Scunnurt – The Sound of Renfrewshire
Possessing a frenetic, genre-averse sound that grips you from the outset, Robert Blair gets to know Paisley’s very own Scunnurt
How did Scunnurt come about?
I think we met in this room in Brick Lane Studios, then the other boys came along in 2018. From there, it’s all kicked off. We’ve been jamming since we were about 16.
Do you all bring a broad range of influences to the table?
It started off as more of a rock outfit, like The Stooges and groups like that, just punk, really. But as our change morphed as we got older, we got into the likes of Radiohead, Idles, a lot of angry shouty bands. It’s really a combination of a lot of different stuff as Sam is a big jazz man and a bit of that creeps in.
It just makes a lovely concoction (laughs). Ever since, it’s a random occurrence now where a middle-aged dad comes up and says I really connected with that, so that’s the compliments we really take onboard.”
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You can hear the evolution of the sound on new tracks like Limbs. Are you happy with how it’s progressing.
The most recent material is definitely the stuff that we’re most proud of, cause that fresh stuff is what we like the most. We change sound quite quickly because we get bored easily. We’re also all still young too, so the music changes as we change. But, the new stuff we’re writing is different again!
Some of our recordings in the past haven’t really reflected the energy, as the live show aspect of a band is what we resonate with. But, I think it’s something we’ve got better with recently, particularly recording on tape in [legendary Glasgow studio] Green Door.
Your most recent release came by way of the legendary college label Electric Honey [Biffy Clyro, Snow Patrol, Belle & Sebastian, Pronto Mama]. How did that come about?
Well, Sam [Cameron, keyboardist’s] girlfriend Kirsty was doing the music business course at Glasgow Kelvin and we just so happened to get it. We were quite lucky, it made us feel very professional (laughs). They’re really helpful for resources for merch and general manpower. They’ve given us some funding for various recordings, so it’s been a great experience. A lot of lovely, super friendly people.
With a good run of momentum behind you, what’s the plan going forward into 2024?
EPs seem like a real practical way of releasing music, but an album would definitely be the most fulfilling. We’re hoping to start getting some festivals under our belt and get our foot in the door in a lot of different places. We basically want to spread and infect as many people with Scunnurt fever as we can.
Keep up with Scunnurt via Instagram.