A Q&A with Tide Lines

Share:
tide lines interview scottish band

Highlands rock quartet, taking the scenic route…

What’s the title of your latest release, and what does it mean to you?
The song is called ‘Rivers in the Light’. It was written during lockdown when I was spending time back home in the Highlands. Despite all the awful things happening around the globe, it almost felt like my own world had been put on pause and I was back in the peaceful landscape I’d been brought up in – having lived in the frantic city for the previous ten years. So I suppose the song, to me, means a chance for reflection and a kind of retrospective calmness.

What was the hardest part about putting this release together, and why?
Covid brought its own challenges logistically when for so long we couldn’t meet up to play through ideas together. Once we got into the studio, though, it came together fairly easily. The hardest part was probably the moment we were attacked by midges whilst filming the music video during the night on the banks of Loch Awe in rural Argyllshire!

What do enjoy most about producing your own material?
It was self-produced in our own studio on the Hebridean island of Mull. We love the freedom of heading up there to that beautiful environment, taking our time over things, and bouncing ideas off each other.

What do you want the listener to take away from listening to your music?
Perhaps a sense that it has moved them in some way or has made their day a little brighter. I really don’t mind as long as they’re enjoying it, feeling it, and telling all their friends!

How does a track normally come together? Can you tell us something about the process?
I normally begin the writing process by coming up with the melody and the lyrics, then I’ll meet up with the boys and play it to them in a very organic form – usually just singing with some basic acoustic guitar accompaniment behind it. I’ll sing the song through to the lads two or three times and very quickly they’ll begin to have ideas about the shape of the song, and how they hear it overall and also in relation to their respective instruments. Then we build it up from there.

What band/artists have influenced you the most since you started this project, and why?
It’s a funny one because, due to covid, the song seems to have gone through a longer creative cycle than most of our songs. In that time we’ll all have listened to a whole range of music so who knows what has influenced the sound of this song subconsciously. I think, in the chorus and the middle 8, I was trying to modulate and move away from a basic, standard chord structure. There’s a very thinly veiled nod to the Beatles at one point (both lyrically and musically) who of course are doing that all the time in their music.

What countries would you like to tour? Are there any standout venues you’d like to play in?
Having toured extensively in the UK, I think in the near future we’re hoping to do more European touring and it would also be great to play shows in North America, Australia and New Zealand. It’s always exciting to play at a new venue so we really just want to play and experience as many as possible. A few standout venues to play over in the States one day would be the Fillmore in San Francisco, The Bowery Ballroom in New York, or Red Rocks in Colorado!

tide lines interview robert

If you could pick one track for our readers to listen to in order to get a taste of your music, what would you pick, and why?
I think Rivers in the Light itself is fairly representative of where we are now, musically. From our previous album, Innocent and Beautiful is probably a good one to start with as its pretty upbeat and happy!

What ambitions do you have for the band/your career?
We love playing live. We love the communal experience of a crowd singing along with our songs. So I guess the ambition would be to be able to do that in as many places as possible to as many people as possible!

Finally, as you leave the stage, what are your parting words?
Never anything particularly original or profound! I usually just tell the audience to take care of themselves and wish them a very brief goodnight!

For more info visit: tidelinesband.com

Share:

Leave a reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.