We heard about the project for a Bon Scott statue in Kirriemuir and we got very curious. So we asked John Crawford, who is one of the people behind it, to tell us more about it...
DD8music are a non exclusive community group, formed in 2005, dedicated to promoting involvement in musical activities to people of all ages in the local area (Kirriemuir and surround).
The group is completely voluntary, and is going from strength to strength with thanks to the hard work from the team of volunteers, and the support of all the bands and the people who come to our events to enjoy the music. We organise several live music events throughout the year such as the sell out Bon Fest and open air event, Live in the Den.
We run a recording and rehearsal studio in Kirriemuir. It is a space where people can have the freedom to experiment with music, and be encouraged to develop their talent.
We plan to have memorial statue erected of Bon Scott in Kirriemuir. This is important for two reasons. Firstly Bon is a recognised Rock singer throughout the world, some believing the best rock front man there has ever been. For this reason we want to honour him in his childhood home. Secondly we want to help put Kirriemuir on the global map and we can do this by having this statue erected in the town. This will also be more of a draw for tourists who will come to kirriemuir purely to see this statue. This will also help generate funds for local businesses.
We are going to fund in using a crowd funding website called KICKSTARTER. This is an American based website which has recently launched in the UK and is being very successful. It works by using a tiered funding reward approach. For example with our project we will reward you by donating money from £1 in stages up to £2500. £1.00 being a thank you on our website and £2500 allowing you to have your name engraved on the statue plinth and a 6” miniature bronze replica of the statue.
The local people have been very supportive about this. We have the support of all three of our local councillors and we carried out a public consultation. With the consultation we had 156 replies with only 7 against the proposal. We have also received hundreds of messages of support from locals and people world wide via our facebook page. I am one of the thousands of people world wide who believe that Bon was the best rock front man of all time. He was a down to earth guy although he had his cheeky streak as well, who wouldn’t being the front man of one of the worlds best bands at the time? He deserves the statue as a tribute because he should be remembered for his Scottish roots and for being simply Bon Scott from ACDC, The cheeky Scottish/Australian with an amazing voice that rock fans through out the world knew and loved.
Bon Scott already brings the single biggest influx of people to Kirriemuir when people from all over the world decent on Kirriemuir for the annual Bon Fest. We know by getting replies from people that when they come to Kirriemuir many are left feeling disappointed that the town doesn’t have anything apart from the memorial plaque to remember Bon by. We also know that this statue will bring several more visitors to the town thus helping the local businesses that in turn help us during Bon fest and other events though out the year.
It’s important for the town and many local don’t know that Bon Scott’s parents were from Kirriemuir and that Bon lived here before moving to Australia. His memory and history needs to be kept alive in Kirriemuir and by having this statue as a permanent reminder his memory and history won’t be allowed to be forgotten.
This has generated world wide news in many fans websites, blogs and social media accounts. It has also been picked up by the media from Kentucky news, classic rock and MTV to name but only a few. We have picked up support from people such a Lemmy from Motorhead who tweeted about the statue to more private messages of support from Bons closest friends and Ex band mate from his time with ACDC. The Italian fan club have ran an article about it as has the Brazilians the Germans, Austrians and Norwegians again this is only a small selection of the support we have received.
TO BE CONTINUED
