A Scottish band formed in 1982 by Stephen Pastel (born McRobbie), The Pastels made a name for themselves with their debut album Up for a Bit With the Pastels (1987). Their style, based on melodies and guitar rock, influenced the independent scene, despite a chaotic career and many changes of musicians. The trio, which almost split up, revived with Mobile Safari (1995) and Illumination (1996), followed by the remix and tribute album Illuminati in 1998. Still active in the following decade, the trio of C-86 veterans successively released The Last Great Wilderness (2003), Two Sunsets with Japanese band Tenniscoats (2009) and Slow Summits (2013). After setting up their own label, Geographic Music, the band seemed to be in a prolonged state of dormancy for a decade, before Stephen Pastel made an unexpected return in 2024, teaming up with sound engineer and occasional member Gavin Thomson for the album This Is Memorial Device, inspired by the 2017 novel of the same name by David Keenan (ex-18 Wheeler), which tells the story of a fictional band and is transposed onto the stage.
