Last Sunday we had the pleasure of making our Dundee debut at Conroy’s Basement, supporting Ayr-based rock band Aboriginals as part of their Scottish headline tour! Here’s a wee behind the scenes look at how a new band (who somehow managed to already wangle a big city gig) tries to win over a new crowd far from their hometowns.
In case you haven’t heard of us already, we’ll be the first to say we’re not surprised! This was only our 4th gig and they’ve all been within March so this was a perfect way to end an amazing (and VERY hectic) month. Our band consists of lead singer Alex Duncan and bassist Alex Christie, who are both from Edinburgh, and songwriter/guitarist Scott Williamson and drummer Andy Hayter, who are both from Kirkcaldy. We are based out of Eggman Studios in Dunfermline; Scott runs it with Darren Forbes from Shambolics and Scott Thompson from Gentleman Jackals.
To quickly sum up our band would be difficult; our influences are very diverse, everything from ABBA to Arctic Monkeys to West Coast hip hop, we like pretty much everything but we base ourselves on writing melodic, infectious guitar-based pop songs with plenty of hooky choruses and a bouncy, driving rhythm section. It doesn’t matter if you prefer modern or older guitar bands, you are bound to enjoy listening to us! We plan to release our debut single sometime in May so keep an eye out on our socials for it!
We arrived at the venue around the scheduled time for loading in and soundcheck but we were told that the stage was still being set up so we had an hour to wander round Dundee for a bit, which is always a pleasure! A few of us had never been to a gig at all in Dundee which was a new experience and we’re not too used to city gigs in general – where some of us are from unisex toilets are a rare occurrence so that was admittedly a bit surprising for us!
Our soundcheck took less time than we actually spent setting up our gear, four gigs in and we are kings of the soundcheck already. The sound in the venue was quality and you can hear every note in the videos that were taken on the night. Our set was on the cusp of 25 minutes long, some may see that as too short but we’re firm in the belief that you should “always leave them wanting more” as the saying goes. We’ve got plenty more tunes in the bank in preparation for playing our own headline gigs where, admittedly, 25 minutes is pretty naff. The reactions we got from the crowd were great and you could already tell that our tunes were snaking their way into the minds of the onlookers; Scott heard someone whistling the chorus to our song ‘Vertigo’ in the toilet (so he says anyway). Overall we were very chuffed with how we played and look forward to another gig up here in the future!
Up next were Aboriginals, a band who we hadn’t heard of before being offered this gig but that wasn’t a problem – the moment they started playing we were fans. They have the energy, the tunes, the swagger – everything you want in a modern rock band. Their sound is very American; one of the first songs they played was very reminiscent of “Jeremy” by Pearl Jam and there were echoes of Foo Fighters, Pixies and Nirvana, to name a few. All of these influences were confirmed after speaking to Calum, their front man who was one of the soundest people we’ve met as a band so far, he mentioned our upcoming gigs during their set which was class! Towards the end they performed a brilliant cover of “American Girl” by Tom Petty which went down really well with the crowd, a nice change from their typically heavier, grungy sound. We would highly recommend you check them out on Spotify and go and see them on their upcoming tour!
Aboriginals have 2 more shows this weekend in Perth and Inverness, grab a ticket HERE!
LINKS N STUFF:
The Links Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thelinksband/
The Links Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_thelinksband/
The Links Twitter: https://twitter.com/_thelinksband
Aboriginals Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aboriginals/
Aboriginals Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aboriginalsband/
Aboriginals Twitter: https://twitter.com/aboriginalsband
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