News

The lead singer of electronic pop group Ladytron has started a business selling coffees and artwork in Montrose.

Helen Marnie has been part of the band for 25 years and has recorded seven albums.

The group played to 10,000 people at a festival in Mexico in August and completed a tour of the United States this year.

Originally from Glasgow, Helen joined the band when studying music at Liverpool University in 1999.

After living in London for 12 years, she returned to Glasgow for nine years before moving to Montrose almost three years ago.

Now she is seeking to improve the Angus town’s coffee scene.

Helen said she spent a lot of time in her youth on the east coast.

She said: “My dad’s from here and my grandparents lived up here.  So, I spent a lot of time in Arbroath as a child.

“I had that kind of connection and I think I was just ready to have a change from Glasgow and I thought ‘Where do I want to be?’

“I love the beaches and seaside.”

She said opening a coffees shop is something she always wanted to do.

Tomorrow Is Another Day on George Street, named after a Ladytron song, opened on Friday morning.

As well as selling takeaway coffees, the shop is also selling works of art.

Helen said: “I wanted to do something that Montrose doesn’t have right now.  I don’t know how it will go down, but we’ll see.

“It’s something I’ve wanted to do for years.

“I thought about doing it in Pollokshields in Glasgow but everything is more expensive there and I never got the opportunity.

“I was concentrating on music, doing solo albums as well as getting back on the road with Ladytron.

“In Montrose, the coffee scene isn’t as established.

“I feel like there’s space top do it here.”

The shop is using coffee from Brechin roasters Maison Dieu and is also being supplied by Lilybank Bakehouse.

Helen and Ladytron are working on a new album which will likely be released next year.  She will also tour again next year.

She said: “We don’t tour as much as we used to.  In the mid-2000s we were on the road for months on end.  We’d do one continent then jump to another.

“We’re not keen on long tour these days.  I’ll be around more often to be able to work in the Montrose shop.

“We just finished touring the last album in September.

“We’re just back from Mexico City and North America and have a bit of downtime now.

“We’ll be touring again next year, so I’ll have to get some cover.”

Ladytron has seen its albums chart in the Uk and America.  It’s last album, Time’s Arrow, was named one of Rolling Stone magazine’s top albums of the year in 2023.

The band opened for Bjork in 2003, Goldfrapp in 2006 and Nine Inch Nails in 2007.

It has also produced remixes for Blondie, Bloc Party, Erasure and Christina Aguilera.

Helen said the music industry has changed dramatically over the years as tours have replaced CD sales as the main source of income.

She said the change has made it harder for emerging artists.

“The industry is really hard for people trying to break into it,” she said.

“Artists are lucky to make pennies from Spotify.

“So they tour to make money but if you’re not an established act then they’re lucky to get £500 a gig, and then there’s the costs of getting there.

“Ladytron got together in 1999 and we are established and a bit more fortunate.

“When we get an offer to play a festival it won’t be the biggest fee but it’s enough to enable us to do it.

“The Mexico festival we recently played was huge.  It was a crowd of 10,000 or more.  In North America we can play gigs to 1,000 people.  It just depends on the venue and the city.”

And the pop star said she had enjoyed the move to Montrose.

She said: “I have family here but I’m a little bit of a recluse.  It works for me.

“I have some isolation and then going on tour surrounded by people all the time.

“I like going for walks with my dog in the stunning Angus scenery.”

This article appeared in The Courier on 23 November 2024.