ELECTRO-POP outfit Bastilleadmit that reality TVseries Made In Chelsea isgarbage.Despite that, they gave theshow permission to use theirsongs so the public could seewhat they are made of.Frontman Dan Smith said: “It’squite difficult nowadays to getyour music heard, but usingthings like TV can be reallyhandy.“Made In Chelsea is not some-thing I would have immediatelythought I’d want to align theband with.“But it was sohelpful. You can’tunderestimate thepower of TV inhelping peoplereach the music.“When they usedour song on theshow last summer,not that manypeople knew whowe were.“But they used a30-second clip andliterally overnightwe got 15,000 hitson YouTube fromthem hearing it inthe background,Googling the lyricsand finding us.”

LuckyNow the Londongroup are firing onall cylinders.They’ve signed arecord deal withVirgin and havenew single BadBlood coming outon Monday.D a n , 2 6 ,explained: “It’s niceto feel thingsgrowing — it’s quitesatisfying.“We’ve neverreally pushed ourstuff too hard.“I uploaded the first propersong of ours at the beginning oflast year and since then, peoplehave found the songs themselves.“Before we were signed, we didthings ourselves and we werelucky that people took to them.“We’ve also been lucky withour label. They haven’t wantedto push it down anyone’sthroats.“They’ve come on board with abit of experience and tried tohelp it along.“Bad Blood is the most recentsong I wrote and recorded. It’squite satisfying to finish a songand get it released so quickly.

It’s a song I hope people like,but it’s more of an introductionto the band rather than the oneeveryone is going to like.“I think it shows off in a lightthat I’d like us to be seen.“When I wrote it, I was think-ing about when you are youngeryou spend so much time withpeople at school and it formswho you grow up to become.“Then you lose touch andnever see them again.“I was acknowledging it’s quitea weird thing to happen but alsoreally normal — you never forgetthose people.”It’s a busy time as the finishing

touches are beingadded to their debutalbum, due out earlynext year.Before that,there’s a UK tour,which makes itsonly Scots stop atGlasgow’s ABC onOctober 14.And Dan revealedon stage is theONLY time theyoperate as a unit.Dan said: “Whenwe play live, it’svery much a band.“But all the writ-ing and recording, Iwork by myself.“I know it soundsweird but I likeworking by myselfand not having peo-ple around.“Yet I feel wewin people overwhen they see uslive as there’s a lotmore energy.”Comments onlinesuggest that theband’s name holdsthem back.And Dan admitsit has put some peo-ple off as theyassume they’re anarty, niche group.He added: “We

have had some of that. But weare only called that because mybirthday is on Bastille Day,which is the French equivalentof Independence Day.“I think Bastille sounds quiteevocative and I hope it doesn’tput people off or isolate them.“Band names are hard tochoose. If you do well then ulti-mately it doesn’t matter whatthe hell you are called.“The Beatles is hardly themost revolutionary name in theworld and they did pretty well.“I just want people to hear ourmusic and judge us on that.”Q Download Bad Blood and get tourtickets at bastillebastille.com

TWISTED Wheel havenever cracked themainstream — despitebeing top performers.But they’ve got anew album Do It Againand are touring nextmonth. Catch them inDundee, Elgin, Edin-burgh and Glasgow.See thetwistedwheel.co.uk

POCKET rocket TinchyStryder has kept a lowprofile recently.But he’s back withbanging new singleHelp Me on October 1— and he’s taking noprisoners with theaggressive lyrics.Watch the video forit now at facebook.com/tinchystryder

ONE2SEE

THEWINTER TRADITIONWHO: Ewan Simpson (vocals/bass), Mark Morrow (guitar/vocals), Stephen Furbank (guitar/vocals), Callum Mouat (drums)WHERE: EdinburghFOR FANS OF: Biffy Clyro,Frightened Rabbit, We WerePromised JetpacksJIM SAYS: The Winter Traditionare the latest Scottish outfit tolink up with English indie labelKittiwake Records.The Edinburgh quartet’s

debut album Gradients joins acatalogue of Scots releases thatinclude Song Of Return, AerialsUp, Stanley, Cast Of The Capitaland Acrylic Iqon.Guitarist Stephen Furbank

said: “Kittiwake first got in touchwith us just before we starteddemoing ideas for the albumand said that they really likedour stuff and wanted to workwith us in the future.“We were aware of what

they’d done, not just with theScottish bands, so we thought itwould be a good opportunity toexpand our fanbase. So far it’sgone to plan.”The Winter Tradition started

life as The Void while still atschool, and picked up someearly airplay on my old Xfm Scot-land radio show.The change of name coin-

cided with a shift in musicaldirection, and they reckon it bet-ter complements the sound theyhave now. The album Gradientsis packed full of beautifully tex-tured indie rockers.Stephen explained: “To start

off with, we were writing classicpop-punk songs, which were

heavily based on distortedguitars and being as loud aspossible! Since we started work-ing on Gradients, our sound hasbroadened and become moreatmospheric.”The boys launched the album

last month at Edinburgh’sLiquid Room.Stephen said “That night was

certainly the highlight so far. Itwas an insane crowd and defi-nitely our biggest headline show.“We’ve also had the pleasure

of playing with some amazingbands like Hundred Reasons,Enter Shikari, Nine Black Alpsand The Xcerts, as well as awe-some events like goNORTH andThistly Fest.”It’s good to see the Edin-

burgh scene continue to thrivedespite some major issues withvenues in recent years.Stephen added: “There are a

lot of good things happening inEdinburgh and a lot of greatbands and emerging acts. Themore you live in Edinburghthough, the more you becomeaware of gigs, venues, promot-ers and bands that you’d rathernot be associated with.“But there are a lot of good

places to play, such as TheLiquid Room.”The Winter Tradition play The

Tolbooth in Stirling tonight.MORE: facebook.com/thewintertraditionQ Jim will be playing The Win-ter Tradition on In:DemandUncut, Sunday 7-10pm onClyde 1, Forth One, North-sound 1, Radio Borders, TayFM, West FM & West SoundFM. indemandscotland.co.uk

By CHRIS SWEENEY

POP stars Scouting ForGirls have got a questionfor all the trendy indierockers out there — whereare you now?The boys took constant abusewhen they first hit the chartsfive years ago, being labelledcheesy bores.But now Scouting For Girlsreckon they’re one of the ONLYbands still standing — andtheir music is edgy by today’sstandards.Singer Roy Stride said:“When we came out, we werethe most ‘pop’ at that time.“Back then in 2007, it wasall these indie bands — andwe were making very obvi-ous pop music compared tothe rest.“But now everything is sopop, our music is actuallycredible compared to a lot ofit. Who would have believedit?“It’s because we’re still doingit like a band, we write themusic ourselves and play it.“In saying that, I neverreally minded criticism becauseif you’re popular, then ithappens. I’d be worried whenpeople stop criticising us.”And keeping the momentumgoing, the band — Roy, drum-mer Pete Ellard and bassplayer Greg Churchouse — areback with new singleSummertime In The City, outon August 26.But the boys admit that thetiming couldn’t be worse.

PromiseIt’s the lead single from theirnew album The Light BetweenUs but it was almost scrapped.Roy said: “It’s just our luckto bring it out in the worstsummer for 30 years.“At the moment we areregretting it but we are promis-ing everyone that when thesingle comes out, the sun willcome out.“The more people buy it, thebetter their summer will be —that’s a promise.“The thing was, originally Iwrote it for Olly Murs.“I got lost halfway throughit, it didn’t have the chorusand I put it on the back-burner. But Pete kept going onabout it, insisting it was asingle.“Eventually I playedthe record label all ofthe new songs and atthe end I said, ‘LookI’ve got to play youthis as Pete is insist-ing it’s a big song.’“So I did and theyloved it — we haven’tbeen able to wipe thesmug smile off Pete’sface since.”The album is out on Septem-ber 3 and Roy reckons it has aBlur-type feel to it.The 32-year-old explained:“The album is a bit bigger —real instruments, real drums,real band. It’s a got a flavourto it, it sounds up-to-date but

it’s got a retro vibe, a bit likea Blur Britpop feel, to it.“Quite a lot of the tracks aremore epic.“I think people will be reallyimpressed with the album, ifthey are Scouting For Girlsfans or not. It’s the best thing

we’ve done.”You’d assume withover two millionrecord sales undertheir belt that Scout-ing For Girls wouldbe one of their label’spriorities.But the bandexpected to bedropped by Sony andthought their stint

with a major label was over.Roy said: “I did think we’ddone our last record on amajor label — I wasn’t surethis one would come out at all.“The guy who signed us hadgone to another company andwe had half an album sitting

there. So for a while weweren’t sure what was goingto happen with the record orthe band.“We’ve always felt lucky toput music out and for peopleto like it.“With the first two records,we just wanted to sell enoughto make another one.“But with this record, I real-ised it’s tougher the longer youare around and established.“You have to reinvent your-self and come back with some-thing really amazing.“We had to write songs thatwere worthy of being outthere, so the album was astruggle for all those reasons.”But with all that sorted, theguys are off on a short tour toreward their loyal fans, whichends at Glasgow’s ABC onOctober 27.Roy explained: “We wanted to

do a selection of our favouritecities. With the venues we’ve

picked and the size of crowdsthey hold, they are the best.“It’s a bit indulgent but wejust wanted to do a really goodshow for our hardcore fans.”Now they have new music toplay they couldn’t be happier.Roy added: “We love it evenmore than when we started.We do feel like we’re gettingaway with it sometimes.“But the longer I do it, themore I appreciate it — and themore I learn about makinggreat pop music. It’s now ourlife.“People respect you more thelonger you’ve been around.“If we keep coming back,writing music that people wantto listen to, that’s all we areand ever have been worriedabout.“And people still love it asmuch as ever, so we are stillriding the wave five years on.”Q Order the album and get tourtickets at scoutingforgirls.com

By JIMGELLATLY

ByCHRIS

SWEENEY

ONE2HEAR

ONES2WATCH

NEWMUSIC

4 SFTW Friday, August 17, 2012