2015 has been some year for White. Big ups from Elton John, a headline set at our own Tenement Trail and making the floor bounce at Amsterdam’s legendary Paradiso venue spring to mind for a band that’s currently seen as one of the best export Glasgow has had to offer the music world since a certain Franz Ferdinand.
To put the cherry on top of their proverbial pie, the group walked away with ‘Best Breakthrough Act’ at last weekend’s SSE Scottish Music Awards (previously Tartan Clef’s) in Glasgow. Not bad for a band that have only been on the radar for the best part of a year, albeit on TTV’s from day dot.
As the band swanned up the red carpet, frontman Leo Condie admitted that the award represented a nice milestone for the band: “We are all really excited that we are winning something that makes us feel that we are getting somewhere. It’s always hard to tell because we have our heads down immersed in the music, so it’s really nice that people have taken notice of us.
“We’ve always kind of written songs that we want to be immediate, songs where you are able to get them without having heard them and listened to them over and over again. We want them just to hit you straight in the chest. When you go out and play and you get the right response from that it’s fucking great.”
As for highlights so far, the band were hard pushed to see beyond the Amsterdam gig, as guitarist Hamish indicated: “The Amsterdam gig was fucking amazing, it was like a rave. It’s probably one of my favourite gigs we have done. We were the last act on at 2am and the room was stoud out and everyone was jumping around. Our friend was in the audience and said the floor was moving when we were playing.”
Although closer to home, headlining Tenement Trail still lingers fresh in the memory: “That was amazing, we owe Tenement TV a lot. We are a totally new band and there were a lot of bands that have been going for a long time on the bill so for us to be given the chance to headline a Glasgow festival like that was awesome. It put us right in people’s faces. Tenement Trail festival will just get bigger and bigger.”
Hailing from previous groups such as the Low Miffs, Kassidy and Garden of Elks, bass player Lewis is quick to extol the connection between the five-piece: “The reason we have all came together in the band is that we all love music, we all love playing together and we are all friends. Me, Hamish and Chris have been writing together for ages so it was great when Leo and Kristin came in and added this other dimension to the band.”
Whereas guitarist Chris was keen to tip his hat off to Glasgow: “It’s cool to have an eclectic mix like we do in the band. It totally resembles what the Glasgow scene is like just now. There’s a lot of people making music because they want to without holding any unnecessary grudges against other bands.
And with respect to their home city, Leo feels more than happy to see the band mentioned in the same breath as Franz Ferdinand, with WHITE’s upcoming headline show at the QMU a personal triumph for him: “I remember growing up in Glasgow and it was so exciting how well it was going for them and it made the eyes of the music world turn on Glasgow for a while, although we were all a bit too young to be in bands to profit out of it. I remember standing outside the QMU when I was at uni listening to them sound check and stuff, so for us to be playing there is great.”
A slot on the bill for Edinburgh’s Hogmanay street party will see them play out the year in some style, as the band look to a ten date UK tour spread over February and March, with Hamish keen for the band to spread their wings further afield again: “I’m kind of hoping we become one of these bands that does well in Europe and we can go over and play there all the time.”
To which Leo finished with a smile: “We will be headlining Hampden next year.”
And, although he was being tongue-in-cheek, you can’t fault the swagger and confidence the band gives off, as the cry for a new colour in the musical palate becomes as loud as the band’s wardrobe.
WHITE.
