They won the award at the end of last month and fought of stiff competition to be selected by Chris Geddes of Belle and Sebastian.
The two members, Gerard Mitchell and John Kevin met while working together and while both had always enjoyed making music neither believed theywould win, let alone be endorsed by such a successful Scottish musician.
“Making music has also been a creative release for me, it’s always just been a hobby but I’ve always enjoyed it” says Gerard.
“You never think someone of his calibre is going to like your music and to be picked ahead of really stiffcompetition gives you such a confidence boost. It makes you think, ‘wow, may I could take this further’” he adds.
If not for a twist of fate the winning single “She Waits For Someone” would never have been made. Coming from two completely different styles of music, each had a mutual appreciation but had not considered that the two genres would be in any way compatible.
Gerard’s music has more of a folk vibe whereas John’s is more of a Brian Eno type ambience” yet thanks to an app called Mixtl the two were able to create a new genre which they jokingly refer to as “amboustic.”
As John says, “She Waits was kind of freaky, i composed the ambient track about a week after watching the film “The Lovely Bones” for the first time and we had both been talking about that film a few days after I brought the track into work for Gerry to hear it. He went home the same night and wrote the lyrics, guitar and vocals and came into work the next day with the new version recorded on his Iphone.”
This app allowed two entirely different styles of music to come together and while the vast majority of the other entries were was indie-pop influenced, this sound was altogether different.
“What’s amazing is that two old guys can make a song like this without even jamming. Everything was done on our phones, from the beat to the guitar to the vocal, it’s just amazing what you can do now” says Gerard.
John is also very complimentary about the standard of competition and feels they did well to win.
“As more bands entered the competition we would listen to their work and we both thought we had little chance of winning – most of the other bands, were gigging or already releasing CDs or EPs – whereas the two of us hadn’t even recorded our entry in the same building.”
The prize included recording time in a local studio and the guys hope to use this opportunity to get there music out to a new audience.
“We are going into a studio in early January to record She Waits For Someone and a few other songs which Gerry and I have been working on together, hopefully we can get a label to release them for
us” says John.
Check out the winning entry below!
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