What are your names?
We are Brian Hughes on guitar and vocals. Martin “Basser McRib” Hughes on bass guitar and Zak “What?!?” Watt on drums.
What is the bands name?
The band’s name is Screamin’ Whisper
How did you come up with the bands name?
Brian originally started it as a singer songwriter, but he’s so soft spoken that it’s hard to hear him talk between songs. We tell him to keep it to a minimum and let Martin do the talking, seeing as he has so much to say! Martin is the gobby one.
What is your genre of music?
We like to class ourselves as a Rock band. We generally use whatever we want musically in the studio, despite being a 3 piece live. We get compared a lot to a young Rolling Stones or Arctic Monkeys, so I suppose we come across a bit ballsy live.
Give us a little bio about you as a band and individuals.
Well, we’re identical twins on guitar and bass, which makes for an interesting dynamic, and with Zak on drums we’re quite a close knit band. I’d say we’re a bit like creepy triplets. We met Zak after moving to Edinburgh from Dublin in 2013. We’ve been in several bands together, he’s a great drummer.
What made you go in to music?
Well, we’ve all been quite musical from a young age. In terms of reasons, I suppose it’s just better than trying our hand at sports when we’re clearly rubbish! Also we come from quite musical families, so there was some influence there. Myself and Martin grew up in a family where there was always live music , our uncle is a musician, when we were kids we had a band with our cousin, Rockin House, the noises coming from our attic room most nights had the neighbors banging on the walls.
Are you a signed?
Yeah, we have a label now. We have our first single, “Filth”, out now and the album comes out on May 18th. It’s exciting to say the least.
You released the lead single ‘Filth’,tell us more about
Yeah, ‘Filth’ is out now. I wrote it, last year. Its cool to see it being streamed and keeping track of the plays we’re getting. The video is also out, it was shot by Group 6 Productions in Edinburgh at a really cool location called The Biscuit Factory. It was fun to make, we are shooting with them again later in the month on the video for the second track from the album due out on April 27nd, ‘Angels Don’t Watch Broken Homes’.
What was the writing process like?
Well, Brian really does the writing for the band. He comes in and shows the song, then we flesh it out as a band. It’s quite natural, we work well together. Only sometimes if there’s a pause or half-time bit or something he imagined when he wrote it, he says so. Otherwise it’s a bit of a free for all until it comes together.
What was the recording process like?
We tried some producers but in the end decided to produce it ourselves and get it mastered elsewhere. We got it mastered at Abbey Road by the guy who did Ed Sheeran’s ‘+’, and also Radioheads ‘Kid A’, so it was quite cool. We’re happy with how it turned out, and its a nice radio ready 3 minutes, which helps. When recording we generally know what we want, so it’s really just lots of messing around until something weird happens. Like, there’s a keyboard part we got by messing around with a dodgy old organ with bellows in it!
You are also gearing up to release your album which is called ‘Filth’, tell us more about the album.
Well, it’s exciting. Having 10 tracks together as a piece of work seems like a really big achievement. We worked really hard to get the order right, because there’s some quite punk type tunes, some slower acoustic songs and a couple with strong Brit-Pop vibes. Coming from loads of high energy live shows, it’s really cool to have something more clean cut recorded to show what we’re really about musically.
What was the writing process like?
Writing the album is a weird one. It’s now together as one piece of work. But in reality it was written over a time where a lot happened. Some of the songs even pre-date the band. They go back to when Brian was a solo Singer-Songwriter. So it’s cool to have all that progress documented really.
What was the recording process like?
It was really just practiced live. A lot of ideas come out of mistakes or improvisation during rehearsals and gigs. So when it comes to recording it was more of a challenge to get it to sound clean enough, but still have the right amount of aggression.
Describe each track in two words.
Angels don’t watch broken homes – Harmonica Solo
Blue Arsed Fly – Big Balls
Diamond in the Rough – Lovely Piano
Filth – Best Keyboard
Foolish Me – Cry Song
What’s a boy to do?!? – Best Breakdown
These Days (She Says) – Sexé Harmonies
Mothers Arms – Massacred Flute
Preacher – Punkin’ Express
Something Wonderful – Nicest Ending
Do you have gigs coming up or a tour in planning?
We have our Launch Party at Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh on May 17th. The album comes out on the 18th. So we’ll finish our set and then the album will be available for download. We’re still organizing what the tour will be.
If so where are you thinking of heading?
We’re hoping to go around Scotland and the UK for sure. Our native Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth. But also reach Newcastle, Manchester, Liverpool and London. Maybe Ireland as well.
What else can we expect from you this year?
This year we have to be promoting “Filth” until at least June. We’re hoping to move straight into album two, to capitalise on whatever we achieve this time. It’s 80 percent written and we have a firm idea or the style we’re going for musically. So to have that out by next May would be both a goal and an achievement!
Do you have any collaborations coming up with any up coming artists?
No, not really. We’ve had an artist feature on a recording before, but we’re really quite solitary. Maybe at our album launch we could see what happens. There’s some friends from old bands playing.
Would you be up for collaborations if other musicians wanted one with you? and who would they have to contact?
We actually do like collaborations and just playing music and seeing what other people are into. If anyone wanted to see what came to fruition they could just email our label, Glum Gun Records or message our Facebook!
Do you play any instruments?
Yeah, we’re all quite musical and enjoy different challenges, although it’s probably best we stick to our own guns within the band! We’ve all tinkered with piano for instance, and Brian finds it good to write with. But also he often brings demos in where he’s recorded everything to show what the general idea would be. But in general we’re quite open to ideas from each other, we respect that we all have a broad scale of musicality.
Who are your influences?
We are all into Gorillaz for one. We saw them in Glasgow in November, they were amazing. Aside from that we find an interest in a range of genres, which really helps actually. Martin is quite punk oriented, Iggy Pop or the Sex Pistols for instance. Whereas Brian likes Bowie or The Beatles, but has a strong crossover with Zak as they share a love for bands like Soundgarden or even Parliament-Funkadelic. It makes for a good mix of points of view when we play together.
How do you get inspiration to write songs?
It really comes from life. Quiet periods from a writing point of view can be great for recording and gigging. It means we can get really smooth with new songs before we record and then record straight off the back of a lot of gigs. Whereas when Brian’s writing it can be in the more quiet times gig wise. There seems to be certain seasons almost, where we do a lot of work, either studio or live.
Where do you see yourself now in 5 Years?
We hope to just build with every gig and release. Whatever that means. We have this album now. We aim to have another album this time next year, and continue like that! If something takes off commercially, we’ll for sure take advantage of that, but there’s nobody to do the hard work musically. You have to have something to sell, and as a band new ideas and songs are great. So we want to just keep making sure we have a great back catalogue to stand by, for when it takes off.
When you’re not doing music, what do you do?
When we’re not doing music, we often go to gigs together actually. Or rehearse or hang out. There’s a lot of places we meet outside the band, which explains how we got in a band in the first place! But really we’re quite close, and being a musician is lonely. So just to have the time to have nothing to do but think about who you’re with is quite nice.
What was the song you listened to most that influenced you to go more in to the music scene?
Well I know mine (Brian) was Working Class Hero, by John Lennon. But also really just the whole Led Zeppelin 2 album. They gave me the balls to sing, which as a songwriter is quite important! But in terms of being a band, the thing that put us onto the scene was The Blues. We started off getting to know each other by jamming the Blues. We had Howlin’ Wolf and Willie Dixon before we put our own set together.
What’s the best advice you have ever been given?
Get things in writing is generally good advice, whatever the situation.
What advice would you give to aspiring musicians not about the industry and just as an artist?
As an artist, probably just stay true to you. Because, whether you’re great or not, it takes all sorts to make a world. One great gig really can change someone’s life!
What quote or saying do you always stick by?
“Empty vessels make the most noise.” It’s true that idiots make the most noise. Keeping your mouth shut is an artform.
Where in your home-town is a must go visit?
In Dublin, I got free Guinness in the Guinness factory. Enough said.
In Edinburgh, I think Camera Obscura is so weird that it’s just great.
Your coming off tour;
1/ Where do you go first? Home, definitely, totally home!!
2/ Who do you see first? Cats. We (Martin and Brian) have a cat named Neil. He’s a babe.
3/ What do you eat first? Whatever comes to hand. Maybe tea if that counts. Pancakes are great. Or cereal is great.
When you are at a gig, what are 5 things you cannot forget?
Can’t forget,
1.Lots of Water
2 A sandwich
3 More cables than you should ever reasonably need.
4 A set list, although we never make one.. When we do it helps !
5 I.D, because we all look about 12 years old.
Do you have social media accounts so your fans can follow you?
