Interview: The Sundance Shatter
After a hard day shooting their first video a quick interview to round off their day. The usual band ‘headquarters’ – The Counting House is full so another venue it has to be. Almost a year since their first gig The Sundance Shatter have come a long way. Many gigs under their belt, debut EP recorded mixed and mastered, shooting underway for their first video and an EP launch in the pipeline but Burger King will have to do.
“I don’t really get nervous about playing that much anymore. It’s more about people hearing things that you’ve written that maybe they shouldn’t hear. It’s like letting strangers read your diary. I find it quite weird that strangers know things about me that maybe the really shouldn’t know.” Says Robert Kilpatrick who is the lead singer and guitarist with The Sundance Shatter. It’s quite clear that confidence is growing within the band which consists of Robert Kilpatrick; vocals and rhythm guitar, Tom Fairlamb; lead guitar, Dan McCormack; bass and Chris Dunkley on drums.
The band formed in late 2011 whilst all attending Glasgow University but they met under strange circumstances “Me and Rab first met on a
bus and I squeezed puss out of his finger” explains Fairlamb. Kilpatrick adds “During freshers week at Uni I was on this bus myself, I sat next to him [Tom] just randomly. One of my fingers was infected at this point and I begged him to squeeze it and all this puss shot out. That’s how we started talking”. I should add both Tom and Robert were drunk.
“Me and Rab spent ages like trying to think of a name and we couldn’t find one we liked for ages. I’d text Rab random names that I’d think of at like various points in the night. I just thought the word Sundance was cool, I put the words Shatter and Sundance cause I thought it might sound cool and I text Rab at like 4 in the morning and it just kind of stuck.” Dunkley explains how the band’s name came about. This was the first point where they felt like a proper band.
Writing is shared amongst the band but Kilpatrick and Fairlamb take head writing duties. “Mostly Rab writes the lyrics.” Tells Fairlamb “There’s three different ways I’d say we do it. Rab writes lyrics and some chords and then I write a lead to it and the drums and bass come in after it or Rab sometimes just has lyrics and I write guitar to it straight away, and then there’s just a couple I wrote.” Despite the strong song writing Kilpatrick confesses “I’m not that good at guitar really, I normally leave that to Tom”
As the conversation unfolds I can sense each band member had their own role which they are content with and it works well. As things more forward the next step was to record their first EP. “In the studio it’s quite a slow process but it was fun doing it. It seemed so professional.”
Says Fairlamb. With limited money they had to find a way to record the EP as cheaply as possible. Kilpatrick continued “I asked one of my lecturers could we record it there [at Stow College where Kilpatrick is a student], so we got to do it for free.” With their first proper recordings it almost comes as a relief for Dunkley “It’s nice to have nice quality recordings rather than YouTube videos and stuff.” You get a sense that the band are proud of their debut EP. Kilpatrick admits ”It was kind of the first time where once we got them back the band felt really real. We always knew it was real but the act we have something to properly show for it now kind of makes other people maybe believe it a bit more.”
Wasted in Love is the single taken from the EP which was also the first song Kilpatrick wrote the name was also inspired by a book his brother wrote also called Wasted in Love “I named this song after a short story collection my brother Allan Wilson brought out in October 2011” he continues “It’s basically just about a relationship that’s fucked. Holding onto something that’s falling apart but not really knowing how to deal with it.”
Kilpatrick describes their EP as “hopeful and lonely” which I think describes the band and their music perfectly. It includes four tracks and should
be released within the next month or two. With lead single Wasted in Love being released as a free download. ‘I’ll Walk With You Out Of The Dark’ penned by Kilpatrick is a hopeful song. “I wrote it about my sister, just a kind of song to say to her I love her.” ‘Blue’ another song wrote by Kilpatrick “I guess it’s the second part of ‘Wasted in Love’, it’s maybe a different chapter of the same book. It’s the hard reality that maybe it was you that fucking ruined it.” ‘Winter Blues’ is the fourth song on the EP and another hopeful song, written by Fairlamb “It’s about being away from a relationship and missing them. It was over winter time so we got the Winter Blues.” Musically Winter Blues is quite a different track from the others on the EP and Kilpatrick adds “I think that’s a dead hopeful song. It’s kind of although we’re apart just now maybe something will still make this work eventually.”
They also have a video in the works for ‘Wasted in Love’. Mainly written and directed by Dunkley and Fairlamb. They were adamant they weren’t going to have your typical band video; Dunkley explains, “Me and Rab thought up the idea, the premise of it; the human statue. I wrote a draft script and sent it to Tom, and me and Tom edited and changed bits.” Kilpatrick goes on to say “We didn’t have permission to film on the street so today we were constantly on the lookout for the council, seeming it’s a grand fine if you get caught, so that would have been ironic after trying to do it cheaply.”
Also coming up is the band’s EP launch currently scheduled for mid June. It will also be their first headline gig. “I can’t wait to do it. It will be nice playing a longer set cause normally we’re restricted to a half hour” says Kilpatrick. A longer set means new songs Fairlamb tells us “We have a couple new songs ready.” He goes on to say “I really like a lot of folk music aswell and country and stuff. It doesn’t come across that much in the music, slightly but in some of the new stuff.” So we can expect a different side to the band when we hear the new songs.
The Sundance Shatter aren’t a band destined to take over the world but they are a band who believe in what they are doing. They are slowly building a dedicated fan base who also believes in them. This time next year who knows where the band will be but one thing is
for sure they won’t be doing interviews in Burger King.
“I don’t really get nervous about playing that much anymore. It’s more about people hearing things that you’ve written that maybe they shouldn’t hear. It’s like letting strangers read your diary. I find it quite weird that strangers know things about me that maybe the really shouldn’t know.” Says Robert Kilpatrick who is the lead singer and guitarist with The Sundance Shatter. It’s quite clear that confidence is growing within the band which consists of Robert Kilpatrick; vocals and rhythm guitar, Tom Fairlamb; lead guitar, Dan McCormack; bass and Chris Dunkley on drums.
The band formed in late 2011 whilst all attending Glasgow University but they met under strange circumstances “Me and Rab first met on a
bus and I squeezed puss out of his finger” explains Fairlamb. Kilpatrick adds “During freshers week at Uni I was on this bus myself, I sat next to him [Tom] just randomly. One of my fingers was infected at this point and I begged him to squeeze it and all this puss shot out. That’s how we started talking”. I should add both Tom and Robert were drunk.
“Me and Rab spent ages like trying to think of a name and we couldn’t find one we liked for ages. I’d text Rab random names that I’d think of at like various points in the night. I just thought the word Sundance was cool, I put the words Shatter and Sundance cause I thought it might sound cool and I text Rab at like 4 in the morning and it just kind of stuck.” Dunkley explains how the band’s name came about. This was the first point where they felt like a proper band.
Writing is shared amongst the band but Kilpatrick and Fairlamb take head writing duties. “Mostly Rab writes the lyrics.” Tells Fairlamb “There’s three different ways I’d say we do it. Rab writes lyrics and some chords and then I write a lead to it and the drums and bass come in after it or Rab sometimes just has lyrics and I write guitar to it straight away, and then there’s just a couple I wrote.” Despite the strong song writing Kilpatrick confesses “I’m not that good at guitar really, I normally leave that to Tom”
As the conversation unfolds I can sense each band member had their own role which they are content with and it works well. As things more forward the next step was to record their first EP. “In the studio it’s quite a slow process but it was fun doing it. It seemed so professional.”
Says Fairlamb. With limited money they had to find a way to record the EP as cheaply as possible. Kilpatrick continued “I asked one of my lecturers could we record it there [at Stow College where Kilpatrick is a student], so we got to do it for free.” With their first proper recordings it almost comes as a relief for Dunkley “It’s nice to have nice quality recordings rather than YouTube videos and stuff.” You get a sense that the band are proud of their debut EP. Kilpatrick admits ”It was kind of the first time where once we got them back the band felt really real. We always knew it was real but the act we have something to properly show for it now kind of makes other people maybe believe it a bit more.”
Wasted in Love is the single taken from the EP which was also the first song Kilpatrick wrote the name was also inspired by a book his brother wrote also called Wasted in Love “I named this song after a short story collection my brother Allan Wilson brought out in October 2011” he continues “It’s basically just about a relationship that’s fucked. Holding onto something that’s falling apart but not really knowing how to deal with it.”
Kilpatrick describes their EP as “hopeful and lonely” which I think describes the band and their music perfectly. It includes four tracks and should
be released within the next month or two. With lead single Wasted in Love being released as a free download. ‘I’ll Walk With You Out Of The Dark’ penned by Kilpatrick is a hopeful song. “I wrote it about my sister, just a kind of song to say to her I love her.” ‘Blue’ another song wrote by Kilpatrick “I guess it’s the second part of ‘Wasted in Love’, it’s maybe a different chapter of the same book. It’s the hard reality that maybe it was you that fucking ruined it.” ‘Winter Blues’ is the fourth song on the EP and another hopeful song, written by Fairlamb “It’s about being away from a relationship and missing them. It was over winter time so we got the Winter Blues.” Musically Winter Blues is quite a different track from the others on the EP and Kilpatrick adds “I think that’s a dead hopeful song. It’s kind of although we’re apart just now maybe something will still make this work eventually.”
They also have a video in the works for ‘Wasted in Love’. Mainly written and directed by Dunkley and Fairlamb. They were adamant they weren’t going to have your typical band video; Dunkley explains, “Me and Rab thought up the idea, the premise of it; the human statue. I wrote a draft script and sent it to Tom, and me and Tom edited and changed bits.” Kilpatrick goes on to say “We didn’t have permission to film on the street so today we were constantly on the lookout for the council, seeming it’s a grand fine if you get caught, so that would have been ironic after trying to do it cheaply.”
Also coming up is the band’s EP launch currently scheduled for mid June. It will also be their first headline gig. “I can’t wait to do it. It will be nice playing a longer set cause normally we’re restricted to a half hour” says Kilpatrick. A longer set means new songs Fairlamb tells us “We have a couple new songs ready.” He goes on to say “I really like a lot of folk music aswell and country and stuff. It doesn’t come across that much in the music, slightly but in some of the new stuff.” So we can expect a different side to the band when we hear the new songs.
The Sundance Shatter aren’t a band destined to take over the world but they are a band who believe in what they are doing. They are slowly building a dedicated fan base who also believes in them. This time next year who knows where the band will be but one thing is
for sure they won’t be doing interviews in Burger King.
