Belle & Sebastian recorded their first-ever TOP OF THE POPS performance last night (June 1) – only for vocalist STUART MURDOCH to be attacked by a sword-wielding gorilla halfway through the song!
The band were on the show to mime a version of their new single ‘Legal Man’, which debuted in the UK charts at number 15 last Sunday, but Stuart insisted that the stage invasion, actually a man in a suit, had not been planned by them.
He denied it had been a publicity stunt and claimed to have no knowledge of where the mysterious fake primate had come from.
Murdoch also played down the fact that the band were miming. Speaking exclusively to nme.com at the Top Of The Pops studios, he said: “We’ll play live next time! We didn’t know we were going to be on and we haven’t actually practised. I think when you’re miming you don’t get so excited because there’s nothing really going on…it seems a bit surreal.”
He also revealed the band had no idea how they would follow up the success of ‘Legal Man’. He said: “Stevie‘s (Jackson, guitarist) all up for repeating the formula, but we’ll just have to see how it goes. We haven’t got a clue (what it will be)…nothing off the LP unfortunately. We haven’t recorded anything yet.”
At Top Of The Pops, the band covered the set with fake red roses and recorded their song in one take with Stuart Murdoch wearing an old Dennis The Menace t-shirt. Despite mid-song interference from the gorilla, who was carrying a plastic sword, the band carried on with the rest of their song regardless, and ended by throwing roses at the bemused audience.
Top Of The Pops is broadcast tonight (June 2) at 7.30pm on BBC1. Belle & Sebastian‘s new album, ‘Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant’ is released on Monday (June 5) through Jeepster.