Aztec Camera

Albums

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About Aztec Camera

The main musical outlet for singer, songwriter, and guitarist Roddy Frame, Aztec Camera were one of Scotland’s leading indie-pop bands during their ’80s and ’90s heyday. Formed in 1980 by the then-teenage Frame, who lived in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, Aztec Camera debuted on a cassette compilation of local bands and followed that up with “Just Like Gold,” a strummy, wistful song released as the A-side of a 1981 7-inch. Their debut album, High Land, Hard Rain, followed in 1983, its wiry opener “Oblivious” becoming a cult hit on both sides of the Atlantic. Frame and a rotating cast of musicians—which included, at various points, members of the New Wave scene like Mick Jones of The Clash, Smiths guitarist Craig Gannon, and composer/keyboardist Ryuichi Sakamoto—would go on to release five more albums between 1984 and 1995. From then on, Frame released music under his own name, although he performed High Land, Hard Rain in full at three UK shows celebrating the album’s 30th anniversary in 2013.

ORIGIN
East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, Scotland
FORMED
1981
GENRE
Rock

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