Art imitates... art?

Tribute albums to bands aren't unusual any more - indeed, for a couple of decades it's been hard to flip more than two CDs past the Various Artists divider without turning up "Portsmouth by Portsmouth: South Western Bands sing the music of Mike Oldfield" or "The Men In Black Eyeliner: Goth tribute to Johnny Cash." But, we would suggest, the forthcoming tribute album to Frozen Gold is a first, what with Frozen Gold never having made a record, much less a sound.

Frozen Gold were the band in Iain Banks' Espedair Street; as such, Banks is now having to create some music for the real bands to record.