INDEPENDENT QUARTET ‘SUNSTINGER’ RELEASE THEIR EXPERIMENTAL SINGLE ‘THE VOID’, TALK THE WRITING AND RECORDING AND WHATS TO COME!

What are your names?
Taylor Wright, Scott Gourlay, Bill Anderson and Nick Fernandez

What is your genre of music?
Our music is classed as Alternative. We don’t really know what the means to be honest. Our sounds have been compared to post-punk and shoegaze styles, which we quite like.

How did you come up with bands name?
It’s just two random words put together. It doesn’t actually have any meaning. It’s not a bad thing as we can’t be an idea of anything apart from what we are, we are Sunstinger and nothing else.

Give us a little bio about you and the band.
The band started about 2 and half years ago. We have all been in bands previously and met in our local music scene so it was pretty easy to get something going! We had a few rehearsals and decided we wanted to keep working at it. All of the band are from mining villages in Fife apart from our Drummer Nick. He’s from Dunfermline, we class Dunfermline as our hometown.

What made you go into music?
When we were young teenagers, Fife had a pretty good music scene and a lot of things were happening. Thanks to our bass player Bill actually. His old band Sergeant were signed to Mercury Records, they were out touring at a young age supporting the likes of Oasis and Supergrass. It gave our town a good buzz and a lot of people were joining bands and stuff around that time.

Are you a signed?
No, we’re completely independent.

You released your new single ‘The Void’, tell us more about the single.
The single was a bit experimental. We have a song called ‘She Stole My Sky. The Void was actually a part that we didn’t use in the song. I thought it was pretty cool though so we made something out in the studio. The song is about my mate. He’s going through a pretty rough time at the moment. With his permission I wrote the lyrics from my point of view, how I see his situation

What is the meaning behind ‘The Void’?
The Void is about being in a self destructive state of mind. It’s based on Sigmund Freuds psychoanalytic theory ‘Death Drive’.
The title comes from the French phrase “L’appel du vide”

Describe the track in two words.
Social anxiety

Who did you work with on the Single?
We worked with Magnus Collie. He has a studio in Rosyth, he’s based in Substation Studios which is run by Michael Brennan Jr. Its a pretty cool place. Michael does live sound for bands like The Jesus and Marychain so there’s a cool vibe down there. It suits us.

Will we see an EP or Album this year?
With Covid-19its hard to plan ahead. We have a few more songs ready for release so hopefully we will have enough material to see this out. Then yeah we will move on to an EP when everything’s back up and running

Do you have any shows coming up?
We are actually booked in for a hometown headline show at PJ Molloys, Dunfermline. The date will be set as soon as things are back to normal. I think we will be one of the first shows back so we really look forward to it. We also plan on heading out on tour later this year, but it’s tough to plan ahead for that just now with everything going on.

If so where will you be heading?
Everywhere we can! We’re planning on having a few England dates, some were postponed but hopefully we’ll get down there soon.

What else can we expect in Early 2020?
The Void was released early to try and keep us active. We plan to release another single titled ‘Nothings Alright, Leave Me Alone. We will release this as soon as it’s okay to play live again probably

Do you have any collaborations coming up with any up coming artists?
We don’t actually

Would you be up for collaborations if other musicians wanted one with you? and who would they have to contact?
It’s not really anything we’ve ever thought about to be fair. I think on our EP I’d like a girls voice in a track. Maybe something we can try out.

Do you play any instruments?
Just!
Taylor – guitar / vocals
Scott – Guitar
Bill – Bass
Nick – Drums

Who are your influences?
Our individual influences differ. I think that’s what gives us a unique sound. There’s no one else doing what we are where we are from. We meet in the middle at bands like The Chameleons and fellow scots The Jesus and Marychain.

How do you get inspiration to write songs?
It’s all about the music. We create the music first and write the song/lyrics last. We spend a lot of time experimenting with guitar pedals and tone, that’s sort of our main focus.

Where do you see yourself now in 5 Years?
Probably just here, doing the same thing. There’s something about these mining villages, people don’t tend to leave

When you’re not doing music, what do you do?
Taylor is a civil Engineer
Scott is a welding Inspector
Nick works in a warehouse but is also in a few other touring bands. Foreign Fox and Richard Jobson’s (The Skids) Armoury Show line up.

What was the song you listened to most that influenced you to go more in to the music scene?
It will be different for everyone. Some of our dads were into music when they were young. I think the passion for music just gets passed on

What advice would you give to aspiring musicians not about the industry and just as an artist?
To just be yourself and write what you truly believe in. It’s hard not to get caught up in all these small scenes of people trying to be anything apart from themselves.

Where in your hometown is a must go to visit?
Waw, that’s a question no one’s asked before! Em.. Fife has a beautiful countryside. Sometimes we forget to actually appreciate it. There’s a lot of cool paths and routes around here. St Andrews is a nice place and obviously famous for the golf and stuff. Even at that though id stuck to Spain for the holidays!

Your coming off tour;
1/ Where do you go first?
KFC
2/ Who do you see FIRST? KFC
3/What do you eat first? KFC

When you are at a gig, what are 4 things you cannot forget?
1. Half Charger (Half bottle of buckfast wine)
2. Doritos
3. Our drummer Nick
4. We have a lot of gear and rely on guitar pedals. We haven’t forgot any yet but if we did, we’d be goosed.

Do you have social media accounts so your fans can follow you?
Yes you can pretty much get us on all social Media Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and you can stream our tracks on Spotify. You can even buy them from ITunes if your really keen. We also have some music videos out on our youtube, they were made by our good friend Rory Coweison – we’d definitely recommended them!


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