Edinburgh Princes Street shoppers witness Trainspotting spoof for Scottish indie band Shambolics' album promo

Fife/ Glasgow band in Edinburgh for filming earlier this week

Shoppers on Princes Street came away with something they weren’t expecting to find on Monday afternoon when Fife/ Glasgow indie rockers Shambolics filmed a tribute to Trainspotting for their album promo video.

The band’s singers and songwriters Lewis McDonald and Darren Forbes were filmed being chased along Edinburgh’s main shopping street in a nod to the iconic opening scene of the smash-hit 1996 movie based on Edinburgh writer Irvine Welsh’s legendary novel Trainspotting.

A cameraman standing on the back of a bicycle hurtling past shoppers filmed the pair being chased along Princes Street. The indie rockers were also spotted on Calton Road trying to re-create the famous scene which saw Ewan McGregor’s character Renton hit by a car at the end of the chase by security guards through the city centre.

Shambolics singer-songwriters Darren Forbes and Lewis McDonald (in tracksuits) being filmed at Princes Street on Monday for the band's album promo. Photo by Rebeka Thomson.

Shambolics were putting together the promotional video with film-maker Rory Cowieson of Tongue Twister Films for their debut album, Dreams, Schemes and Young Teams, out next month.

Speaking about Monday’s filming in the Capital, ‘Forbes’ told the Evening News: “Trainspotting is such an iconic Scottish film and we wanted to pay homage to that movie as part of the promotional video for our new album.

"It was great fun to do and we can’t wait to show everyone the finished piece.

"We are just so happy to finally be getting our debut album out there to the world and we hope people love it.”

The band also filmed at Calton Road. Inset: Album cover for Dreams, Schemes and Young Teams.

One bemused shopper who saw the filming take place on Princes Street at around 3pm on Monday, said: “I didn’t know at first what was happening but I quickly realised what was going on. It’s lovely that young people are paying tribute to a film which is nearly 30 years old. Good luck to them.”

Dreams, Schemes and Young Teams is out on February 16, released by Scruff of the Neck Records.