Scottish Album of the Year nominees Neon Waltz chat second album and new found confidence

No strangers to the city, lead singer Jordan Shearer, drummer Darren Coghill, guitarists and brothers Kevin and Jamie Swanson, bassist Calvin Wilson and keyboardist Liam Whittles sold out King Tut’s in May and played TRNSMT last year.

Now the band are joining up with Twin Atlantic, DMA’S and Catfish and the Bottlemen at Bellahouston Park, more than four years after they played their first ever gig here, also at King Tut’s.

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This year the Wick and John O’Groats collective have completed their own headline tour, won radio airplay with their optimistic EP title track Bright Me to Light, and performed at some of Britain’s biggest music festivals.

They’ve also played to thousands while touring with The Sherlocks and joined Noel Gallagher at three shows at Blenheim Palace, Greenwich Naval College and Scarborough Open Air Theatre, invitations the band describe as “the stuff of dreams.”

Their debut record Strange Hymns, a current contender for Scottish Album of The Year, was released last August, but it had been a long time coming, according to frontman Jordan.

“We’d tried a lot of producers, but we soon realised that what we were looking for, especially on numbers like Sombre Fayre and Veiled Clock, was already captured on our demos which only needed re-mixing.”

Ending their contract with Atlantic Records to join Ignition, the band finished the final four songs at Echo studios on the south coast.

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Now, new music is keeping Neon Waltz busy again.

“There’s definitely been a natural progression in our writing, although because we live and breathe it every day, we don’t always realise at first,” said Jordan.

The lead singer thinks their new songs have a darker edge than Strange Hymns and that this is a good time for the band to produce a second album.

“We’ve all grown up a bit since we wrote our first record. We’re confident to do things on own terms now and that freedom is coming through in our music,” he explains.

“But we also know we probably have less time than before to get this record right.”

Everyone brings ideas to rehearsals, held either at a remote windswept dwelling called The Croft, an arts centre in John O’Groats or at Freswick Castle, a place dear to the lads’ heart and where they shot the video for their beautifully haunting single Schoolhouse.

Jordan said: “With everyone writing, the bones of a song come together individually before the rest of the band gets stuck in. There’s as much creativity when we’re apart as when we’re together.”

Sparse conditions at The Croft seem to have inspired Neon Waltz and taught them some rudimentary DIY skills.

“At the start there was no proper floor and we had to put up new plasterboard walls,” said Kevin. It was once so windy that the door fell off. We had to hold it in place with a bag of oats.”

The conditions were more accommodating when, with their first record label, the six musicians recorded at the legendary Rockfield Studios in Monmouthshire. Jordan said the hospitality there was too good.

“Three meals a day and your own room on site, I ended up watched every episode of Breaking Bad that week.

“They would say ‘Jordan, time to record your vocals’ so I’d go and do them, but I’d soon get back to the box sets,” he laughed.

From their homes in the furthest reaches of Britain, the band have travelled thousands of miles for gigs and festivals. A recent homecoming show was still two hours away in Inverness. Fortunately, they have devoted local supporters who are prepared to travel too.

“We’re from a small community who follow us like football fans. They’re always on our side,” said Kevin.

Neon Waltz play Glasgow Summer Sessions on Saturday August 25.

l Strange Hymns, the debut by Neon Waltz is out now

By Richard Derbyshire