Scots rappers signed by Sony toured with Eminem – but they were hiding huge secret

James McAvoy is making his directorial debut with California Schemin’ at the upcoming Glasgow Film Festival and it is based on an extraordinary story about two Scotsmen who hid their accents

Gavin Bain and Billy Boyd at MTV as part of Silibil N’ Brains

An aspiring rap duo signed with Sony and went on tour with Eminem all while living a massive lie.

Gavin Bain and Billy Boyd, from Dundee, managed to break into the world of hip hop – despite completely hiding their Scottish routes.

The pair claimed to be from California and did everything possible to hide their Scottish accents, fooling record producers and fans alike.

They called themselves Silibil N’ Brains and their sensational true story has now been turned into a film called California Schemin’ which is directed by James McAvoy.

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Gavin has now reflected on the rollercoaster ride and revealed how they were momentarily rumbled after supporting Eminem and his band D12 on a UK tour.

They lived the lie for three years

Gavin and Billy met on their first day of college in Dundee in 1998 and within a few hours they agreed to start a rap group together.

They eventually found an advert online for open auditions in London where talent managers were looking for “the next Eminem”.

After a 13-hour bus journey from Scotland, the pair, along with another pal who was by then in the group, were laughed off stage when they performed in Scottish accents.

Despite the humiliation, Gavin told Phoebe Judge on her Criminal podcast: “Hip hop was all about credibility, what you’ve gone through, what street you come from, the branding of rap in America was so powerful, and Britain didn’t quite have that yet — and Scotland definitely didn’t have that.

“So they were right — they can’t sell it. So I understood that but it then left me with the predicament of ‘then we can never do this’.”

The band played sold out shows

During another meeting with someone who ran the biggest hip hop magazine at the time, they were labelled the “rapping Proclaimers”.

Instead of giving up though, they decided to completely ditch their accent and pretend they were American, claiming to have met at a rap battle in San Francisco.

And it worked. They drew the attention of executives before being discovered by Jonathan Shalit, who got them a record deal with Sony.

Gavin recalled: “I remember in Dundee in Scotland saying this is what we do. We go down, we get our record deal, we blow up overnight, get a number one record — obviously — as soon as I hear someone singing my words back to me, I am good, I can walk from it.”

 
The rap group doing a photoshoot in 2005 (Image: Sony Music Archive via Getty Images)

They eventually dreamed of going on the Jonathan Ross Show and at the end of the interview declaring: “We are not American, we have never been to America, we are Scottish.”

Gavin was going to then make a point of saying: “We always had the talent — why did we need to do this?”

However, Silibil N’ Brains went on tour, where they drank heavily each night, before getting news that was both terrifying and exciting at the same time.

They were told they would join Eminem and D12 on the UK leg of their tour, after previously lying about knowing the Detroit rappers when they claimed to Sony managers that they were great friends with them.

And remembering seeing them for the first time during night one, Gavin said the pair just went up and hugged them all affectionately.

A glimpse at the upcoming film California Schemin’(Image: STUDIOCANAL)

He said: “From a distance, it probably just looked like a warm embrace by friends but up close you could see their faces… they were going through ‘who are these guys again?’”

They then played in front of 5,000 people, their biggest gig, before their lawyer questioned them backstage. He had finally figured out they were actually Gavin and Billy from Scotland.

Their lawyer was reportedly “really angry” and said he was going to pull them from the tour and speak to the label immediately to try and talk something through.

Gavin still denied it being true before Eminem was about to come down the hallway with a camera crew from MTV.

Tim, the lawyer, supposedly said: “Ok, you’re best friends with this guy, let me ask him quick…”

Samuel Bottomley portrays Billy in the new film (Image: STUDIOCANAL)

Gavin called his bluff and told him to, before “freaking out” and running to his dressing room.

However, the lawyer never exposed them, and the pair somehow kept playing packed out shows without anyone else realising who they really were.

But the ruse began to weigh heavily on the pair and Gavin developed a stomach ulcer.

He also barely spoke to his family as it took him out of character and his girlfriend in Dundee broke up with him because he kept using an American accent.

“Everything changed” when Billy’s partner became pregnant before things came to a head.

Gavin said: “We have this big fight and it is one of those fights you cannot come back from I’m afraid. So essentially the group was over. We didn’t get caught and the fact that the group was over was kind of a bit of a blessing.

Séamus McLean Ross plays Gavin in the film (Image: STUDIOCANAL)

“There was a clause in the contract that if the band breaks up before the record comes out then you don’t have to pay the money back. And so we essentially got away with not having to pay that money back.”

Billy returned to Scotland to work on an oil rig whereas Gavin stayed in London to try and make it on his own.

Sony stopped taking his calls but in 2012 Silibil N’ Brains briefly got back together to release an album called Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

Gavin meanwhile still grafts on his own music career and is currently working on a new album — with most of the lyrics being performed in his authentic Scottish accent.