Fraserburgh is quite a place. There’s a busy harbour and alongside connections with Scottish Samurai Blake Glover and the London fashion scene in the form of Bill Gibb, the town is the birthplace of a chicken hypnotist.

Steve Fairnie (1951-1993) is perhaps best remembered locally as the frontman of the post-punk band Writz. But of course, his main claim to fame was his partnership with singer songwriter Bev Sage. Together they took the 1980’s charts by storm with a remake of Frederick Hollander’s 1930’s hit ‘Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuß auf Liebe eingestellt’ – better known perhaps as ‘Falling in Love Again (Can't Help It)’.

Both Billie Holiday and the Beatles recorded cover versions of the song, but somehow the Sage/Fairnie Techno Twins version stands out. Of course, fame does not come ‘cheep’ and in what was most probably a PR stunt, he made the front pages when he mesmerised a chicken in a Cornwall cafe.

It was summer 1983 and obviously a short news day. He and Bev had been out dining in a local café when inexplicably in walked a feathered hen. The rest is history. The lad from Fraserburgh was about to release a new single titled Foreign Land’ and in the true spirit of Freddie Starr Ate My Hamster the Techno Twins scored a few headlines.

“The thing is”, said Fairnie at the time, “you have to dominate the chicken and be right above it staring into its eyes. Then it will either go under or it will attack you, so you have to be a bit careful. I’m thrilled with my new powers and I’d like to try it out on flamingos next. I’ve also heard that if you draw a straight line which goes wavy at the end, and then put a chicken ‘under’ and make it walk along this line, it goes a bit crazy when it gets to the wavy part. I’d like to try this when I get more experienced.”
Aye. 🤠
If you’ve valued this wee snippet of Scottish history, I would encourage you to check out my books: The A-Z of Curious Aberdeenshire and The Little History of Aberdeenshire. Both titles are available from Amazon and there is a new book, sponsored by The Doric Board, on the way.
Location: Fraserburgh, UK

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