Date: February 9th 2006
Place: Over MySpace
[all typos are his, not mine!]
First of all, a couple of basic questions: how long have you been together as a band, and how did you get together?
Richard and myself started getting the tunes together in early 2005. We got Gareth and our then drummer Ewan a few months later and we played our first gig in May. Fraser replaced Ewan in November. Richard and I were at school together. We both knew Gareth from the Highland music scene. Fraser was recommended to us when we were looking for a new drummer and we met him in Glasgow for the first time 6 hours before we played a gig with him....
What is the significance of the band name?
Richard came up with that, the 'glo' part came from a type of finish you can get on 'Rickenbacker' guitars, which Richard now owns. He put it together with Stereo to come up with a memorable name which is great on search engines 'cause we're the only thing that comes up.
Your popularity is rising quickly and already you've been namechecked next to big names such as KT Tunstall and The Stranglers, as well as playing at various festivals. Does it feel strange that you've achieved so much so quickly?
In some way yes, we have to pinch ourselves every now and then. It seems a far cry from Richard and I playing guitars in his bedroom and making plans whilst walking to the petrol station for the the customary bottle of milk. None of it has come as a giant leap though, it's all come in small stages and has built up gradually which means we don't feel like we've fluked it. We've always managed to achieve the next step in our plan as it's come about and we hope this will continue..
Any particular highlights so far?
For me, playing a headlining, sell out gig in King Tuts. The others may have different ones though. It changes all the time. We had a fantastic reaction in Orkney considering no one knew what to expect. That was certainly one of the highlights of the tour fo all of us.
How did you get on the bill with Jyrojets?
We knew the boys before hand, they asked us to do a gig with them in Inverness which we really enjoyed. The promoter knew both bands and thought we'd go well together. We had a great time touring with them, the boys are really good craic. We plan to take them to Skye and hope to play with them again in the future.
Ideally, who would you love to have the chance to support?
Possibly Oasis, Noel Gallacher was recently played our CD and we're waiting to hear what he has to say about it. His girlfriend Sara Macdonald is a big fan of Stereoglo and made him sit down and listen to us.
Onto songwriting. Who writes the songs, and are they based on personal experience?
Richard writes all the songs although the whole band does a lot of the arrangement at times. I know that some of his songs are certainly based on personal experiences but can't say that for all of them. You'll have to ask him that..... sorry
What bands did you listen to as you were growing up? Which bands influence you now?
We all grew up listening to different stuff and are influenced by all sorts. There's lots of Indie and rock on our i pods but there's a lot of more obscure stuff too. Our music collections do overlap but we can't all listen to the same stuff which makes it difficult when putting stuff on when we're all together.
What are you aiming to achieve now?
We're currently trying to become the biggest unsigned band in the Highlands. We're not doing too bad at it either, that tour we did helped. We're trying to get down to the cities as much as possible too. We'll be in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Aberdeen in the coming weeks. Basically trying to build up as big a fan base in Scotland as we can as well as all the usual writing, recording and rehearsing that's always going on.