Over the next eleven years it became one of the most widely used facilities in Scotland,[1][2] initially favoured by post-punk bands like The Laughing Apple and Positive Noise for its lo-fi credentials.

Among artists of note known to have worked at Sirooco in the 1980s were Del Amitri, The Bluebells, Aztec Camera, Kissing the Pink, Alan McGee, Andrew Innes, Martin Taylor, Alexander Stoddart, Hamish Imlach, Eddi Reader, Elaine C Smith, Mike Ogletree, Terry Neason, Tiger Tim Stevens, Mr. Superbad, Mary Kiani, Big George and the Business and Jimmy Dewar.

Also for the BBC, saxophonist Tommy Smith filmed part of a documentary about his career there as did cult Glasgow band Scheme for Channel 4.

Over an eighteen-month period at Radio Clyde, Sorley made broadcast recordings of: Rose Royce, Lulu, Gordon Giltrap, Durutti Column, The Fall, Bad Manners, Pete Shelley, Orange Juice, Spandau Ballet, The Stiff Tour, Climax Chicago Blues Band, Alice Cooper, The Pretenders, Simple Minds, Depeche Mode, 10cc, Funkapolitan, Wang Chung, Morrissey–Mullen, Mike Westbrook, Stan Tracey, Don Weller, Jimmy Deuchar, Al Cohn, Benjamin Luxon, Peter Pears, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

Sorley left the Clyde staff in 1981 and as a free-lance produced programmes for the station with live music content, recording many headline artists including Ben E. King, The Drifters, The Waitresses, The Average White Band, Mari Wilson, Big Audio Dynamite, Slade, Runrig and Shakatak.

They are part of a larger body of live recordings done by Radio Clyde referred to in The Guardian in 2003 as "a musical treasure trove" when discovered years later.

[9] He spent a few weeks in 1983 playing bass with Liverpool band The Lotus Eaters prior to the release of their first hit single on Arista.

After extensive research in the UK and US working with Simon Frith, Alex Neil and John Swinney, he drew up a set of proposals with comprehensive ideas and business plans for furthering the music industry in Scotland.

With ex-Sirocco mate George Cowan and backers Douglas Cardow and Iain Robertson, the production company Rainmaker-Sonic was set up in 2000.

Sorley and Gibson collaborated on a number of projects over the next few years including work for Gaines as well as having the dance track "Back & Forth" signed to Warners.

Consistent with changes in the way recorded music is distributed and marketed, an experimental release schedule was implemented by putting out one four-track EP every month, a track each week.

The label's design concept is a deliberate “library” style, i.e. each release uses generic artwork with no photographs thus reflecting the fact that the recordings are the producer's work in which the performers have collaborated.

He was three years at Edinburgh University in the 1990s doing recreational study, centrally philosophy, and following a further period of reading started writing a series of short essays in 2002.