Photo credit: Melanie Tjoeng
SET to tear up King Tut’s next week and return again in July for TRNSMT Festival, ISLAND are a band very much on our radar. Touring with The Magic Gang in the past, they’ll join the Brighton bunch alongside the likes of Sigrid, Dermot Kennedy and Confidence Man on the King Tut’s Powered by Utilita Stage. And making their UK festival exclusive on the Main Stage the same day as ISLAND are none other than Arctic Monkeys, we’re sure Sunday 1st July will be a date to remember this summer. TTV TALKS to ISLAND ahead of their Glasgow show next week and TRNSMT festival stint.
“We’re super excited to join such a great line-up. We played with The Magic Gang at some shows around the UK a few years back, and they’re great live and we’ve been loving their debut record. Sigrid is another band fave, and she’s been kind enough to share our music as well. When it comes to Arctic Monkeys, few bands have ever managed to evolve and develop in the ways they have over the last 15 years. Proper icons!
“We can’t wait to see Interpol. They were one of our favourite bands growing up, and really pushed guitar music in the 2000s in a great direction, taking that ‘Strokes-y’ starting point and twisting it into a darker shape. I’ve never seen them live before, so that’s going to be one not to miss!”
No strangers to the electricity of a Scottish crowd, ISLAND are thrilled to return once more on their latest tour, promoting their new record: “Every time we’ve played in Scotland, the crowds have been fantastic, always so up for it and we’ve had some great gigs here. Though, when we played in Edinburgh on our headline tour last November, one member of the crowd was a bit too up for it, and was grooving on stage for about 4 tracks, despite being pulled off again and again… the draw of James’ hair can be a bit much sometimes to be fair.”
Speaking about their debut album the band reflect on the milestone: “It’s been a crazy experience. I definitely wasn’t prepared for the feeling on release day. We wrote the album at the start of last year, and it was all recorded and mixed by the summer, so they’ve been with us for a while now, and finally throwing them out into the wild in one go was awesome. Particularly as we decided to choose all new material for the album, so it was uncharted territory for us”
And finally, what’s the band’s favourite thing about TRNSMT’s home of Glasgow? “There’s a lot to love about Glasgow, but our favourite thing this summer is that Mike Hill, our man behind the desk who helped us record the album and does our live sound, is moving up to Glasgow, and so we love a good chance to get up and see him!”
Check the band out live at King Tut’s on 15th May, tickets are available here. The band will play TRNSMT on 1st July, get tickets for TRNSMT festival here.
