.

Kelly and I have extended our condolences to both family and the band, and we were in two minds about saying anything further, but with some consideration we would like to take this opportunity to say a few words about our experience of working with Garry.

He was simply a diamond of a man. He lived life large fronting Heavy Drapes, but when you spoke to him away from the moments when he was promoting the band he shook off the ‘in your face rentagob’ persona that occasionally riled people who didn’t get the joke, and discovered a gentleman who had time for everyone.

Quick to smile, and quick to offer support, he gave the impression of a man who was standing exactly where he wanted to be in life. He was comfortable. He had his eye on the prize, but gave off the air of someone who knew that it was coming, and while we will never know if that was to be the case we would like to think that it was.

That he was a star is in no doubt. The rest of the world just had to catch up and agree with him.

In general conversation face to face, and online, we spoke of many things. Music was of course the main subject, but surrounding that there were times when he mentioned his family, fleeting comments, but always positive ones. That he loved and cared for then deeply was obvious. He never needed to shout it from the rooftops. It’s was just part of how he carried himself. He also spoke about his band mates in glowing terms.

He was what some people call the real deal, although we often can’t quantify what that is.

We worked with him on two occasions, with both being Heavy Drapes playing alongside Duncan Reid and the Big Heads.

The first time in Audio he pulled me to the side midway through Duncan Reid’s set and thanked me for the opportunity of playing. He didn’t have to. It was our privilege.

He commented that up until that point he hadn’t felt that they had played with bands that fitted with what they were doing, and then quickly added that this was not to be taken as a criticism of previous shows, but just an acknowledgement that it felt right.

I knew what he meant. Everything was clicking into place.

When I pushed some cash into his hand he asked what it was for.

At that moment in time they were considering gigs as paying their dues as they climbed a ladder and hadn’t expected to get paid, but I told him not to be silly and take it.

Here was a guy who had opened for Bowie, played with the New York Dolls, and he was thanking me for allowing him to play and refusing to take money for their performance.

I pressed it on him and he grudgingly accepted it.

The next morning I had a message from him saying the rest of the guys had given him it tight for taking it and he offered to return it.

Again I told him not to be silly. They had worked hard for it, but that’s the guy he was. He wasn’t out to take liberties and wanted to seek out good working relationships with like minded people.

The gig itself was indeed a match made in heaven and we are very proud that we were able to do it all again in NiceNSleazys when Duncan returned to Scotland.

At that one he was quick to thank us for providing a preferred mic stand for him. He was a little surprised as he had admitted that he had stopped asking promoters if they could provide one as it rarely transpired, and on this occasion here it was and he hadn’t even asked.

He didn’t miss these little things. He clocked them, logged it away, and made sure that you knew that he knew with a genuine thank you.

Both gigs have since been described as “you had to have been there” shows, and we would agree. You really did have to be there to fully understand just how good they both were. How everything flowed, how the energy built up to the point that people felt that shiver that sends a signal to the brain that tells you that you should pay attention as you are seeing something very special.

These are the shows that refuel the tank when we think about throwing in the towel. We remember the excitement and the enjoyment, and then we think about how we can aim to grab another piece of it.

We should thank Garry for that. Not just Garry, but everyone who delivers as he did.

What else can we say?

We admired him, we admired his dedication, his confidence, his faux arrogance. We wish we knew him better, that we could have built on the foundations of the relationship we had, but sadly that is not to be now.

We will leave you with a link to an interview that I did with Garry. His own words are always going to resonate more that ours could.

NHC interview with Garry Alexander Borland

And in closing all that is left to say is goodnight Garry. You made it, you will forever be a star mate. At least in our eyes.

Mainy and Kelly