Since Yesterday: The Untold Story Of Scotland’s Girl Bands is a powerful documentary that shines a light on a long-forgotten corner of music history in Scotland.
Directors: Carla J. Easton & Blair Young
Genre: Documentary
Run Time: 89′
Edinburgh Premiere: August 21, 2024
U.K. Release Date: October 18, 2024
U.S. Release Date: TBA
It wasn’t until the opening credits started on Since Yesterday: The Untold Story Of Scotland’s Girl Bands that I realised I couldn’t name a single all-girl band from Scotland. It’s a particular subset of music history that’s generally failed to achieve international success, despite countless talented musicians trying to make it big over the past 60-ish years. As the film immediately makes clear, there are several reasons for this: institutionalised misogyny, fewer opportunities for women, and Scotland’s relatively small stage in the music industry.
But directors Blair Young and Carla Easton attempt to rewrite history through this insightful, powerful documentary that uses first-hand interviews with Scotland’s biggest girl groups to explain why their careers ended early and how the industry needs to change.
Since Yesterday is one of the most informative documentaries out there: it takes a very educational and linear approach to its story, working chronologically through the history of the Scottish music scene. The film includes talking-head interviews with the frontwomen of bands such as Strawberry Switchblade, Sophisticated Boom Boom, and His Latest Flame, all of whom have fascinating stories about their journeys through the industry and their interactions with other famous musicians of their respective eras. Each woman has faced injustice of one kind or another, and the film makes it its mission to shed light on grievances that ended these bands before they reached their potential heights.
However, Since Yesterday’s biggest strength is also a sizable weakness: the simple, chronological storytelling on display is great for learning more about these individuals, but it means that the documentary lacks a clear focus. As it moves through the decades, the film introduces new bands and new interview subjects with their own unique stories, but as soon as their stories have been told, it quickly drops them and moves onto the next chapter. This means that the film can fit more stories into its brief 90 minutes, but it also means that none of the stories gets to shine fully on its own.
That doesn’t mean that Since Yesterday is boring or uninteresting; the film takes a very creative approach to certain scenes, using animation to recreate the stories that are being recounted. This elevates it beyond its purely analytic structure, breaking up the educational monologues with some funny moments to keep the audience engaged and interested. These comedic interludes are a huge asset, as they prevent the film from ever drifting too far into the dramatic or dispiriting. These moments do come, especially when the movie is openly discussing the music industry’s inherent misogyny and neglect towards girl groups, but it knows exactly when enough is enough.
On the whole, Since Yesterday: The Untold Story Of Scotland’s Girl Bands is a really interesting documentary that will be loved by music fans across the world and hopefully admired by everybody else. Even if you’re not interested in the topic, Blair Young and Carla Easton’s documentary does a great job of explaining why its themes are important and timely. It would definitely benefit from a looser structure and more analysis in place of the mere explanation (which it admittedly tries towards the end of the film), but otherwise this is a very rewarding watch that shines light on a subject that everybody should know more about.
Since Yesterday: The Untold Story Of Scotland’s Girl Bands was the closing film of the 2024 Edinburgh Film Festival, screened on August 21, 2024. The film will be released in UK cinemas from October 18, 2024.
