Peenko’s Scots Way-Hay! – Brother Louis Collective

So here we are with week two of ‘Scots Way-Hay’ and still that cheesy title isn’t getting any better. Thankfully though the music remains at a high standard. This weeks victims are ‘Brother Louis Collective’, an indie-pop five, sometimes going on six piece from Glasgow.

Based around lead singer Louis Abbott, they are one of the most exciting bands on the Scottish circuit at the moment. Their debut album, which is being produced by Paul Savage over at Chem 19, should hopefully see the light of day sometime this year. Watch out for it as it promises to be one of the most anticipated releases to come from these fair shores in many a year. Here’s Sarah from the band to give you a better incite on the Collective….

Would you care to introduce yourself?
Hello! We’re Brother Louis Collective: Louis (vocals/guitar), Sarah (vocals/flute/piano), Kev (clarinet/piano), Joe (upright bass) and Phil (drums). Sometimes we’re lucky enough to be joined on the electrical guitar by either Tom or Gordy.
…
How would you describe the music you make?
This is the question that’s always hard to answer without sounding like a berk. We’ve been described as orchestral folk pop (clarinet included)…maybe just leave it at that!
…
How did you start out making music?
We’d all been involved in bands in our respective homelands of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and Northumberland. Louis, Phil and I met at college in Glasgow, Louis and Kev bonded over a bar counter (purely platonic) and Joe’s first encounter with Louis was in a funk band project in Dundee. They’re quite secretive about it but from what I can gather it was pretty special…We started out doing acoustic gigs with a few of us and over time it just evolved into a bigger, more organised thing which makes for fun gigs. Although we’re still working on the organised bit!
…
What process goes into the way you write songs?
When Louis has written a new song, he’ll play it to the rest of us in rehearsal either with a couple of loose arrangement ideas or sometimes just the bare bones. And we just have a go at playing it lots of times, often finding the right vibe in bass and drums first of all, before coming up with more intricate lines (for instance on flute or piano) and different layers of the arrangement – getting the overall structure to work. The acid test is always playing it in a few gigs though – so we can get comfortable with it and make small changes if we want to.
…
What can we expect to see/hear from you in 2010?
We’re releasing our debut album sometime in the first half of the year which we’re really excited about! There’s lots of things to sort out so we’re in the process of doing that at the moment, and we have plans for a mini-tour around April time.

…

Brother Louis Collective – These Barren Years (MP3)
available to download on the List Magazines site

There are also some live recordings up for free download on the Mills website.
Their debut single ‘These Barren Years is still available to buy here on download, physical copies do crop up on Ebay from time to tim, but you’re going to have be quick off the mark to get yourself one.

www.myspace.com/brotherlouismusic

Peenko's Scots Way-Hay! - Brother Louis Collective