Review and interview: 218 by The Sun Day

Originally published on 5D Blog:

Following on from our recent piece on local band Hitlist we now are chatting to The Sun Day about their new song.  I was lucky enough to see both bands support Skylights recently in the Beach Ballroom, so its great to get this opportunity to get to know them.  They will both grace the stage at OGV Podium on the 8th December along with Audiokicks and Stonechild.

The Sun Day at Beach Ballroom

Comprised of frontman Connor Ritchie on vocals and rhythm guitar, Luke Doyle on lead guitar, Aidan Forret on bass and Craig Spink on drums, this young band from Aberdeenshire see themselves as a “glowing collective pioneering new things in indie-rock”.

Their new song 218, for which I love the bus graphic, is well worth a listen.  Their explanation of 218: “I think it’s equally about contempt and dependence on someone or something. It’s quite erratic like that, and I think you hear it in the riff as well. That back and forth of wanting to explode but at the same time, being terrified and wanting to shrink back into yourself and not face whatever it is you need to. I suppose I wrote it trying to capture two feelings at once.”

Q1.  What’s the reason behind your band name, The Sun Day?
A1. If we’re being honest there isn’t really a reason behind the name!  We kinda just picked it out of a batch of bad names as it was the best one.  We kinda like to think that we’re called The Sun Day because our music could maybe shine a bit of light into someone’s life. 

Q2.  How did you guys meet?  Who are the band’s main influences, what’s on your playlists?A2. So me (Ritchie), our guitarist, Luke, and our bassist, Aidan, all went to academy together in Alford and have been good friends since.  Me and Luke were the first two to start jamming together and writing songs.  Back then we had a different bassist and drummer in the early days, who both went on to do their own respective things.  Once we left school and went to college we met Craig and things sorta just clicked with him and around the same time Aidan joined the band too.
As for influences it’s quite hard to pin down the main ones, as we all listen to such a wide array of music.  I know in the early days me and Luke were both heavily influenced by Oasis, but nowadays not so much.  We also quite like to keep our influences on the down low as we want people to hear us for us and not try to compare us to anything that’s come before. 

Q3.  You recently played supported Skylights at the Ballroom, which was an ace night.  You’ve got the OGV gig coming up, so what will be next on the band bucket list? 
A3. Beach Ballroom was a massive milestone for us as it was like the biggest crowd we’ve ever played too which was so sick.  As for other things on the bucket list, we’d love to play some of the historic venues in Glasgow like King Tuts and Barrowlands.  We’d love to support some of the bigger bands that are doing amazing right now in the Scottish scene like Gallus and Deadpony. 

Q4.  Both line ups include Hitlist, is it just a local young band thang or is there something more to the relationship?
A4. We’ve got much love for the hitlist boys their doing well for themselves at the moment, as for relationship wise we’re not sure –  they haven’t taken us to dinner yet but we’ll see!  But no, honestly we’re just trying to band together all the Aberdeen bands in the scene to try and work together.  I think the music in the city at the moment is fantastic and if we all work together we could create something larger than life. 

Q5.  I wondered if any of the band are reading anything good at the moment? (I am a Librarian by day, I can’t resist asking!)
A5. That’s a good question.  At the moment I’m (Ritchie) trying to slowly make my way through The Shining whenever I find the time as I’m trying to get into reading a bit more.  Luke is reading Paul McCartney’s A-Z lyrics book at the moment and he’s also making his way through Jimmy Hendrix’s biography.  As for Craig he’s most likely reading a comic and for Aidan.. we’re not quite sure!  He’s more likely to be shredding on his board 6. 

Q6.  Why should we buy tickets for the OGV gig on 8th December, give me your sales pitch?!
A6.  You definitely wanna get yourself there because who knows you could be witnessing history!

Further information.

Review and interview: Dancing in the Rain by Hitlist

Originally published on 5D Blog with band photos by Dod Morrison Photography.

Aberdeen band Hitlist are releasing their latest song “Dancing in the Rain” on the 24th November.  They have dedicated it to “our closest friends & Family who have been there from the start.”  I was thrilled to get the chance to interview them and have a listen to the song.

Q1. What’s the reason behind your band name, Hitlist? 

A1.  As a joke we created a ‘Hitlist’ of all the bands we were going to “takeover” and we just decided to name the band after it.

Q2. So you recently played King Tuts which I believe was on your band bucket list, what’s the next target? 

A2.  Yeah it was one of our goals as a band to play at Tuts.  Unreal to have been able to do that. Our next goal is to play some of the bigger venues in Glasgow like St Lukes, Oran Mor and The Garage.

Q3. I’ve now seen you on the same line up as Skylights twice, is it just a mutual love of Aberdeen FC or is there something more to the relationship? 

A3.  Myself (Callum Jones) and Skylights guitarist Turnbull get on really well and speak very often. They have taken us under their wing and are always giving us advice and tips.

Q4. What format do you prefer to listen to music on? 

A4.  I personally prefer Apple Music as does our drummer Ollie, but I know Calum our lead guitarist and Scott our bassist use Spotify.

Q5. I wondered if any of the band are reading anything good at the moment? (I am a Librarian by day, I can’t resist asking!) 

A5. Calum and Ollie are always nose deep in uni books!

Q6. Why should we buy tickets for the OGV gig on 8th December, give me your sales pitch?! 

A6.  One big massive end of year cerry oan!! A LOT of new music which we haven’t played live before and we have 3 of the best bands in the city on support.

So that gives us some insight into the band behind their new song Dancing In the Rain.  It is an upbeat tune with some amazing vocals, there’s one word that Callum absolutely belts out and holds the note for a remarkable length of time, and it just makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.  Well worth a listen to on whatever streaming format you prefer!

Further information.

Interview: Andy Bell, GLOK

Originally published on 5D Blog:

Many of us hear the name Andy Bell and think Erasure but there is also a Welsh musician and songwriter by that name, who’s music we have all probably encountered in one way or another.  He was bassist for Oasis, he was in Hurricane #1 and Beady Eye, he’s in Mantra of the Cosmos, he DJs, he’s an integral part of Ride, and now he has a new alias: GLOK.

This is a much more electronic sound with funky names like Pulsing, Weaver, Projected Sounds.  The songs sound like their names too and its really hard to listen to them without physically reacting in some way – the foot tapping or head bopping comes even when you try not to because you are listening through headphones in a public place!  I know, its happening right now!

Ahead of his upcoming live album Gateway Mechanics, and his tour which starts next week, we were lucky enough to get the chance to ask him a few questions.

Q1.  GLOK is an interesting name for a project, Google suggests a gun whereas my head went to a glockenspiel, so my first question is: why GLOK?

A1.  I was translating my surname into different languages. I tried various languages – the Russian for bell is kolokol which I used as a song title, but settled on the German word for bell as my artist name, it’s glock like the gun, so I changed the spelling to make a unique word. So you weren’t far off !

Q2.  You have been involved with various different bands and projects (playing guitar and DJing) through your career: Oasis, Ride, Mantra of the Cosmos, Masal and now GLOK. Do you have a favourite, or if you could not possibly say do you have a dream aspiration or collaboration?

A2.  Ride has been my longest running band, my first and also my last, so I have to go with Ride. We started as mates in school and have ended up in our fifties playing together in the same line up, still conjuring up great musical chemistry so that’s something pretty special. 

Q3. GLOK is a much more electronic sound than playing a bass guitar, what effects pedals are essential to take on this forthcoming tour to recreate the sound of GLOK?

A3.  For the GLOK live sound I take the multi track mixes of the songs, re-create versions without guitars and often with radically different arrangements, really stripped back because that sounds better live, and then I just play guitar through an effects pedal board that I have christened “The Space Station” which has loads of pedals – Cry Baby Wah, an Ibanez Compressor from the 1980s, and various Old Blood Noise / Fairfield Circuitry pedals along with delay, reverb and fuzz. 

Q4.  My son is working on Uptown Girl chords for his Grade 4 acoustic guitar exams – what’s the best advice you can give an aspiring musician?

A4.  In the beginning it’s all about practise until you break past the initial period where your fingers are really hurting, after that point you’re basically over the hardest bit and it’s all about following your inspiration. I wish your son all the best, he’s chosen a noble profession. 

Q5. I saw on Instagram you gave a shout out for a book on Touring and Mental Health which looked very useful for musicians. I wondered what you are reading at the moment? (I am a Librarian by day, I can’t resist asking!)

A5.  The new John Robb book about Gothic music, Psychonauts by Mike Jay, I also recently read Come my Fanatics by Dan Franklin.

Q6. You’re about to head out touring again, do you have a favourite story from any previous tour (that can be shared publicly?!)?

A6.  I’ve been going out on tour pretty regularly for the last 30 years or so. There are so many stories, but I’ve forgotten more than I can remember. One day I will have to get a hypnotist to make me remember it all because I have a terrible memory for places and gigs. It’s quite easy to be on tour and not know what city, venue or sometimes even what country you’re in. But this will be the first ever GLOK tour so I will be focussed on taking it all in, playing some cool venues and meeting some new people.

Fascinating stuff!  If you would like to be one of those new people he meets then get tickets quick!  

Thank you to Kyle Dale for setting up this opportunity, I must admit this is my first time interviewing a musician so that’s another tick for my bucket list!  I am looking forward to the Aberdeen date and trying to catch a glimpse of Andy’s Space Station!  I will report back afterwards of course, but rather than suffer FOMO at that point, why not get involved now?!  Further information and tickets for the tour: https://linktr.ee/AndyBellGLOK