Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Sing & Tell :: The Vignettes





Glasgow's addictively energetic indie-pop four-piece The Vignettes unveil their follow up to last year's debut single 'Young Bohemians' on February 23. 'Jacqueline', once again produced by Rick Webster, strikes a Velvet Underground/ Franz Ferdinand vibe.


Who are you? 
We’re Hamish Swanson (vocals, rhythm guitar) and Innes MacKintosh (lead guitar, occasional vocals and harmonica) from The Vignettes, and along with us there’s Sean Mason (bass), and Matthew Bird (drums).

Tell us something about yourself and how you came to be where you are today? 

We come from across Scotland (Innes and Matthew from the west Highlands, Hamish from Aberdeen and Sean from near Glasgow). Innes and Hamish met at a party in Freshers Week 2015 and soon afterwards joined the band. We then recruited Matthew after meeting him at a Strathclyde music society, and last year we put out an ad for a new bassist and met Sean through that.

Give us an idea of your musical style and influences.

We all have quite different influences - but overall our sound is a kind of mix of the Velvet Underground, Talking Heads, early Bruce Springsteen, New York Dolls, and Franz Ferdinand. We consider ourselves rock n roll with glam, post-punk and new wave influences.

Explain the production and writing process behind your songs.

It varies from song to song. Hamish and Innes both write independently as well as together. Some songs have been brought in by either of us almost complete, whereas others might be mainly lyrics but we work out the music during practice. Of the co-writes, sometimes one of us does the music and the other the lyrics, and sometimes we just sit down and both throw in lyrics and chords. Production-wise, we try to capture a mostly live raw sound in our recordings - we use effects sparingly and don’t add too many production flourishes.

Tell us a little about your new single.

Hamish and Innes wrote ‘Jacqueline’ about 18 months ago. Hamish already had the verses, and the music came together in a practice, then he and Innes worked together and the chorus kind of fell into place. It’s always been a go-to for us when we want to warm up as it’s quite a dynamic song, going from quieter tight sections to an all-out free-for-all in the last minute or so. It’s also a live favourite and we properly milk it on stage!



Can we catch up with you at any forthcoming live shows?

We will be playing at the Hug & Pint in Glasgow on March 15.

How's the rest of the year looking, plans-wise?

We’re just taking things as they come. We are going to aim for a few gigs further afield over summer as well as maybe record some more. We’re also going to continue writing and expanding our set, but that goes without saying.

Where can we hear more of your music?

We’re on Soundcloud and should soon be on Spotify, but the best way to hear us right now is to come to our shows!

What social media platforms can we find you on? 

Facebook // Twitter // Instagram

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