Our Discovery Music team went for a wee jaunt to Glasgow to join industry professionals and music lovers in celebrating some of the hottest talent in Scottish music at the moment.
Brought to you for the 9th year by Richy Muirhead and hosted by Jim Gellatly it was sure to be a belter.
A live performance from Heir of the Cursed kickstarted the night with a proper charming yet haunting voice. Her work with Kobi Onyame (a SAMA nominee himself) is DEFINITLEY worth a listen. Acts like The Vegan Leather, Shredd and Blanck Mess followed throughout the night, keeping the stage warm for the nominees!
One of this year's nominees for 'Best Newcomer' were Dundee duo, Beta Waves. Great lads with great music. We had a wee chat with them before their category, here's a clip of what they had to say:
Who stands out to you in tonight’s line up and nominees?
‘St. Martiins, also a Dundee band, we’re big fans. We also really like The Dunts and Zoe Graham, I think she’s great.'
(Having met Zoe earlier that night, I can vouch for that, she is great)
Recently you released the music video for absolute tune ‘LOVE LOVE LOVE’ which we fucking love, what was the inspiration behind that?
‘So, Dale got old VHS recordings from his mum of him and his wee brother when they were younger, and we just edited the clips together. There was no real concept for the video, but I mean we are kinda operating on a shoestring budget, like most bands, so doing everything DIY it does feel a bit more authentic.’
On a slightly more serious note, I had a chance to chat to Scotland Head Suzanne, Scotland Development Officer David and their lovely volunteers from Help Musicians UK. The organisation offers a range of services to those in the music industry from career support and advice from emerging acts to retired, funding opportunities and latest campaign 'Music Minds Matter' which raises awareness and offers support for mental health in music, a cause close to the hearts of Discovery Music. Check out their website in the link above to find out more about the work they do and how to get involved.
Another act doing Dundee proud were Katie and Mark from St. Martiins who were nominated for 'Best Rock/Alternative.' This electronic/alternative dark-toned duo are doing big things in the Scottish music scene however humble they are. We could of chatted to this lovely pair for hours but here's a wee clip of what they had to say at the SAMA 2018.
You're known for your hauntingly beautiful take on rock/alt music, how does that sound come about through your writing?
'So many different ways, we write separately a lot and we'll kind of just come together with ideas we've had and mold that. Mark and I are very lucky in a lot of ways, he's my best friend, we live together and have everything in common so music is just like an expression of that.'
So, there is often a lot said about industry exposure of female acts in music but do yo
u think some of it lies with lassies themselves? Are women less likely to put themselves out there and start out in music than men?
‘My answer to that is when you’re growing up in school it’s all boys in the music department, boys that wanted to go to local gigs cause the boys were playing. It’s not really a thing where girls go ‘wanna start a band?’ it always had this kind of underlying ‘boys club’ feeling and I know certainly at school I felt like an imposter in the music department.’
On the other side of that do you ever feel that you are hired to gigs based on the fact that you ‘tick a box’ being female fronted, rather than for true appreciation of your work?
‘100%! Not even gigs but I was on a panel once talking about the music scene and the guy actually admitted to me that I was the token on the panel because they were like ‘oh shit it’s just a bunch of guys we need a female too.’
(Did you absolutely slap him one round the puss? I hope so)
Now this whole night wouldn't of been possible if it wasn't for one guy, Richy Muirhead. Each year he out does himself with the scale and impact of the award ceremony earning a place in every Scottish music fan's diary. We managed to get a few words off him during his busy schedule.
What inspired you to create an event like the SAMA?
'There's a really long story about what inspired me to create the SAMAs - it involved a trip around Germany with friends to the MTV awards, but I won't bore you with that! But generally speaking as someone working in music and living in a vibrant city like Glasgow it's easy to be inspired to create an event like SAMAs. From talking to the nominated artists and our partners such as Help Musicians Scotland, and XpoNorth about the importance of music awards - this has made me want to grow the awards and try my best to develop and put Scotland's artists on the map. '
What qualities do you believe and act has to have to win a SAMA?
'The nominated artists should be dedicated, be releasing music, touring and have ambition to take music full time. At the moment, the winners are decided by the general public so having an existing national fan-base would play in your favour. I like to see the nominations list as bait for national/international promoters, agents, managers to get taste of Scotland and to hopefully work with the bands.'
What acts would you personally recommend from the line up of talent involved in the SAMA 2018? '
I think generally the 2018 nominations list was of high quality and had something for everyone from the likes of electronic duo LAPS, singer songwriter Zoe Bestel and everyone in between across the seven awards. Personally - I think each of the acts in the Newcomer award are exciting and ones to watch in 2019: Crystal, Beta Waves, Zoe Graham, and of course The Dunts who just won the award! '
As this is for 'Discovery Music Presents: Industry Insider', would you ever consider SAMA categories for the industry professionals behind the scenes such as up and coming producers, managers, blogs ect?
'Increasing the awards is something I have thought about before, and this kind of thing might be something that comes to life in the future. At the moment the focus is about the artists and showcasing a diverse range of artists across seven awards.'
Finally, the reason we were all there, between all the live music, interviews and gins were the awards themselves. You can tell all of the acts involved are just grateful to have industry recognition for busting their asses to get their music out there. Even if they did want to absolutely leather the winners, they didny show it.
So the winners were of the SAMA 2018 were...
Best Hip Hop - Solareye
Best Metal - Tenements
Best Electronic - Lo Kindre
Best Rock/Alternative - Declan Welsh & the Decadent West
Best Newcomer - The Dunts
Best Acoustic - Megan Airlie
Best Live Act - Lylo
Well done to everyone involved in running the Scottish Alternative Music Awards 2018 it went doon a treat and thank you for having us. See you in 2019.
LINKS N STUFF:
SAMA FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialSAMA
Heir of the Cursed: https://open.spotify.com/artist
Beta Waves: https://open.spotify.com/artist
St.Martiins: https://open.spotify.com/artist
Help Musicians UK: https://www.helpmusicians.org.uk/