Another week and it’s another chapter of The Amazing Sessions – this time with Ayrshire four piece Vukovi who made their first collective trip south of Scotland to spend a day in our studios! As always, Ruth Kilpatrick tells us about the day…
Despite being only 6 months old as a band, they’re already causing a stir amidst not only their Scottish counterparts but all across the UK. This is largely via the viral release of their first single ‘Get Hot and Feel the Butterflies‘ which was then chosen by Yvonne McLellan (Island Records) to feature on BBC Radio 1′s A&R Zone with Vic Galloway.
Receiving an unprecedented amount of attention as a result, ‘Get Hot..’ made it all the way to Number 2 in our Amazing Chart and is still a firm favourite amongst the Amazing Radio and amazingtunes.com team. The band were spurred on to then record and release their second track Snakes and Ladders, followed quickly by latest single Schwagger – again proving popular amongst the amazing community and the band’s rapidly increasing fan base.
The quality of that first track alone was more than enough reason for us to invite them down to Blank Studios, where we recorded four songs including two exclusives just for us at amazing:
- A Girl Called Jade – previously unreleased.
- Get Hot and Feel The Butterflies
- Schwagger
- Vincible – unreleased and previously unrecorded
Vincible is the first real ballad-esque song from Vukovi, showing a softer side to their usually upbeat, energy filled output. That said, it still packs a more recognisable punch come the final minute or so, evidence of which can be seen simply by clicking on the session video below:
Having a female vocalist front an edgy sounding rock band means you’re always going to attract the usual comparisons – this is expected but not at all comprehensive of what it is they offer as a band. Janine Shilstone is an excellent frontwoman whose voice compliments the rest of the music perfectly. A history of theatre combined with a jazz influenced background lends a certain amount of soul to her vocals that’s often missing from the majority of today’s poppier rock songs. The three guys in the band – Hamish Reilly on guitar, Jason Trotter on bass and backing vocals and Martyn Lynch on drums – all demonstrate a passion for their music that equals their collective talents. As individuals they’ve committed to making music their main goal and the evolution from previous band Wolves to the lineup and song structure that is now Vukovi, is a move that will no doubt continue to prove successful as they keep on recording and continue to add further dates to their gigging schedule.
In keeping with our current tradition, we managed to secure a sneaky little location perfect for our ‘unplugged’ video shoot with Vukovi. You can see them performing a specially arranged, stripped back version of Snakes and Ladders by clicking on the video below. This was filmed in the CoMusica archways near the Sage Gateshead, a community project aimed at helping disadvantaged adults and children develop the creative skills they may have missed out on at a younger age. Some of the resulting artwork can be seen in the background of this particular video and in the photographs above. For more information on CoMusica go to www.sagegateshead.org.
It was a real pleasure having Vukovi down to visit and the gig they played on the evening was a true testament not only to their professional attitude but moreover to their innate ability as musicians – managing to sound good in a tiny basement bar, with no sound check, no line check, and frankly no sound man at all was a feat they took in their stride. I look forward to hearing what they come up with next and can’t wait to see them play live again. Check out their amazingtunes.com profile for more information and keep an eye out for them in a city near you very soon.
Hear the tracks by clicking HERE and by listening to Amazing Afternoons with Kyle Wilkinson today from 3pm or on Amazing Live from 1pm on Friday.
Next week: Tigers that Talked
