unfortunately i don't live in scotland!

My mum says our house is like Pop Idol‘

This Life: Paul McArthur, 11, centre, is lead singer with heavy metal band hatred and turned down a film role because he loves his hair too much to cut it

“My mum wakes me up at about eight-ish. I don’t normally have breakfast. I’m not actually an eating person. I like a drink of juice and a drink of milk. I get up, get dressed and take my dog out. Then when I come back in, I feed the fish. I brush my teeth and comb my hair. My mum shouts ‘brush your teeth, brush your teeth’. Otherwise I suppose I wouldn’t. I’ve got long hair. I like having long hair. I don’t really care, to be honest, what other people think about it. There’s the odd one or two comments but I give good comeback.

I’m in a band called Hatred. There’s five of us now: me, Elliot, Michael, Liam and Robbie. It was just me and my friend, Elliot, to begin with. That was when we were into Marilyn Manson and we used to sit in mum’s lounge and get people to pay to get in and we would put on a half-hour show for them and it was all Marilyn Manson. When it was finished, some of the parents didn’t have any money on them so they wrote us an IOU. I’ve actually still got that. I’d love to be a rock star. I love rocking out, as they say.

I’m 11 years old and I go to Cambusbarron Primary. I like it because it’s a place where everyone’s friendly. Cambusbarron is a good wee village. My mum and my gran are really popular and know everyone. If you’re walking down the street, people say, ‘Oh that’s Karen’s wee boy.’ My favourite teacher was probably Mrs Munro. She had a laugh with our class and she was good at teaching. I’m good at English language. I like writing stories and non-fiction and I like writing poems. I normally write poems for my mum for her birthday and I think that makes me good at writing songs. I love writing horror stories but in our school we’re not allowed to write horror.

Last year, we wrote a story about our pets, and everyone did it about their cat or dog, but I decided to do it about my fish, Tango, going on a trip around the world doing crazy things. I’ve written a song, Two Gods Don’t Make A Right. It’s like a battle between good and evil. The chorus goes, ‘Two Gods don’t make a right. Two Gods don’t make a right. Two Gods don’t make a right.’

Marilyn Manson used to be my favourite rock star but now I’ve moved on to the old rock bands like Led Zeppelin, AC/DC and Metallica. I really liked Marilyn Manson because he was different from all the boy bands and Britney Spears. He had a different style altogether. Elliot got me into him. Most of the other kids in my school like normal pop music. I might seem a bit weird but I don’t care. I like rock.

I get back from school at 3.15pm. Different days, I go to different relatives. Monday, Wednesday and Friday I go to my gran’s, Tuesday I go to my Auntie Betty’s and Thursday, I go to my grandma’s. My mum works at Prudential, she’s a boss person. The days I go to my gran’s are Stageworks days, so I normally just get ready to go to there. Stageworks is a performing arts school. We do singing, dancing and acting classes. In Stageworks, they’ve got a band room.

Lately, we’ve been writing some new songs, working on some new riffs, and going over some Bon Jovi songs. I really like performing Bon Jovi. Sometimes I sit in my TV room and I just watch Bon Jovi DVDs and I study his moves. I do the same with Marilyn Manson, too. I study all the different things he does when he sings, like he pushes the mic stand and all that.

When me and Elliot were really into Marilyn Manson, we got tickets for one of his concerts. On the day we were going, my mum had a pink skirt on with flowers up the side and she was like, ‘Right are you ready now?’ I said, ‘Mum, you can’t wear that?’ She said, ‘How not?’ I said, ‘Mum are you daft? Look at me, you’ve got to dress like me.’ The best she could come up with was a black skirt with a black jacket.

I get my gothic clothes from Hellfire in Glasgow. My mum found it quite funny when I used to dress like that. I’ve got my big platform shoes: 9 inch. I’m 4ft 9in. My mum says our house is like Pop Idol. My sister is going up for Stars In Their Eyes and my big brother’s on cruise ships singing and dancing to Abba.

Stageworks finishes about 9pm or 9.30pm and I normally go home and have something to eat and watch TV and just go to sleep. We ended up being in a documentary after Elliot went for an audition for a part in a short film. I was 10 at the time so I couldn’t audition and Elliot said, ‘I’m quite nervous. Could you come with me?’

When I got there, the guy came up to me and said, ‘Do you want to audition?’ I said, ‘I can’t because I’m only 10.’ He said, ‘Come on, it’ll be a laugh.’ So I went in and did all this stuff and we had to stand in front of a camera and do faces. Then, at the end, the director said, ‘Paul, I’d like to give you a role in this film, but would you cut your hair? You would need to cut your hair.’ I said, ‘No way, I can’t.’ He said, ‘Why not?’ I said, ‘One, I love having long hair, and two, I’m in a band.’ I didn’t get the part in the film. I don’t know why I like having long hair so much. I think it just suits me. I don’t suit short hair.”

This Scotland: Heavy Metal Jr is on Scottish TV and Grampian TV on Tuesday at 7.30pm

21 August 2005
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The Sounds of ‘Hatred’

Tuesday 23 August at 7.30pm

Elliot, Paul, Michael, Liam and Grant are members of a heavy metal band called ‘Hatred’. Their music is loud and their hair is long.

They also have an average age of 11.

Heavy Metal Jr. follows the band's shambolic preparations for a large open air gig in Stirling as they battle with their songwriting, their instruments, their parents and ultimately their own talent, in a bid for rock glory.

The documentary is an affectionate portrayal of life in a rock band, played out in miniature, and was made by award-winning filmmaker Chris Waitt.

Heavy Metal Jr. was produced by Graeme Hart and directed by Chris Waitt. Heavy Metal Jr. was made by Dogtooth Media for Scottish TV, Grampian TV and Scottish Screen.

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It is two very little pictures of boy in band Hatred.  One is picture with his mom and other is picture with band but they very tiny pictures.

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I find these with internet search it is fun to do.

Thanks for the article, Apple.  It was interesting to read.  Those kids seem quute multitalented if they can both play in a band and turn down film roles offered to them.  Not many kids can say that.

It is also good to hear that kids are still forming bands of their own in this day and age when the "music" scene is throwing constant rap and pop divas at them.  With all that I am surprised kids grow up at all with any sense of musical imagination.

Keep us informed on their progress if you can.


MJ