Sing & Tell :: Retro Video Club

Credit: Rory Barnes

Bursting onto the scene in 2017 with debut single 'Psycho', Retro Video Club are a high-octane indie rock four-piece from Edinburgh. Their new release ‘3AM’ is out now via LAB Records. They set out on their first UK tour this month alongside RedFaces and BlackWaters – a shared headline tour which sees them playing in England for the first time.


Who are you?

I’m Liam Allison, I play the guitar and sing. I’m joined with Sam McGill on lead guitar, Michael Ward on bass guitar and Kieran Burt on drums, and together we make Retro Video Club.

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

We’re an Edinburgh-based band who formed in 2015. Me and Sam are cousins and started to make music together in his bedroom, before we ever thought about starting a band. Michael and Kieran were friends of Sam, and once we got them on board we started to take it a bit more seriously, and played a handful of shows in and around Edinburgh. After releasing our first EP, we took virtually 18 months out from doing any shows, and used this time to focus on writing better songs and refining our sound. It was September 2017 when things kickstarted really with the release of our song 'Psycho', and from there we were fortunate enough to start selling out the shows we were announcing in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Now after another couple of single releases, and through building up a fan base with the help of Spotify playlisting etc. we find ourselves embarking on our first set of English shows.

Give us an idea of your musical style and influences.

I think we’re a concoction of different artists that we like, and I suppose that’s how I always wanted to be. We grew up hooked on bands like The Enemy, The Strokes, Green Day, The Fratellis to name a few, and even from the beginning we seemed to make music that sounded like a big mix of all those bands.

Explain the production and writing process behind your songs.

I write all the songs in a blank leather book that Sam gave me back in 2015. Every RVC song lives in that book, in scribbled black ink. In terms of the process, I always start with some kind of melody over a chord progression and take it from there. Lyrically, I only ever write about tangible things I’ve experienced or witnessed people go through, purely because I think it’s more real that way, it becomes more personal I guess if it’s about universal everyday dramas, that everyday people like me go through. One thing I always try to incorporate in my lyrics are everyday phrases or one liners that I hear people say, I think I use them as a way of embedding a sense of reality in my writing, mainly because I grew around, and still use, lingo like that. And above all else, the tunes need to be catchy and memorable, if you can’t remember a lyric or a hook five minutes after the song’s finished, then the song’s failed to accomplish its purpose in my book.

Tell us a little about your new single.

'3AM' is about that person you know you shouldn’t go back to, but always do. That person you phone up drunk, when you know it’s a bad idea but something just pulls you to them for whatever reason. A song about the way things pan out in the end, as appose to what they could have been, or should have been, if you were more compatible I guess.



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

Yeah, we’re off on tour down to England for two weeks starting in Bristol on October 21st:

October
Sun 21st - Bristol, Louisiana
Mon 22nd - Guildford, Boileroom
Tue 23rd - Brighton, The Hope & Ruin
Wed 24th - London, Bermondsey Social Club
Fri 26th - Sheffield, The Leadmill
Mon 29th - Leicester, The Cookie
Tue 30th - Liverpool, EBGBS
Wed 31st - Leeds, The Key Club
November
Thu 1st - Newcastle, Think Tank
December
Fri 14th - Edinburgh, Liquid room
Sat 15th - Aberdeen, Tunnels
Sun 16th - Glasgow, Stereo

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

Working on new music - we like to build a bank of songs up just to have them, and then pick from there. We’ll likely be going back into the studio before the December shows as well!

Where can we hear more of your music?

Check us out on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, YouTube, but more importantly come down to a show! We’re very much a live band, so come check it out.

What social media platforms can we find you on?

Instagram // Twitter // Facebook