Neon Waltz, a six-piece rock band from a small town in northern Scotland, played a show in London last week. We sat down with lead singer Jordan Shearer to learn a bit more about their unique hometown and what they have coming up.
WQHS: How would you describe yourselves to those who haven’t heard your music?
Jordan Shearer: It’s really hard for us, we get that question a lot but we never find the right way to answer. We don’t really fit into a certain category. We’ve been described as indie-psychedelic. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what our sound is. We’re a Scottish rock band.
WQHS: Can you tell me a bit more about where you’re from?
JS: We’re pretty much from the most isolated place in Britain. We’re the only functioning band in our town. There’s not a lot of people there, and we all grew up as mates loving the same kind of music and could all play music and write songs and stuff. We’re very lucky that we found each other, but it is weird because there are so many bands in London, but we’re the only ones up north where we’re from. In the town itself, everybody knows everyone, everyone sticks together- its very different from the city life.
WQHS: Do you think that gave you guys a lot of time to practice?
JS: Definitely, cause there’s nothing else to do. I think there’s one nightclub in each town. All we really wanted to do was make music. If we were in London there’d be so many more distractions, so being from where we’re from allows us to do what we want to do with all our time, play music the whole time. If we were from even Glasgow or Edinburgh it might still be a bit different because we would have other things to do, so I think we’ve been lucky in that regard.
WQHS: When did you guys form?
JS: We’ve played in bands in one way or another since we were 14, but as Neon Waltz its been 3 and a half years or so.
WQHS: How did you get your name?
JS: We had all these songs but no name- we drew up a list of like 700 names. We’re a democracy, all 6 of us, and we couldn’t pick one name we agreed on. Someone suggested something like Neon Sheep, and Sheep Waltz, or something, so we combined them and got Neon Waltz and it seemed to fit.
WQHS: If there’s only one nightclub in your hometown do you have to travel to perform?
JS: There’s a few venues in each town where we’re from. The last gig we did in Weck was at the high school where we all met. It’s getting knocked down and they wanted us to do the last thing at the school- it was 600 capacity and sold out in two hours. We’re kind of limited in what we do at home but to progress as a band you need to travel anyway so there’d be no point in just doing gigs at home.
WQHS: What’s coming up for you guys?
JS: We’ve got music out just recently, and a video too for that song. We’re working on an album for this year and maybe a single too! We’ll also be playing some festivals, but none that we can confirm right now though.We all really want to go to Japan as well- we’ve got a few superfans from Japan- there’s a girl from the show tonight and every gig she comes to she’s got a personalized present for me- I find that amazing. They seem to really take music seriously so we really want to go there.
WQHS: Are you coming to the states anytime soon?
JS: I’m sure we will be, I’ve never been to the states yet, but keep an eye out!
