Straight Outta Scotland

A True Story of Fakery, Money and Betrayal in the Music Industry

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About The Book

California Schemin'is the remarkable real life story of how two rappers from Dundee pretended to be two rappers from California and duped the record industry out of hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Gavin Bain and Billy Boyd - or Silibil N' Brains, as they became known - were two ordinary Scottish boys who shared an extraordinary dream: to become rap superstars. Creating new identities for themselves, they persuaded the music industry that they were the latest hot young talent from California. Silibil N' Brains then lived out that lie for more than two years, securing an enormous record deal with Sony and being catapulted into the industry high-life, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Madonna, Eminem and D12.

But, ironically, they could never actually deliver and promote the album that they were paid so much money to put together. As soon as they became famous they would be recognised by anyone who had known them in their former lives in Scotland and the dream would evaporate. As the pressure mounted, there would be disastrous consequences …

California Schemin' is a story of incredible highs and terrible lows, of doing whatever it takes to follow your dream.

About The Author

Product Details

  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK (April 1, 2010)
  • Length: 288 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781847379641

Raves and Reviews

‘A blistering, hedonistic rock ‘n’ roll party of a story, it is written with brio and self-deprecating laughs’ 

Big Issue

‘One of the most amazing, high octane, hedonistic morality tales of our time . . . An absolutely essential read’ 

Irvine Welsh

'Jaw-dropping'

Independent on Sunday

‘This is the story of a rapping duo who enjoyed one of the most ludicrous careers in the modern music industry . . . A right rollicking read, with lots of sex and drugs and wild, wild times’ 

Daily Mail

‘This story is like Robin Hood for the 21st century and will sit alongside all the great rock ‘n’ roll stories in history’ 

Alan McGee, founder of Creation Records

‘You can’t put this book down! It’s got echoes of Trainspotting, Fight Club and A Clockwork Orange, but it’s not fiction – it’s real’ 

Dean Cavanagh, creator of Svengali

‘Gavin Bain and Billy Boyd probably persuaded themselves that the fib they chose to tell was the kind of white lie that would harm no one, least of all themselves. But it was to break up their friendship, alienate countless other friends, humiliate the British music industry and drive one of them to the brink of suicide’ 

Scotsman

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