Conville & Walsh

CALIFORNIA SCHEMIN’ tells one of those remarkable real life stories that only come along once or twice a decade. It’s about doing whatever it takes to follow your dream. And it’s about how two rappers from Dundee pretended to be two rappers from California and duped the London 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. Refusing to be judged on their accents rather than on their talent, they created new American identities for themselves and then persuaded a whole legion of music scouts, agents, A&R people, radio execs, DJs and more 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 with endless parties, gigs, promotional events, radio shows, MTV, and so on, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Madonna, Eminem (who they have to pretend to know!) and D12.

But ironically, maintaining their false identities meant they could never actually deliver and promote the album that they were paid so much money to put together, as the whole dream could evaporate the minute they get spotted by anyone who knows them and who could uncover them as two lads from Dundee.

CALIFORNIA SCHEMIN’ is the story of these years, the incredible highs and the terrible lows; seven of Gavin’s closest friends die, his friendship with Billy ends up irretrievably damaged, and the two are pushed to the point of suicide.

Be careful what you wish for…