“Why do I have to try , just to please you almost every single night, why do I have to try, I’m never gonna lie, I’m looking in your eyes, shooting your disguise, now clever to surprise, by asking myself why, why do I have to try, I don’t know why.” Quoted from “Why Do I by Jamie and Shoony”.
It has been over a year since I last caught up with this artistic indie band based in Scotland aka Jamie & Shoony. I was so enthusiastic to get the chance to see how their instrumental career has been since their first video playing in Asda that boost started their careers.
So much news has happened for this band, from Shoony moving and working with new instruments to an amazing opportunity playing at the Glasgow Barrowland in March! (Ticket can be found at the bottom).
That’s right, it’s all happening, and it is super exciting!
Jamie & Shoony – Why Do I [Official Music Video]
“When we played at Linlithgow for Party at the Palace in front of 8,000 people opening for the hit maker Nile Rogers & Chic. I even ended up on stage dancing with him and Subo for his encore song Ha Ha. Check YouTube for highlights of that performance and me dancing like a mad man.” Quoted by Jamie when asked about their amazing audience.
Introducing the band
From tours to drawing boards, late night cords, these guys have what it takes to show the world what amazing true indie Scottish music is.
I have managed to grab some of their time out of their busy schedules to ask some much-needed questions us fans want to know!
Hello! It’s been a while since we last had a catch-up! You guys are doing amazing in the music industry which must feel great! Tell us what’s been new since we last had a chat?! “Hey Jadine, It’s good to catch up again. We have been major busy and grown greatly as musicians since we last spoke. Shoony has moved from acoustic to electric guitar for a much bigger sound and we are involved in Scotland’s most positive collective ‘The Yellow Movement’ which binds together like-minded people who love music and good times.
The band has had a superb 2015 playing to sell-out crowds at the O2 ABC, Kings Tuts Wah Wah Hut, The Electric Circus and Saint Lukes. Now buzzing to build on that this year to make it even bigger and better and winning ‘Live Act of the Year’ at the Local Music Scene Awards in January has set it up nicely.”
Wow you have been so busy! It is amazing how far you have come and you have a massive exciting road ahead! You have been playing all over Scotland! Your next gig is Yellowland !!! What have you in store for the fans? “This gig is the big one for us, the Glasgow Barrowland is one of the most famous venues in the world and we are living a dream of getting to play there, total bucket list stuff for us.
It’s the pinnacle of what we have been working towards the past few years and so glad we get to share the stage with our Yellow brothers and sisters in the bands, Colonel Mustard & the Dijon 5, The Girobabies, Have Mercy Las Vegas and The Twistettes. We are running buses from Edinburgh, Fife, Balloch & Clydebank and fans can expect new songs and a brand new visual show.”
I can imagine! That must be so motivating as well! It’s going to be an amazing outcome! What so far has been the most epic gig you have performed at? “We have been very lucky to have played so many epic shows but the Yellow Movement Xmas show last December at the lovely Saint Lukes venue in Glasgow was a special one for us.
The line-up was insane and the vibe was just electric, it was completely sold out and everyone was there with their dancing shoes, ready to party.You can see clips of that show in our brand new music video for ‘Who Are You’ -online Friday 26th Feb.”
Fantastic atmosphere I can imagine. You must have met really interesting people along the way, tell us who? “We meet amazing people all the time, music brings the best out of folk so everyone is always really nice to us.
We love everyone we meet at gigs whether it’s fans who travel cities to see us play or the unsung heroes that are involved in making the shows happen like the sound engineers, stage managers and the beautiful people that decorate the festival tents and of course the very talented artists we get to play with – they are all legends in our eyes.”
What about anyone inspirationally famous? “We have met Biffy Clyro, Stereophonics, Kevin Bridges, Susan Boyle, Nile Rogers and Gavin Mitchell aka Boabby the Barman from Still Game who is now a fully pledged Yellow Movement pioneer and attends lots of shows.”
That must have been something fantastic! Gathering inspirational advice and having them watch your turns come to life! What are your top 3 best songs you don’t mind playing over and over as a band?“We love playing all our songs but at the moment I would say our favourites live are: ‘Who Are You’ – set to be released as our first single. ‘Bite Your Tongue’ – one of our newest songs in our live set.‘Anyway’ – one of our oldest and most loved tunes, played hundreds of times but for some reason it never gets old.”
Love the song “Who Are You”. Tell us about it? “It’s one of the first songs we wrote since Shoony went electric and I think it’s the perfect introduction to us as a band and that is one of the main reasons that this will be released as our debut single and first track from our upcoming E.P. The music video will be out next week and available to buy shortly after our gig at the Barras.”
It’s a great song! So well tuned and so catchy! Can’t wait to see the official video! Not long now! Have you ever taken singing lessons?“No I haven’t ever had lessons and I was actually rejected from my Primary School Choir – 3 times. I’m not sure if it was because they thought I was just too awful or that I was not taken it serious singing “Blah blah black sheep” as I genuinely thought those were the lyrics to the song haha.”
Hahaha well you are definitely proving them wrong! As mentioned before tell us a little more for the new fans how you all know each other?“Me and Shoony both went to Portobello High School, we were introduced by my sister who was best mates with Shoony. He was a drummer in a band and wanted to be a guitarist and I was a guitar player who always wanted to be a frontman so teaming up just made sense.
Fast forward a couple years into our musical journey and we meet Matt (Bass) and Jamie H (Drums) who both played in a rocking band called ‘Art of Privilege’ who called it a day in 2014 so we all got together for Jamie & Shoony and have been best mates since.”
I guess it’s important you all have a strong friendship and understanding with the industry you are in! Did you always know you wanted to go in this musical direction? “Since a young age we have always turned to music to make us feel happy, excited and forget about the bad things in the world coz let’s face it a lot of not nice things happen to people all the time. We wanted to give people that feeling of excitement even if it is just for 4 minutes at a time. Now we are doing just that, making people happy and getting them to unite at shows through our music and stories.”
Do you ever think you will redo another supermarket appearance? “We just did last Thursday haha but we were actually asked this time, we didn’t just rock up uninvited. It was inside Ocean Terminal as part of The Scottish Design Exchange launch party. They had a fashion show in the shop and we played a full band live set in the mall, it was great.”
Jamie & Shoony – Anyway [LIVE @ ASDA]
Haha I loved that video! I thought it was brilliant! Last, but not least! What’s your next big step for Jamie and Shoony that you might want to share with your fans?! “We are releasing our debut E.P. ‘Been Everywhere’ in April/May and have our biggest tour lined up so keep your eyes peeled for the announcement and come see us live in a city near you. Thank you, see you at the Barras!!”
There you have it, from the band themselves! I am so excited to see their upcoming new stuff as well as catch them at the Glasgow Barrowland.
