Revealed on 5 September 2025
11 minutes learn
The founder member of a legendary Scottish Indie band has spoken about the important thing position a Church of Scotland congregation performed in its early growth.
Stuart Murdoch, lead singer of Belle and Sebastian, mentioned the encouragement and help offered to him by members of Hyndland Parish Church in Glasgow within the early Nineteen Nineties was pivotal and the catalyst for future success.
Unemployed and directionless on the time, the congregation, led by Very Rev John Christie, allowed him to reside in a flat above the church corridor free of charge for greater than 5 years in trade for caretaker duties.
This enabled the now internationally acclaimed band to make use of the house to recurrently observe and rehearse when it was not in use by group teams and so they recorded a number of albums there.
Weeks after he stepped via the doorways of the church for the primary time in 1991 on the age of twenty-two, Mr Murdoch’s life modified dramatically when he joined the church choir – a double quartet.
Encouragement
One of many members was the late Dr Maggie Stockwell, a extremely regarded anaesthetist and completed soprano singer, who gave him tricks to strengthen the ability of his voice.
One other large supporter of the proficient younger man was the church organist, the late John Langdon, a celebrated musician and lecturer on the Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, in Glasgow.
A dedicated Christian who serves the identical church to today as an elder and worship chief, Mr Murdoch shared his reminiscences as Belle and Sebastian put together to tour throughout the UK, Europe, USA, Canada and Mexico subsequent 12 months to have fun the thirtieth anniversary of their first two albums, ‘Tigermilk’ and ‘If You are Feeling Sinister’.
He appeared on the Edinburgh Ebook Competition just lately to advertise his new ebook, ‘No one’s Empire’, a coming of age work of fiction primarily based on his personal life and was re-united with Mr Christie, who served as Moderator of the Basic Meeting of the Church of Scotland 2010-2011.
The minister led Hyndland Parish Church for 14 years and sooner or later noticed a younger man wearing an outsized overcoat sitting alone in a pew and struck up a dialog with him.
The minister is called within the ebook’s acknowledgements together with corridor convener Ann Henderson in recognition of the half they performed in steering the course of the musician’s life.
As we speak, the church is known as Broomhill Hyndland Parish Church following a merger in 2017 and Mr Murdoch continues to be a member of the choir.
He continues to reside with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), a situation that led to him returning to his Christian religion whereas unemployed and looking for which means in his life.
A God second
Reflecting on 1991, Mr Murdoch mentioned: “I had been unwell for plenty of years, I needed to give all the things up and I moved again to my folks’s home in Ayr.
“I had been in hospital for some time and simply had a horrible time and life had fully modified.
“As soon as I used to be out of the hospital, I had a kind of revelation whereas sitting on the piano in my people’ home and felt that God was making an attempt to get my consideration.
“That’s when my religion was reawakened and I moved again to Glasgow in 1991 with a buddy Michael and we managed to get a flat in Hyndland.
“We weren’t effectively sufficient to work and had been simply making an attempt to outlive in Glasgow.
“Sooner or later he mentioned to me that I used to be at all times singing previous hymns and ‘it is best to go to church’.
“I replied ‘I am not going to church’ as at the moment I had no curiosity as a result of I felt my religion was a non-public factor and it was fragile.
“However the subsequent morning, I received up and I believed ‘I’m wondering the place the closest church is?’
“So, I threw my trousers on over my pyjamas and I dashed out and walked as much as this church.
“An previous woman standing exterior smiled at me and I simply adopted her in and this was Hyndland Parish Church.”
Trying again, Mr Murdoch, who’s now 58, mentioned he didn’t actually need to become involved with the every day lifetime of the congregation due to his well being and merely needed to be an observer.
“I sat close to the entrance and needed to see if my concept of religion and what was being espoused from the pulpit had something in widespread,” he recalled.
“I used to be pleasantly shocked as a result of I had not been in church since I used to be a child and it was rather more open, friendlier and simpler to digest than my reminiscence of it.
“John Christie was a younger man to me on the time and his character gave the impression to be variety and I loved the service.
“He got here as much as me afterwards and mentioned hiya and invited me again the subsequent week and after just a few weeks of attending I discussed to him that I used to be considering music.
“He known as John Langdon over and mentioned, ‘here’s a chap who’s considering music, can you set him within the choir?
“I used to be on the College of Glasgow doing music part-time however I used to be nonetheless struggling to maintain up with it power sensible, and I initially thought ‘I do not need to be within the choir’.
“However inside the subsequent week there I used to be standing up on the sharp finish with a purple robe on with Maggie and her husband Ian and the remainder of the double quartet.”
Caretaker
Mr Murdoch attended the church for the subsequent 4 years and in 1995 his life took a major activate a number of fronts.
“At the moment, I had damaged up with my girlfriend and ended up being booted out of the flat I used to be in and John Christie should have heard as a result of he got here as much as me and requested me how I used to be getting on.
“He defined that Ernie, the earlier church officer, was retiring and there’s a flat above the church corridor, which was separate to the church, and the Kirk Session needed somebody to reside there and take care of the place.”
Mr Murdoch continued: “Ann Henderson mentioned to me ‘in case you take us on, we’ll take you on.
“So, I moved into the flat and began work as a jannie, sweeping the corridor each night time.
“It went from getting used two nights every week to seven nights and days by totally different teams.
“The place was going like a good and it actually stored me busy as a result of I’d clear up at night time and arrange within the morning for all kinds of teams like Moms and Toddlers and the Bridge Membership.
“I wasn’t an excellent jannie however I attempted my finest and for a lot of folks I used to be at all times simply the man upstairs.”
With a chuckle, Mr Murdoch mentioned: “The previous girls used to at all times attempt to go as much as my flat and take a look round.
“They might chap the door and say, ‘listed below are some left over sandwiches and desserts from this morning’ which had been at all times gratefully acquired however I’d at all times stand there and assume to myself ‘nope, you aren’t coming in’.
“I had to attract the road as a result of my flat was messy and it was filled with music tools and I do not assume anyone from the church would have been very impressed with the way in which I used to be protecting it.”
It was round this time in 1995 that Mr Murdoch and his buddy Stuart David recruited some native musicians and so they fashioned ‘Belle and Sebastian’, named after a brief story a couple of boy and his canine.
“The lifetime of the band and my life on the church went collectively hand-in-hand, it was symbiosis,” he mentioned.
“Our second album, If You are Feeling Sinister, was made in 1996.
“I’d present the band the brand new songs that I had written on the piano within the large corridor as a result of as quickly as individuals utilizing it left, I’d go down there to make use of it and we might observe for the recording of the second LP.
“We had been so comfy within the church corridor as a result of we loved the acoustics and that led to us later recording within the corridor itself.
“When the band began we recorded the primary two albums in an expert studio in Glasgow however then for the subsequent recordings, which turned our first three EPs, we introduced tools into the corridor as a result of we needed to get extra of a reside really feel.”
“That was over Christmas when the corridor was quiet and we sneakily moved recording tools in and we had been recording.
“It was nice enjoyable and really we did the subsequent album, The Boy With The Arab Strap, there as effectively the subsequent summer season.”
Corridor recording
Mr Murdoch mentioned recording within the church corridor meant that you would typically hear noises from exterior like fowl track as a result of it was not soundproof.
“We recorded a observe known as ‘Sleep The Clock Round’ in the summertime of 1997 and there was noise bleeding into the corridor and the engineer needed to cease and somebody was enjoying the bagpipes in a flat on close by Novar Drive.
“We ended up going throughout the road, following the sound, and we discovered the piper and invited him throughout and he ended up enjoying on the report.”
Recalling how being within the choir improved his singing, Mr Murdoch mentioned: “At first, my voice was very tender and Maggie used to face in entrance of me and say ‘Can Belto younger man, Can Belto’, which is unhealthy Latin for ‘belt it out, come on, it is advisable sing up’.
“She actually inspired me to venture my voice and stood me in good stead as a result of within the early days of the band we’re very quiet, we did not play many live shows and we had hassle making ourselves heard.
“However my voice received stronger and I put quite a lot of it right down to singing tenor within the Hyndland choir.”
Mr Murdoch mentioned it was nice to see Mr Christie on the Edinburgh Ebook Competition occasion and he will probably be without end grateful to him.
“The beauty of John and the church typically is that they have at all times been very supportive of ‘Belle and Sebastian’,” he added.
“They’d no qualms and so they might have booted us out of the church corridor as a result of we weren’t singing the Lord’s music, it was rock ‘n’ roll and the band has at all times addressed themes that had been fairly broad.
“However John was at all times very within the band, proper from the outset and really encouraging.
“I feel they had been simply joyful that I would received one thing that was fairly stable as a result of for a superb few years I used to be simply the man that confirmed up on the church, my well being was poor, I used to be raggedly dressed, I did not have a job and did not actually have something happening.
“The band was at all times round and there have been a few events after we carried out within the church and church corridor.”
Mr Murdoch mentioned he gave Mr Christie a particular copy of Belle and Sebastian’s first album, Tigermilk.
“Whenever you make a report, you get what’s known as the check urgent you get again from the manufacturing facility,” he defined.
“You test them in your report participant to test that the urgent is sweet and I gave John a type of with a letter thanking him for his help.
“Partly the rationale he received the check urgent which had a plain white label was as a result of the quilt of our first report was fairly risqué and I did not need to embarrass John or myself.”
Mr Murdoch, who’s married with two kids, mentioned his Christian religion is extraordinarily vital to him and he’s very lively at his church when time permits.
Mr Christie mentioned he was happy to have helped the musician in his youthful days and to be acknowledged within the ebook.
He mentioned he attended one of many band’s earliest live shows in Maryhill Burgh Corridor and years later their worldwide repute was highlighted to him throughout a go to to Taiwan.
“My spouse and I had been invited to the celebration of the a hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Presbyterian Church there and afterwards we loved hospitality in a restaurant within the firm of some individuals from the congregation together with the minister and his spouse,” he recalled.
“I informed them I used to be the minister in Hyndland at one time and instantly the minister’s spouse piped up and mentioned ‘Hyndland, Belle and Sebastian’.
“They knew all in regards to the church corridor and it transpired that their daughter had gone to a Belle and Sebastian live performance in Seoul.
“I’m more than happy to see that Stuart maintains his hyperlink with the Church of Scotland and his religion continues to play an vital position in his life.”
Miss Henderson mentioned she had fond reminiscences of Mr Murdoch’s time because the corridor caretaker.
“When he began, the church had a Friday youth membership and he helped with that and I can bear in mind him many instances at Christmas and New Yr going up ladders and hanging up decorations,” she recalled.
“I do know him even higher as of late as a result of we now have a day service on the church each second Wednesday and infrequently, when our minister Rev George McKay is unavailable, Stuart has led a beautiful half-hour service.
“He has a really quiet manner of talking however he makes you sit up and actually hearken to what he is saying.
“Stuart has additionally led great prayer periods which we now have loved very a lot.
“It has been great to look at him develop from a younger lad who was simply beginning out to being a gentleman, father and buddy he’s at present.”
Love
Miss Henderson mentioned she was shocked to be taught she had been acknowledged in Mr Murdoch’s ebook however “very happy”.
“To know that you’re a little a part of any person’s life and pushed them in the appropriate course is gorgeous,” she added.
“We’re thrilled that he stayed with us and joined us and actually turned a part of the congregation.
“We’re all very, very keen on the lad.”
The congregation has predominantly used the Broomhill church constructing as the primary place of worship and the Hyndland Parish Church buildings had been offered in 2023.
The corridor continues for use by group teams.
Revealed on 5 September 2025
11 minutes learn
The founder member of a legendary Scottish Indie band has spoken about the important thing position a Church of Scotland congregation performed in its early growth.
Stuart Murdoch, lead singer of Belle and Sebastian, mentioned the encouragement and help offered to him by members of Hyndland Parish Church in Glasgow within the early Nineteen Nineties was pivotal and the catalyst for future success.
Unemployed and directionless on the time, the congregation, led by Very Rev John Christie, allowed him to reside in a flat above the church corridor free of charge for greater than 5 years in trade for caretaker duties.
This enabled the now internationally acclaimed band to make use of the house to recurrently observe and rehearse when it was not in use by group teams and so they recorded a number of albums there.
Weeks after he stepped via the doorways of the church for the primary time in 1991 on the age of twenty-two, Mr Murdoch’s life modified dramatically when he joined the church choir – a double quartet.
Encouragement
One of many members was the late Dr Maggie Stockwell, a extremely regarded anaesthetist and completed soprano singer, who gave him tricks to strengthen the ability of his voice.
One other large supporter of the proficient younger man was the church organist, the late John Langdon, a celebrated musician and lecturer on the Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, in Glasgow.
A dedicated Christian who serves the identical church to today as an elder and worship chief, Mr Murdoch shared his reminiscences as Belle and Sebastian put together to tour throughout the UK, Europe, USA, Canada and Mexico subsequent 12 months to have fun the thirtieth anniversary of their first two albums, ‘Tigermilk’ and ‘If You are Feeling Sinister’.
He appeared on the Edinburgh Ebook Competition just lately to advertise his new ebook, ‘No one’s Empire’, a coming of age work of fiction primarily based on his personal life and was re-united with Mr Christie, who served as Moderator of the Basic Meeting of the Church of Scotland 2010-2011.
The minister led Hyndland Parish Church for 14 years and sooner or later noticed a younger man wearing an outsized overcoat sitting alone in a pew and struck up a dialog with him.
The minister is called within the ebook’s acknowledgements together with corridor convener Ann Henderson in recognition of the half they performed in steering the course of the musician’s life.
As we speak, the church is known as Broomhill Hyndland Parish Church following a merger in 2017 and Mr Murdoch continues to be a member of the choir.
He continues to reside with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), a situation that led to him returning to his Christian religion whereas unemployed and looking for which means in his life.
A God second
Reflecting on 1991, Mr Murdoch mentioned: “I had been unwell for plenty of years, I needed to give all the things up and I moved again to my folks’s home in Ayr.
“I had been in hospital for some time and simply had a horrible time and life had fully modified.
“As soon as I used to be out of the hospital, I had a kind of revelation whereas sitting on the piano in my people’ home and felt that God was making an attempt to get my consideration.
“That’s when my religion was reawakened and I moved again to Glasgow in 1991 with a buddy Michael and we managed to get a flat in Hyndland.
“We weren’t effectively sufficient to work and had been simply making an attempt to outlive in Glasgow.
“Sooner or later he mentioned to me that I used to be at all times singing previous hymns and ‘it is best to go to church’.
“I replied ‘I am not going to church’ as at the moment I had no curiosity as a result of I felt my religion was a non-public factor and it was fragile.
“However the subsequent morning, I received up and I believed ‘I’m wondering the place the closest church is?’
“So, I threw my trousers on over my pyjamas and I dashed out and walked as much as this church.
“An previous woman standing exterior smiled at me and I simply adopted her in and this was Hyndland Parish Church.”
Trying again, Mr Murdoch, who’s now 58, mentioned he didn’t actually need to become involved with the every day lifetime of the congregation due to his well being and merely needed to be an observer.
“I sat close to the entrance and needed to see if my concept of religion and what was being espoused from the pulpit had something in widespread,” he recalled.
“I used to be pleasantly shocked as a result of I had not been in church since I used to be a child and it was rather more open, friendlier and simpler to digest than my reminiscence of it.
“John Christie was a younger man to me on the time and his character gave the impression to be variety and I loved the service.
“He got here as much as me afterwards and mentioned hiya and invited me again the subsequent week and after just a few weeks of attending I discussed to him that I used to be considering music.
“He known as John Langdon over and mentioned, ‘here’s a chap who’s considering music, can you set him within the choir?
“I used to be on the College of Glasgow doing music part-time however I used to be nonetheless struggling to maintain up with it power sensible, and I initially thought ‘I do not need to be within the choir’.
“However inside the subsequent week there I used to be standing up on the sharp finish with a purple robe on with Maggie and her husband Ian and the remainder of the double quartet.”
Caretaker
Mr Murdoch attended the church for the subsequent 4 years and in 1995 his life took a major activate a number of fronts.
“At the moment, I had damaged up with my girlfriend and ended up being booted out of the flat I used to be in and John Christie should have heard as a result of he got here as much as me and requested me how I used to be getting on.
“He defined that Ernie, the earlier church officer, was retiring and there’s a flat above the church corridor, which was separate to the church, and the Kirk Session needed somebody to reside there and take care of the place.”
Mr Murdoch continued: “Ann Henderson mentioned to me ‘in case you take us on, we’ll take you on.
“So, I moved into the flat and began work as a jannie, sweeping the corridor each night time.
“It went from getting used two nights every week to seven nights and days by totally different teams.
“The place was going like a good and it actually stored me busy as a result of I’d clear up at night time and arrange within the morning for all kinds of teams like Moms and Toddlers and the Bridge Membership.
“I wasn’t an excellent jannie however I attempted my finest and for a lot of folks I used to be at all times simply the man upstairs.”
With a chuckle, Mr Murdoch mentioned: “The previous girls used to at all times attempt to go as much as my flat and take a look round.
“They might chap the door and say, ‘listed below are some left over sandwiches and desserts from this morning’ which had been at all times gratefully acquired however I’d at all times stand there and assume to myself ‘nope, you aren’t coming in’.
“I had to attract the road as a result of my flat was messy and it was filled with music tools and I do not assume anyone from the church would have been very impressed with the way in which I used to be protecting it.”
It was round this time in 1995 that Mr Murdoch and his buddy Stuart David recruited some native musicians and so they fashioned ‘Belle and Sebastian’, named after a brief story a couple of boy and his canine.
“The lifetime of the band and my life on the church went collectively hand-in-hand, it was symbiosis,” he mentioned.
“Our second album, If You are Feeling Sinister, was made in 1996.
“I’d present the band the brand new songs that I had written on the piano within the large corridor as a result of as quickly as individuals utilizing it left, I’d go down there to make use of it and we might observe for the recording of the second LP.
“We had been so comfy within the church corridor as a result of we loved the acoustics and that led to us later recording within the corridor itself.
“When the band began we recorded the primary two albums in an expert studio in Glasgow however then for the subsequent recordings, which turned our first three EPs, we introduced tools into the corridor as a result of we needed to get extra of a reside really feel.”
“That was over Christmas when the corridor was quiet and we sneakily moved recording tools in and we had been recording.
“It was nice enjoyable and really we did the subsequent album, The Boy With The Arab Strap, there as effectively the subsequent summer season.”
Corridor recording
Mr Murdoch mentioned recording within the church corridor meant that you would typically hear noises from exterior like fowl track as a result of it was not soundproof.
“We recorded a observe known as ‘Sleep The Clock Round’ in the summertime of 1997 and there was noise bleeding into the corridor and the engineer needed to cease and somebody was enjoying the bagpipes in a flat on close by Novar Drive.
“We ended up going throughout the road, following the sound, and we discovered the piper and invited him throughout and he ended up enjoying on the report.”
Recalling how being within the choir improved his singing, Mr Murdoch mentioned: “At first, my voice was very tender and Maggie used to face in entrance of me and say ‘Can Belto younger man, Can Belto’, which is unhealthy Latin for ‘belt it out, come on, it is advisable sing up’.
“She actually inspired me to venture my voice and stood me in good stead as a result of within the early days of the band we’re very quiet, we did not play many live shows and we had hassle making ourselves heard.
“However my voice received stronger and I put quite a lot of it right down to singing tenor within the Hyndland choir.”
Mr Murdoch mentioned it was nice to see Mr Christie on the Edinburgh Ebook Competition occasion and he will probably be without end grateful to him.
“The beauty of John and the church typically is that they have at all times been very supportive of ‘Belle and Sebastian’,” he added.
“They’d no qualms and so they might have booted us out of the church corridor as a result of we weren’t singing the Lord’s music, it was rock ‘n’ roll and the band has at all times addressed themes that had been fairly broad.
“However John was at all times very within the band, proper from the outset and really encouraging.
“I feel they had been simply joyful that I would received one thing that was fairly stable as a result of for a superb few years I used to be simply the man that confirmed up on the church, my well being was poor, I used to be raggedly dressed, I did not have a job and did not actually have something happening.
“The band was at all times round and there have been a few events after we carried out within the church and church corridor.”
Mr Murdoch mentioned he gave Mr Christie a particular copy of Belle and Sebastian’s first album, Tigermilk.
“Whenever you make a report, you get what’s known as the check urgent you get again from the manufacturing facility,” he defined.
“You test them in your report participant to test that the urgent is sweet and I gave John a type of with a letter thanking him for his help.
“Partly the rationale he received the check urgent which had a plain white label was as a result of the quilt of our first report was fairly risqué and I did not need to embarrass John or myself.”
Mr Murdoch, who’s married with two kids, mentioned his Christian religion is extraordinarily vital to him and he’s very lively at his church when time permits.
Mr Christie mentioned he was happy to have helped the musician in his youthful days and to be acknowledged within the ebook.
He mentioned he attended one of many band’s earliest live shows in Maryhill Burgh Corridor and years later their worldwide repute was highlighted to him throughout a go to to Taiwan.
“My spouse and I had been invited to the celebration of the a hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Presbyterian Church there and afterwards we loved hospitality in a restaurant within the firm of some individuals from the congregation together with the minister and his spouse,” he recalled.
“I informed them I used to be the minister in Hyndland at one time and instantly the minister’s spouse piped up and mentioned ‘Hyndland, Belle and Sebastian’.
“They knew all in regards to the church corridor and it transpired that their daughter had gone to a Belle and Sebastian live performance in Seoul.
“I’m more than happy to see that Stuart maintains his hyperlink with the Church of Scotland and his religion continues to play an vital position in his life.”
Miss Henderson mentioned she had fond reminiscences of Mr Murdoch’s time because the corridor caretaker.
“When he began, the church had a Friday youth membership and he helped with that and I can bear in mind him many instances at Christmas and New Yr going up ladders and hanging up decorations,” she recalled.
“I do know him even higher as of late as a result of we now have a day service on the church each second Wednesday and infrequently, when our minister Rev George McKay is unavailable, Stuart has led a beautiful half-hour service.
“He has a really quiet manner of talking however he makes you sit up and actually hearken to what he is saying.
“Stuart has additionally led great prayer periods which we now have loved very a lot.
“It has been great to look at him develop from a younger lad who was simply beginning out to being a gentleman, father and buddy he’s at present.”
Love
Miss Henderson mentioned she was shocked to be taught she had been acknowledged in Mr Murdoch’s ebook however “very happy”.
“To know that you’re a little a part of any person’s life and pushed them in the appropriate course is gorgeous,” she added.
“We’re thrilled that he stayed with us and joined us and actually turned a part of the congregation.
“We’re all very, very keen on the lad.”
The congregation has predominantly used the Broomhill church constructing as the primary place of worship and the Hyndland Parish Church buildings had been offered in 2023.
The corridor continues for use by group teams.
Revealed on 5 September 2025
11 minutes learn
The founder member of a legendary Scottish Indie band has spoken about the important thing position a Church of Scotland congregation performed in its early growth.
Stuart Murdoch, lead singer of Belle and Sebastian, mentioned the encouragement and help offered to him by members of Hyndland Parish Church in Glasgow within the early Nineteen Nineties was pivotal and the catalyst for future success.
Unemployed and directionless on the time, the congregation, led by Very Rev John Christie, allowed him to reside in a flat above the church corridor free of charge for greater than 5 years in trade for caretaker duties.
This enabled the now internationally acclaimed band to make use of the house to recurrently observe and rehearse when it was not in use by group teams and so they recorded a number of albums there.
Weeks after he stepped via the doorways of the church for the primary time in 1991 on the age of twenty-two, Mr Murdoch’s life modified dramatically when he joined the church choir – a double quartet.
Encouragement
One of many members was the late Dr Maggie Stockwell, a extremely regarded anaesthetist and completed soprano singer, who gave him tricks to strengthen the ability of his voice.
One other large supporter of the proficient younger man was the church organist, the late John Langdon, a celebrated musician and lecturer on the Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, in Glasgow.
A dedicated Christian who serves the identical church to today as an elder and worship chief, Mr Murdoch shared his reminiscences as Belle and Sebastian put together to tour throughout the UK, Europe, USA, Canada and Mexico subsequent 12 months to have fun the thirtieth anniversary of their first two albums, ‘Tigermilk’ and ‘If You are Feeling Sinister’.
He appeared on the Edinburgh Ebook Competition just lately to advertise his new ebook, ‘No one’s Empire’, a coming of age work of fiction primarily based on his personal life and was re-united with Mr Christie, who served as Moderator of the Basic Meeting of the Church of Scotland 2010-2011.
The minister led Hyndland Parish Church for 14 years and sooner or later noticed a younger man wearing an outsized overcoat sitting alone in a pew and struck up a dialog with him.
The minister is called within the ebook’s acknowledgements together with corridor convener Ann Henderson in recognition of the half they performed in steering the course of the musician’s life.
As we speak, the church is known as Broomhill Hyndland Parish Church following a merger in 2017 and Mr Murdoch continues to be a member of the choir.
He continues to reside with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), a situation that led to him returning to his Christian religion whereas unemployed and looking for which means in his life.
A God second
Reflecting on 1991, Mr Murdoch mentioned: “I had been unwell for plenty of years, I needed to give all the things up and I moved again to my folks’s home in Ayr.
“I had been in hospital for some time and simply had a horrible time and life had fully modified.
“As soon as I used to be out of the hospital, I had a kind of revelation whereas sitting on the piano in my people’ home and felt that God was making an attempt to get my consideration.
“That’s when my religion was reawakened and I moved again to Glasgow in 1991 with a buddy Michael and we managed to get a flat in Hyndland.
“We weren’t effectively sufficient to work and had been simply making an attempt to outlive in Glasgow.
“Sooner or later he mentioned to me that I used to be at all times singing previous hymns and ‘it is best to go to church’.
“I replied ‘I am not going to church’ as at the moment I had no curiosity as a result of I felt my religion was a non-public factor and it was fragile.
“However the subsequent morning, I received up and I believed ‘I’m wondering the place the closest church is?’
“So, I threw my trousers on over my pyjamas and I dashed out and walked as much as this church.
“An previous woman standing exterior smiled at me and I simply adopted her in and this was Hyndland Parish Church.”
Trying again, Mr Murdoch, who’s now 58, mentioned he didn’t actually need to become involved with the every day lifetime of the congregation due to his well being and merely needed to be an observer.
“I sat close to the entrance and needed to see if my concept of religion and what was being espoused from the pulpit had something in widespread,” he recalled.
“I used to be pleasantly shocked as a result of I had not been in church since I used to be a child and it was rather more open, friendlier and simpler to digest than my reminiscence of it.
“John Christie was a younger man to me on the time and his character gave the impression to be variety and I loved the service.
“He got here as much as me afterwards and mentioned hiya and invited me again the subsequent week and after just a few weeks of attending I discussed to him that I used to be considering music.
“He known as John Langdon over and mentioned, ‘here’s a chap who’s considering music, can you set him within the choir?
“I used to be on the College of Glasgow doing music part-time however I used to be nonetheless struggling to maintain up with it power sensible, and I initially thought ‘I do not need to be within the choir’.
“However inside the subsequent week there I used to be standing up on the sharp finish with a purple robe on with Maggie and her husband Ian and the remainder of the double quartet.”
Caretaker
Mr Murdoch attended the church for the subsequent 4 years and in 1995 his life took a major activate a number of fronts.
“At the moment, I had damaged up with my girlfriend and ended up being booted out of the flat I used to be in and John Christie should have heard as a result of he got here as much as me and requested me how I used to be getting on.
“He defined that Ernie, the earlier church officer, was retiring and there’s a flat above the church corridor, which was separate to the church, and the Kirk Session needed somebody to reside there and take care of the place.”
Mr Murdoch continued: “Ann Henderson mentioned to me ‘in case you take us on, we’ll take you on.
“So, I moved into the flat and began work as a jannie, sweeping the corridor each night time.
“It went from getting used two nights every week to seven nights and days by totally different teams.
“The place was going like a good and it actually stored me busy as a result of I’d clear up at night time and arrange within the morning for all kinds of teams like Moms and Toddlers and the Bridge Membership.
“I wasn’t an excellent jannie however I attempted my finest and for a lot of folks I used to be at all times simply the man upstairs.”
With a chuckle, Mr Murdoch mentioned: “The previous girls used to at all times attempt to go as much as my flat and take a look round.
“They might chap the door and say, ‘listed below are some left over sandwiches and desserts from this morning’ which had been at all times gratefully acquired however I’d at all times stand there and assume to myself ‘nope, you aren’t coming in’.
“I had to attract the road as a result of my flat was messy and it was filled with music tools and I do not assume anyone from the church would have been very impressed with the way in which I used to be protecting it.”
It was round this time in 1995 that Mr Murdoch and his buddy Stuart David recruited some native musicians and so they fashioned ‘Belle and Sebastian’, named after a brief story a couple of boy and his canine.
“The lifetime of the band and my life on the church went collectively hand-in-hand, it was symbiosis,” he mentioned.
“Our second album, If You are Feeling Sinister, was made in 1996.
“I’d present the band the brand new songs that I had written on the piano within the large corridor as a result of as quickly as individuals utilizing it left, I’d go down there to make use of it and we might observe for the recording of the second LP.
“We had been so comfy within the church corridor as a result of we loved the acoustics and that led to us later recording within the corridor itself.
“When the band began we recorded the primary two albums in an expert studio in Glasgow however then for the subsequent recordings, which turned our first three EPs, we introduced tools into the corridor as a result of we needed to get extra of a reside really feel.”
“That was over Christmas when the corridor was quiet and we sneakily moved recording tools in and we had been recording.
“It was nice enjoyable and really we did the subsequent album, The Boy With The Arab Strap, there as effectively the subsequent summer season.”
Corridor recording
Mr Murdoch mentioned recording within the church corridor meant that you would typically hear noises from exterior like fowl track as a result of it was not soundproof.
“We recorded a observe known as ‘Sleep The Clock Round’ in the summertime of 1997 and there was noise bleeding into the corridor and the engineer needed to cease and somebody was enjoying the bagpipes in a flat on close by Novar Drive.
“We ended up going throughout the road, following the sound, and we discovered the piper and invited him throughout and he ended up enjoying on the report.”
Recalling how being within the choir improved his singing, Mr Murdoch mentioned: “At first, my voice was very tender and Maggie used to face in entrance of me and say ‘Can Belto younger man, Can Belto’, which is unhealthy Latin for ‘belt it out, come on, it is advisable sing up’.
“She actually inspired me to venture my voice and stood me in good stead as a result of within the early days of the band we’re very quiet, we did not play many live shows and we had hassle making ourselves heard.
“However my voice received stronger and I put quite a lot of it right down to singing tenor within the Hyndland choir.”
Mr Murdoch mentioned it was nice to see Mr Christie on the Edinburgh Ebook Competition occasion and he will probably be without end grateful to him.
“The beauty of John and the church typically is that they have at all times been very supportive of ‘Belle and Sebastian’,” he added.
“They’d no qualms and so they might have booted us out of the church corridor as a result of we weren’t singing the Lord’s music, it was rock ‘n’ roll and the band has at all times addressed themes that had been fairly broad.
“However John was at all times very within the band, proper from the outset and really encouraging.
“I feel they had been simply joyful that I would received one thing that was fairly stable as a result of for a superb few years I used to be simply the man that confirmed up on the church, my well being was poor, I used to be raggedly dressed, I did not have a job and did not actually have something happening.
“The band was at all times round and there have been a few events after we carried out within the church and church corridor.”
Mr Murdoch mentioned he gave Mr Christie a particular copy of Belle and Sebastian’s first album, Tigermilk.
“Whenever you make a report, you get what’s known as the check urgent you get again from the manufacturing facility,” he defined.
“You test them in your report participant to test that the urgent is sweet and I gave John a type of with a letter thanking him for his help.
“Partly the rationale he received the check urgent which had a plain white label was as a result of the quilt of our first report was fairly risqué and I did not need to embarrass John or myself.”
Mr Murdoch, who’s married with two kids, mentioned his Christian religion is extraordinarily vital to him and he’s very lively at his church when time permits.
Mr Christie mentioned he was happy to have helped the musician in his youthful days and to be acknowledged within the ebook.
He mentioned he attended one of many band’s earliest live shows in Maryhill Burgh Corridor and years later their worldwide repute was highlighted to him throughout a go to to Taiwan.
“My spouse and I had been invited to the celebration of the a hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Presbyterian Church there and afterwards we loved hospitality in a restaurant within the firm of some individuals from the congregation together with the minister and his spouse,” he recalled.
“I informed them I used to be the minister in Hyndland at one time and instantly the minister’s spouse piped up and mentioned ‘Hyndland, Belle and Sebastian’.
“They knew all in regards to the church corridor and it transpired that their daughter had gone to a Belle and Sebastian live performance in Seoul.
“I’m more than happy to see that Stuart maintains his hyperlink with the Church of Scotland and his religion continues to play an vital position in his life.”
Miss Henderson mentioned she had fond reminiscences of Mr Murdoch’s time because the corridor caretaker.
“When he began, the church had a Friday youth membership and he helped with that and I can bear in mind him many instances at Christmas and New Yr going up ladders and hanging up decorations,” she recalled.
“I do know him even higher as of late as a result of we now have a day service on the church each second Wednesday and infrequently, when our minister Rev George McKay is unavailable, Stuart has led a beautiful half-hour service.
“He has a really quiet manner of talking however he makes you sit up and actually hearken to what he is saying.
“Stuart has additionally led great prayer periods which we now have loved very a lot.
“It has been great to look at him develop from a younger lad who was simply beginning out to being a gentleman, father and buddy he’s at present.”
Love
Miss Henderson mentioned she was shocked to be taught she had been acknowledged in Mr Murdoch’s ebook however “very happy”.
“To know that you’re a little a part of any person’s life and pushed them in the appropriate course is gorgeous,” she added.
“We’re thrilled that he stayed with us and joined us and actually turned a part of the congregation.
“We’re all very, very keen on the lad.”
The congregation has predominantly used the Broomhill church constructing as the primary place of worship and the Hyndland Parish Church buildings had been offered in 2023.
The corridor continues for use by group teams.
Revealed on 5 September 2025
11 minutes learn
The founder member of a legendary Scottish Indie band has spoken about the important thing position a Church of Scotland congregation performed in its early growth.
Stuart Murdoch, lead singer of Belle and Sebastian, mentioned the encouragement and help offered to him by members of Hyndland Parish Church in Glasgow within the early Nineteen Nineties was pivotal and the catalyst for future success.
Unemployed and directionless on the time, the congregation, led by Very Rev John Christie, allowed him to reside in a flat above the church corridor free of charge for greater than 5 years in trade for caretaker duties.
This enabled the now internationally acclaimed band to make use of the house to recurrently observe and rehearse when it was not in use by group teams and so they recorded a number of albums there.
Weeks after he stepped via the doorways of the church for the primary time in 1991 on the age of twenty-two, Mr Murdoch’s life modified dramatically when he joined the church choir – a double quartet.
Encouragement
One of many members was the late Dr Maggie Stockwell, a extremely regarded anaesthetist and completed soprano singer, who gave him tricks to strengthen the ability of his voice.
One other large supporter of the proficient younger man was the church organist, the late John Langdon, a celebrated musician and lecturer on the Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, in Glasgow.
A dedicated Christian who serves the identical church to today as an elder and worship chief, Mr Murdoch shared his reminiscences as Belle and Sebastian put together to tour throughout the UK, Europe, USA, Canada and Mexico subsequent 12 months to have fun the thirtieth anniversary of their first two albums, ‘Tigermilk’ and ‘If You are Feeling Sinister’.
He appeared on the Edinburgh Ebook Competition just lately to advertise his new ebook, ‘No one’s Empire’, a coming of age work of fiction primarily based on his personal life and was re-united with Mr Christie, who served as Moderator of the Basic Meeting of the Church of Scotland 2010-2011.
The minister led Hyndland Parish Church for 14 years and sooner or later noticed a younger man wearing an outsized overcoat sitting alone in a pew and struck up a dialog with him.
The minister is called within the ebook’s acknowledgements together with corridor convener Ann Henderson in recognition of the half they performed in steering the course of the musician’s life.
As we speak, the church is known as Broomhill Hyndland Parish Church following a merger in 2017 and Mr Murdoch continues to be a member of the choir.
He continues to reside with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), a situation that led to him returning to his Christian religion whereas unemployed and looking for which means in his life.
A God second
Reflecting on 1991, Mr Murdoch mentioned: “I had been unwell for plenty of years, I needed to give all the things up and I moved again to my folks’s home in Ayr.
“I had been in hospital for some time and simply had a horrible time and life had fully modified.
“As soon as I used to be out of the hospital, I had a kind of revelation whereas sitting on the piano in my people’ home and felt that God was making an attempt to get my consideration.
“That’s when my religion was reawakened and I moved again to Glasgow in 1991 with a buddy Michael and we managed to get a flat in Hyndland.
“We weren’t effectively sufficient to work and had been simply making an attempt to outlive in Glasgow.
“Sooner or later he mentioned to me that I used to be at all times singing previous hymns and ‘it is best to go to church’.
“I replied ‘I am not going to church’ as at the moment I had no curiosity as a result of I felt my religion was a non-public factor and it was fragile.
“However the subsequent morning, I received up and I believed ‘I’m wondering the place the closest church is?’
“So, I threw my trousers on over my pyjamas and I dashed out and walked as much as this church.
“An previous woman standing exterior smiled at me and I simply adopted her in and this was Hyndland Parish Church.”
Trying again, Mr Murdoch, who’s now 58, mentioned he didn’t actually need to become involved with the every day lifetime of the congregation due to his well being and merely needed to be an observer.
“I sat close to the entrance and needed to see if my concept of religion and what was being espoused from the pulpit had something in widespread,” he recalled.
“I used to be pleasantly shocked as a result of I had not been in church since I used to be a child and it was rather more open, friendlier and simpler to digest than my reminiscence of it.
“John Christie was a younger man to me on the time and his character gave the impression to be variety and I loved the service.
“He got here as much as me afterwards and mentioned hiya and invited me again the subsequent week and after just a few weeks of attending I discussed to him that I used to be considering music.
“He known as John Langdon over and mentioned, ‘here’s a chap who’s considering music, can you set him within the choir?
“I used to be on the College of Glasgow doing music part-time however I used to be nonetheless struggling to maintain up with it power sensible, and I initially thought ‘I do not need to be within the choir’.
“However inside the subsequent week there I used to be standing up on the sharp finish with a purple robe on with Maggie and her husband Ian and the remainder of the double quartet.”
Caretaker
Mr Murdoch attended the church for the subsequent 4 years and in 1995 his life took a major activate a number of fronts.
“At the moment, I had damaged up with my girlfriend and ended up being booted out of the flat I used to be in and John Christie should have heard as a result of he got here as much as me and requested me how I used to be getting on.
“He defined that Ernie, the earlier church officer, was retiring and there’s a flat above the church corridor, which was separate to the church, and the Kirk Session needed somebody to reside there and take care of the place.”
Mr Murdoch continued: “Ann Henderson mentioned to me ‘in case you take us on, we’ll take you on.
“So, I moved into the flat and began work as a jannie, sweeping the corridor each night time.
“It went from getting used two nights every week to seven nights and days by totally different teams.
“The place was going like a good and it actually stored me busy as a result of I’d clear up at night time and arrange within the morning for all kinds of teams like Moms and Toddlers and the Bridge Membership.
“I wasn’t an excellent jannie however I attempted my finest and for a lot of folks I used to be at all times simply the man upstairs.”
With a chuckle, Mr Murdoch mentioned: “The previous girls used to at all times attempt to go as much as my flat and take a look round.
“They might chap the door and say, ‘listed below are some left over sandwiches and desserts from this morning’ which had been at all times gratefully acquired however I’d at all times stand there and assume to myself ‘nope, you aren’t coming in’.
“I had to attract the road as a result of my flat was messy and it was filled with music tools and I do not assume anyone from the church would have been very impressed with the way in which I used to be protecting it.”
It was round this time in 1995 that Mr Murdoch and his buddy Stuart David recruited some native musicians and so they fashioned ‘Belle and Sebastian’, named after a brief story a couple of boy and his canine.
“The lifetime of the band and my life on the church went collectively hand-in-hand, it was symbiosis,” he mentioned.
“Our second album, If You are Feeling Sinister, was made in 1996.
“I’d present the band the brand new songs that I had written on the piano within the large corridor as a result of as quickly as individuals utilizing it left, I’d go down there to make use of it and we might observe for the recording of the second LP.
“We had been so comfy within the church corridor as a result of we loved the acoustics and that led to us later recording within the corridor itself.
“When the band began we recorded the primary two albums in an expert studio in Glasgow however then for the subsequent recordings, which turned our first three EPs, we introduced tools into the corridor as a result of we needed to get extra of a reside really feel.”
“That was over Christmas when the corridor was quiet and we sneakily moved recording tools in and we had been recording.
“It was nice enjoyable and really we did the subsequent album, The Boy With The Arab Strap, there as effectively the subsequent summer season.”
Corridor recording
Mr Murdoch mentioned recording within the church corridor meant that you would typically hear noises from exterior like fowl track as a result of it was not soundproof.
“We recorded a observe known as ‘Sleep The Clock Round’ in the summertime of 1997 and there was noise bleeding into the corridor and the engineer needed to cease and somebody was enjoying the bagpipes in a flat on close by Novar Drive.
“We ended up going throughout the road, following the sound, and we discovered the piper and invited him throughout and he ended up enjoying on the report.”
Recalling how being within the choir improved his singing, Mr Murdoch mentioned: “At first, my voice was very tender and Maggie used to face in entrance of me and say ‘Can Belto younger man, Can Belto’, which is unhealthy Latin for ‘belt it out, come on, it is advisable sing up’.
“She actually inspired me to venture my voice and stood me in good stead as a result of within the early days of the band we’re very quiet, we did not play many live shows and we had hassle making ourselves heard.
“However my voice received stronger and I put quite a lot of it right down to singing tenor within the Hyndland choir.”
Mr Murdoch mentioned it was nice to see Mr Christie on the Edinburgh Ebook Competition occasion and he will probably be without end grateful to him.
“The beauty of John and the church typically is that they have at all times been very supportive of ‘Belle and Sebastian’,” he added.
“They’d no qualms and so they might have booted us out of the church corridor as a result of we weren’t singing the Lord’s music, it was rock ‘n’ roll and the band has at all times addressed themes that had been fairly broad.
“However John was at all times very within the band, proper from the outset and really encouraging.
“I feel they had been simply joyful that I would received one thing that was fairly stable as a result of for a superb few years I used to be simply the man that confirmed up on the church, my well being was poor, I used to be raggedly dressed, I did not have a job and did not actually have something happening.
“The band was at all times round and there have been a few events after we carried out within the church and church corridor.”
Mr Murdoch mentioned he gave Mr Christie a particular copy of Belle and Sebastian’s first album, Tigermilk.
“Whenever you make a report, you get what’s known as the check urgent you get again from the manufacturing facility,” he defined.
“You test them in your report participant to test that the urgent is sweet and I gave John a type of with a letter thanking him for his help.
“Partly the rationale he received the check urgent which had a plain white label was as a result of the quilt of our first report was fairly risqué and I did not need to embarrass John or myself.”
Mr Murdoch, who’s married with two kids, mentioned his Christian religion is extraordinarily vital to him and he’s very lively at his church when time permits.
Mr Christie mentioned he was happy to have helped the musician in his youthful days and to be acknowledged within the ebook.
He mentioned he attended one of many band’s earliest live shows in Maryhill Burgh Corridor and years later their worldwide repute was highlighted to him throughout a go to to Taiwan.
“My spouse and I had been invited to the celebration of the a hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Presbyterian Church there and afterwards we loved hospitality in a restaurant within the firm of some individuals from the congregation together with the minister and his spouse,” he recalled.
“I informed them I used to be the minister in Hyndland at one time and instantly the minister’s spouse piped up and mentioned ‘Hyndland, Belle and Sebastian’.
“They knew all in regards to the church corridor and it transpired that their daughter had gone to a Belle and Sebastian live performance in Seoul.
“I’m more than happy to see that Stuart maintains his hyperlink with the Church of Scotland and his religion continues to play an vital position in his life.”
Miss Henderson mentioned she had fond reminiscences of Mr Murdoch’s time because the corridor caretaker.
“When he began, the church had a Friday youth membership and he helped with that and I can bear in mind him many instances at Christmas and New Yr going up ladders and hanging up decorations,” she recalled.
“I do know him even higher as of late as a result of we now have a day service on the church each second Wednesday and infrequently, when our minister Rev George McKay is unavailable, Stuart has led a beautiful half-hour service.
“He has a really quiet manner of talking however he makes you sit up and actually hearken to what he is saying.
“Stuart has additionally led great prayer periods which we now have loved very a lot.
“It has been great to look at him develop from a younger lad who was simply beginning out to being a gentleman, father and buddy he’s at present.”
Love
Miss Henderson mentioned she was shocked to be taught she had been acknowledged in Mr Murdoch’s ebook however “very happy”.
“To know that you’re a little a part of any person’s life and pushed them in the appropriate course is gorgeous,” she added.
“We’re thrilled that he stayed with us and joined us and actually turned a part of the congregation.
“We’re all very, very keen on the lad.”
The congregation has predominantly used the Broomhill church constructing as the primary place of worship and the Hyndland Parish Church buildings had been offered in 2023.
The corridor continues for use by group teams.
