Poetry meets punk as Rabbie rocks the stage

THEY are linked across the centuries by a lust for life.

Now the works of Iggy Pop and Robert Burns are being combined for a musical celebration of the Bard's life and work.

Tam Dean Burn is performing across Scotland as a rock and roll Rabbie to mark the year of Homecoming.

His portrayal of the ploughman poet is inspired by the former Stooges frontman and Burn is hoping the godfather of punk can be persuaded to join him on stage.

The acclaimed stage performer, who has starred in Taggart and River City, has formed a band which fuses Burns' s rhymes with the frenetic riffs and energy of the American rock legend. Burn claims the two figures, separated by centuries and the Atlantic, shared the same lust for life.

He said: "Iggy and Rabbie were kindred spirits. Burns lived for the moment and had the same attitude as Iggy, while Iggy is often portrayed as a wild man, but he is actually a great poet as well."

The actor, his brother Russell – former drummer with Edinburgh art-rockers the Fire Engines, and former Orange Juice and Aztec Camera guitarist Malcolm Ross, have formed The Bum-Clocks, named for the old Scots word for beetles.

They hope Pop will join them on stage for the Homecoming finale gig at the SECC in Glasgow in November.