A former tour manager has shared a light-hearted but unforgettable story from the Bay City Rollers’ 1977 winter tour — a moment when bad weather halted everything, and the band ended up in a spontaneous 40-minute snowball fight with their own bus driver on a remote mountain pass.
According to the manager, the group was traveling overnight between shows when heavy snowfall forced the tour bus to slow dramatically. The road ahead became slick, nearly invisible under the thickening snow. Eventually, the bus came to a stop near a curve on a high mountain road, blocked by a pile of fresh drifts that made it impossible to continue.
The driver stepped outside to assess the situation, expecting the band to stay warm inside the bus. Instead, one of the members peeked out the window, saw the knee-high snow, and shouted, “We’re never getting through this — might as well enjoy it!” Minutes later, the entire group poured out into the freezing air, bundled in mismatched coats, scarves, and stage-tour leftovers.
What happened next was pure impulse. The first snowball was thrown by the keyboardist, aimed lazily at a bandmate who wasn’t looking. The second came from behind a luggage case that had been pulled off the bus. Within moments, the quiet mountainside turned chaotic with laughter, shouts, and the unmistakable thud of packed snow hitting wool coats.
The bus driver, initially irritated that they were wasting time, quickly became the primary target — something the band found hilarious. After ducking behind the bus door and taking three direct hits, he stepped fully into the fray, scooping up two fistfuls of snow and launching them with perfect accuracy.
“He had the best aim of anyone,” the tour manager said. “The boys didn’t stand a chance.”
Despite the cold, no one seemed bothered. They ran through the roadside drifts, slipping, falling, and scrambling up again, transforming the otherwise stressful delay into an unexpectedly joyful break from the tour’s demanding schedule. A few local drivers passed by slowly, confused at the sight of the internationally known band engaged in a full-scale snowball skirmish on a blocked mountain road.
One crew member recalled that the bassist attempted to build a makeshift snow fort, only for two other band members to collapse it instantly with a flurry of thrown snow. Another tried to make a snow angel but gave up halfway after realizing how cold the ground really was. Meanwhile, the drummer kept shouting mock-serious warnings like, “I swear the next one will be a headshot!”
The snowball fight lasted around 40 minutes — long enough that the group began to tire, and the driver eventually called everyone back to the bus so they could warm up. By that time, a plow had arrived to clear the road, and the delay was finally resolving.
Inside the bus, their clothes soaked and their hair dripping with melted snow, the band laughed through chattering teeth as the driver shook off his coat and returned to his seat with a victorious grin.
“It could’ve been a frustrating night,” the manager said. “Instead, it became one of those memories everyone talked about for years — the night the Bay City Rollers and their bus driver turned a snowstorm into a holiday.”