Q&A: Skerryvore talks music, influences & new label
- by Andrew Braithwaite
- in Interviews
Skerryvore's unique blend of Scottish traditional music and contemporary alt-pop has been captivating audiences both at home and abroad. Their upcoming album 'Tempus', set to be released on April 28th via Cooking Vinyl, showcases the band's evolution with an intoxicating mix of anthemic highs, strident rock, stadium-folk thrills, and subtle dance beats. To kick off 2023, Skerryvore has shared the album's first official single 'Everything You Need', which debuted on Zoe Ball's Radio 2 Breakfast Show.
With new material just released, I had a chat with the band to find out a little more.
Congratulations on the release of your latest single ‘Eye of the Storm’. How has the response been so far?
‘Everything You Need’ has been getting a lot of airplay and positive attention. What’s it like when you first hear your music on the likes of BBC Radio 2?
Alec: It’s always a real buzz to hear your songs on radio and it never really gets old. It’s amazing to have our songs playlisted on the likes of BBC R2 as it’s something we’ve looked towards as a goal. It’s great that R2 supports new music and artists who aren’t necessarily signed to one of the major labels.
Your music has been described as a blend of Scottish folk and pop-rock. How did you develop this unique sound, and what kind of artists and genres inspire your music?
Jodie: All members of the band have different musical backgrounds as well as influences, so that is a good starting point when writing music as we come at it from a few different angles rather than only "traditional" or "pop". We're always mindful of evolving our sound from one album to the next, so keeping our ears open to anything from pop and songwriters to electronic and R&B helps (along with being continually amazed and inspired by our fellow Scottish artists too).
You're set to perform at Edinburgh's Murrayfield Stadium ahead of the Scotland v Ireland Six Nations game. What's it like performing to such a large and enthusiastic crowd, and how do you prepare for a show like this?
ALEC: We’ve been fortunate to play some big gigs in our time but I don’t think we’ve ever quite made it to a sold out stadium. It will be a new experience for us but we’re delighted to be there as part of the warmup to the match and hopefully we can help get the fans revved up and the team ready for a win!
You have a busy tour schedule coming up, including a North American tour and several UK shows. What can fans expect from your live performances, and do you have any favourite venues or cities to play in?
ALEC: With the imminent release of our new album we’re in the process of rehearsing a whole new set list. It’s difficult at this stage to decide what to take out and what to add to the set but we’re looking forward to letting fans hear this new material. We’re lucky to play so many amazing places but it will be nice to get back to Dunedin, Florida in April for a bit of well needed vitamin D. The Theatre Severn in Shrewsbury has always been a great gig for us and Shrewsbury was one of the first areas in England where we’d play and it felt like a home gig.
Your new album focuses on pop-flavored songwriting and contemporary production while still retaining your Scottish folk roots. How did you approach blending these elements together, and what was the creative process like for this album?
ALEC: Through the years the progression towards blending those elements has kind of come naturally. I’ve always been heavily influenced by pop and then of course by the folk roots of my band mates. The lockdown period afforded me the time to set up a small home studio and I did all my writing there. It meant that I could do much more detailed demos of the full song to present to the rest of the band. We then did almost all of the final recording at Oak Ridge Studios which is our piper Scott Wood’s own studio.
Your music often carries uplifting and optimistic themes. Is this a deliberate choice, and why do you think it's important to have this kind of positive messaging in your music?
ALEC: It is deliberate, yes. These themes are what I enjoy writing about most and that’s the way I want to make people feel through the songs that I write. I think as a band we want people to feel uplifted at our live shows so it makes sense that the songs reflect this. There’s so many awful things going on in the world that it’s good to have a release from it at least for a short while.
Have you got a dream collaboration you would like to team up or work with as a band?
ALEC: Perhaps each band member would have a different answer. If you asked Martin he might say the Ceilidh King, Fergie MacDonald or Blair Douglas and Fraser would likely say the Foo Fighters. I’d probably say the Eagles as I’ve been a lifelong fan. I think it would be amazing for the band to have the opportunity to work with a producer like Rick Rubin or Max Martin to see what could be created in collaborating with the huge hit makers.
As a band, you've been together for quite a while now. How has your music evolved over the years, and what have been some of the biggest challenges you've faced as a group?
Jodie: The COVID pandemic was undoubtedly one of the biggest challenges we've faced professionally. As a band that spends so much time on the road, suddenly having the whole live music industry come to a standstill was scary, but we were fortunate enough to be able to weather the storm and keep busy by releasing new music and stream live shows. It's great to see live music back with a bang!
You recently signed with Cooking Vinyl for your new album. What was it like working with them, and how did this partnership come about?
CRAIG: It’s been a great experience so far, although quite unusual for us to work alongside a record label after having done everything ourselves for so long. We’re pretty self-contained as a group and generally handle everything from music recording/production to branding/marketing in-house so it’s been a bit of a learning curve working with others, but great to have the expertise of the Cooking Vinyl team on board. The first time the whole band met the CV team together was during our tour of England in November when we travelled to their London office. . A bit of a chat and good few glasses of bubbly helped to seal the deal!
What's next for Skerryvore? Are there any upcoming projects or collaborations that you're excited about?
CRAIG: At the moment we’re really just concentrating on ‘tempus’ and the album tour. It’s going to be a busy year with shows in the UK, US, and Europe, and appearances and loads of great festivals. We’re always looking ahead to the future though, and with the band's 20th Anniversary less than 2 years from now, we’ll be planning something special to celebrate.
Have you got a message for your fans and followers?
ALEC: I think we’d like to say thank you to our fans and followers. We have such a supportive following that have grown with us over the years and allowed us the freedom to create the music we want to. We wouldn’t be where we are today without them and it really does mean a lot to us.
Thanks Skerryvore - all the best for the future!
