California Schemin' : How Two Lads from Scotland Conned the Music Industry

Author: Gavin Bain

Music

Published on 9 April 2026 by Simon & Schuster Ltd in the United Kingdom.

Paperback | 288 pages, none
197 x 130 x 20 | 208g

**Now a major motion picture directed by James McAvoy**How far would you go to make your dreams come true? Gavin Bain and Billy Boyd were two ordinary boys from Dundee with one extraordinary ambition: to become the UK’s first hip-hop superstars. Reinventing themselves as Silibil ‘N’ Brains, they convinced the music industry they were Californian rap prodigies – pulling off one of the most audacious hoaxes in modern music history.

For more than two years, they lived the dream: a huge record deal, MTV appearances, non-stop partying, and rubbing shoulders with Madonna and Eminem. They had fame, money, and everything they’d ever wanted – built on borrowed accents and fabricated pasts.

But success came with a ticking clock. The bigger they became, the closer they came to exposure. As the pressure mounted, the lie began to unravel – with devastating consequences.

California Schemin’ is a breathtaking true story of ambition, identity and the cost of believing your own myth – now adapted into a major film directed by James McAvoy.