They Came From the Skies
Bio
Formed of Ross Balsillie (Guitar + Lead
Singer), Murdo Stevenson (Guitar), Alistair Barbour (Drums), and Stuart Milne (Bass guitar), They Came From the Skies is a newly-formed alternative rock / metal band, planning on building a reputation across the country when they release their 1st single, “Shock” at the end of this month (May 2019).
Ahead of their first release, the band met with Jim Gellatly (a DJ renowned throughout Scotland and the UK for picking out new talents such as Biffy Clyro, KT Tunstall, Glasvegas and the Fratellis) and featured on his premier ‘New Music’ show. Leaving a man such as Jim “impressed” only leaves one thing, this band is on the road to success.
Shock – the first single
Let’s get onto the song then, and what a start it is. With just under 18 months playing time with each other, I was surprised at the quality and sound of the song, considering this is their first single. ‘Shock’ starts off slowly with a simple and delicate guitar structure which is looped for the opening structure, before vocals and bass guitar joins in. After this, drums kicks in as the introduction continues. It’s after this that the song ‘properly’ starts.
Straight away, I get connotations of Biffy Clyro (one of the bands inspirations), as well as American rock band, Blink 182. The vocals of this song really do remind me of Mark Hoppus, the overall song does as a whole. In terms of structure, I do feel as if the song is more experimental than most songs (verse + chorus etc) as the majority of artists do nowadays.
In terms of overall length, I believe it would be beneficial for the band to have a shortened version (to say 2 minutes 30 or that region) as most popular songs nowadays are radio versions themselves. The length of the version I listened to doesn’t in any way take away from the high quality sound that the band has produced.
Q+A’s
Future plans for the band. Any gigs?
We’re playing at Gig In The Carpark festival in Leslie (31/5/19) to promote the release of our debut single, as well as at Monarch Bar in Dunfermline on the 16/6/19. Many more in the pipeline but these are the confirmed dates anyway. Beyond these shows we are looking to continue recording (which we do all ourselves) and creating more artwork etc, building up to the next release.
Inspirations on the band and how they impact your music?
Everyone in the band holds a really intrinsic value on art and this comes through in our music. The songs are very questioning in nature, either being introspective or of some aspect of modern-day society. It’s always something that gets us chatting at practice, as well as in the studio too. We come from a wide range of backgrounds – Jazz to Metal to Alt-Rock. Anything that makes your brain and body move basically.
Best memory so far in your music careers?
We’re fairly new in terms of memory making, but we’ve had a lot of fun being the masters of what we create. From our song writing, recording and producing to forging our art direction, photo shoots and music videos, it’s all been of a journey we won’t forget
Where do you see yourselves in the next 5 – 10 years?
The future for us looks like adding more festivals to our experience, honing our song craft and self-production even further and generally just pushing the edges of what we do to see what we can do.
Overall, I’ve got my fingers crossed for the band. With their first single at a quality as high as this, I’m convinced that the band will achieve success of some kind in the near future. My thanks go to Ross for being my contact, and I hope you have enjoyed reading this content.
See you around,
Keith
Related Links
https://www.facebook.com/theycamefromtheskiesband/
Music Review Scotland 