SINCE the website’s inception way back in 2011, Tenement TV has always strived to bring its wide-reaching fanbase the very best in new music. Whether they may hail from our very own backyard or from provincial towns in far-away lands, one of the core tenets of our ethos has remained the dissemination of the artists that reside on the cusp of greatness to those who frequent our YouTube channel or learning of the finest new releases as soon as they arrive via our editorial.
Six years since Tenement TV began, we felt it was time for a brisk walk down the annals of our time as Scotland’s biggest online music platform and to celebrate those moments where the emergent stars that have gone on or may well go on to dominate the airwaves and make themselves known on the world stage visited the instantly recognisable surrounds of our West End flat.
Although they may be two albums deep into their career, occupying an enviable spot on and with a third hotly anticipated full length on the way, we were first paid a visit by the Scottish alt-rock bastions known as Fatherson in 2011 and it’s been a joy to watch the band grow from strength to strength ever since. Still fraught with deep-seated emotion and with a demonstrable knack for crafting passionate hooks that hasn’t weaned whatsoever with time, the three piece’s steady rise would continue and would eventually lead to a follow-up session during a visit to SXSW that celebrated the superb material that could be found on their emphatic debut album I Am An Island.
Hailing from the capital of Edinburgh, another alumni to have perched herself in front of our bay window and made her overwhelming potential all too clear to everyone that clapped eyes upon her performance, Nina Nesbitt has similarly made her presence felt all over the world since we caught up with her at the formative stage of her career.
Capture prior to the release of her sophomore EP The Apple Tree that well and truly took the Itunes Chart by storm and peaked at a staggering number six, her ascendancy would be cemented the following year with the arrival of her massive breakout single ‘Stay Out’ and her appeal and acclaim has continued to grow over in the years that have elapsed.
Following on the heels of their countrymen and women, now prominent Scottish acts such as Rachel Sermanni and The LaFontaines would also pay a visit to the flat and turn in star-making performances of their own before news began to spread and we were soon inundated visitors from farther afield.
Just a few short months before he’d become a household name among those invested in the music industry with his eponymous debut album, we were treated to a storming performance at the Wickerman Festival from the then fledgling troubadour known as Jake Bugg. Captured in our own special area of the now sadly defunct event, A raucous, stripped back performance of ‘Lightning Bolt’ would prove to be an apt choice for the Nottingham-bred singer/songwriter as his album would soon arrive with the equivalent devastation of such a force of nature and catapulted him to a highly acclaimed career and a rightful place among the breakout rock ‘n’ roll stars of the decade.
Completely unbeknownst to us at the time, 2012 and 2013 would see not one but two artists that would soon count UK number one singles amid their lists of accolades visit our humble HQ. Recorded little more than a month before her stirring cover of Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s ‘The Power Of Love’ would commandeer the charts and the heartstrings of millions, Gabrielle Aplin joined us in the studio for a beautiful session that saw her prove her musical dexterity and splendorous vocals.
After earnestly continuing to uncover the very best in new talent over the course of the year, We would soon be treated to a performance from a burgeoning favourite in British indie pop in the shape of Bastille. An album that would arguably go on become one of the defining records of the year and one that is still beloved by many to this day, Bastille’s near-unprecedented rise kicked off on the 16th March 2013 when their debut album Bad Blood climbed to the highest possible peak of the charts whilst our session the band arrived five days prior.
Another group that has gone on to be a fixture of the UK album charts, 2013 also saw Ireland’s Kodaline make their way to TTV HQ to deliver tracks from their breakout LP In A Perfect World and have continued to command a loyal following on both sides of the Atlantic to this day.
Although we may not have been fully aware of it at the time, We were soon to be visited on two separate occasions by a gritty rock ‘n’ roll band that would become synonymous with the site and its ethos of bringing burgeoning stars to the fore.
Known for their boisterous yet at times tender take on the archetypal blues rock sound that has remoulded the genre into a 21st Century powerhouse, The Temperance Movement have long been among our favourites and it’s relieving to see that the world has come to share our perception of the band. Led by the charismatic, all-consuming howl of Glasgow’s Phil Campbell, the Earache Records act first made their presence felt in front of our lens’ with a session at The Wickerman Festival before reconvening at the Glasgow homestead for a follow-up that attested to the sheer wealth of great material that could be found on their self-titled debut album.
Three years on since our last encounter, the globe-trotting outfit would reward our early faith in the sheer power and ambition that billowed from their music by headlining the O2 ABC at our biggest Tenement Trail to date in September.
Filmed at a pivotal juncture in their career when the Welsh indie rockers had began to amass an underground following the notable success of singles such as ‘Kathleen’ and ‘Homesick’, Catfish And The Bottlemen would preface the meteoric rise that would soon come to fruition on their first LP with a TTV session on the 25th June that exuded the energy of bonafide rock stars. By the time that the aforementioned record was released in September of that very same year, Van McCann & co had promptly leapfrogged the competition in order to place themselves as one of the most exalted alternative rock bands to have emerged from the UK in recent memory.
On the subject of September 2014, the month that one set of TTV luminaries would mount their assault upon the charts would correlate with the arrival of another pre-eminent star descending upon the West End locale of our HQ. Recorded in conjunction with the dearly departed XFM, Ireland’s Hozier arrived at the flat in order to perform tracks from his now revered debut and left everyone shaken by the sheer magnitude of his talent. Among the three spellbinding tracks that he performed in our abode, ‘Take Me To Church’ may have very narrowly missed out on topping the UK chart but it would go on to take on an unprecedented life of its own that would soon see him performing the very composition that resounded off the ceiling and walls of the flat on the stage of the 2015 Grammy Awards alongside the incomparable Annie Lennox.
Three years before they’d go on to lay waste to the Barrowland Ballroom, Liverpool’s premier indie outfit Circa Waves were merely a young band with a wealth of talent at their disposal. After turning in a storming performance of ‘Get Away’ for us in December 2014, their inaugural LP Young Chasers would soon catapult them to heady heights in 2015 and their place among the industry’s elite would be cemented on the intense, hard-hitting sophomore LP Different Creatures in March of this year.
As we enter the modern era of TTV that has saw the website grow from strength to strength in the past two years, our unbridled desire to give a highly sought-after platform to the next crop of seminal artists has not once dissipated and can be seen in appearances from now prominent acts including Neon Waltz, The Sherlocks, Catholic Action, The Parrots, DMA’S, Sunset Sons, Man Of Moon, Be Charlotte, The Shimmer Band, Emme Woods, Saint Phnx, Pins, Rascalton, Louis Berry and a poignant set from East Kilbride’s own The Lapelles which saw the late, great Gary Watson firing on all cylinders and has since morphed into a timeless reminder of his completely staggering ability and potential.
As we look ahead to 2018 and beyond, you can rest assured that Tenement TV will continue to provide a much-needed, undiluted insight into who will be entrancing arenas and venues across the world for years to come.
Check out our recent session with hotly tipped Liverpudlian singer/songwriter Louis Berry below:
