Interview with Braw: ”Whisky in Hand’ is about that moment of the day when it’s time to have a rest and a wee dram’

Glasgow-based folk-pop duo Braw – brothers Iain and Andrew Mundy -released their latest single ‘Whisky in Hand’ last month, a beautiful, melodic anthem for the quiet moments at the end of a Scottish day, with a new single due out before Christmas.

Based in Glasgow’s southside but originally from Edinburgh, the brothers specialise in close harmony vocals and have been performing across the Glasgow music scene, with a focus on the southside since last year. They picked their name because it sounds a bit like the word ‘bro’, according to Iain.

Andrew wrote the lyrics to ‘Whisky in Hand’ last year after he’d finished university at St. Andrews and had started working for the Eden Mill gin company. ‘He wrote that living at our auntie and uncle’s holiday home when he was doing his first job and living in a little village on the coast of Fife where the average age was 70,’ Iain laughed. ‘He says it’s about that moment of the day when it’s time to have a rest and a wee dram.’

The lyrics encapsulate that beautifully: ‘Tak’ a minute fill your glass, raise a toast to all that’s passed, for a moment close your eyes, let the evening fleet on by.’

It’s also a song that’s designed to let you kick back and think of loved ones, they say. With this in mind, they ended the song with a ‘virtual crowd’ of family and friends singing the chorus repeated. With COVID-19 restrictions in place, everyone recorded themselves individually on their mobile phones and they then pieced together their voices.

‘We’re going to release an album around February next year’

This week, they headed back into the studio to record a couple of songs and also have another two songs recorded, although details are not yet being released. ‘We were going to do an EP as we already have four singles but people would know most of the songs so instead we’re going to release an album around February next year,’ Iain said.

Braw released their debut single, ‘Swing Door’, last year, which was followed by three singles this year: ‘Piece by Piece’, ‘Home from Home’ and finally, ‘Whisky in Hand’. Their unique vocal blend allows them to create innovative and original harmonies, while offering fresh takes on classic songs when playing live.

‘Home from Home’ was actually written by Iain’s wife, Steph. ‘She’s from England, from Sandbatch in Cheshire, a really nice English town. She was very keen to move to Scotland, so a few years ago, we moved to Glasgow. She wrote that song about being accepted here and I wrote the music around that.’

As the song goes: ‘The air feels different here, yet there’s a warmth, the pride is real here, the colours they seem brighter. Where I’m from, oh it’s a wee bit colder, the flame is no more, in our green and pleasant lands, I’m sure once we roared.’

He is understandably vexed by the tendency of the tabloid press in England to insinuate that the Scots dislike the English, something that was ramped up leading up to the referendum for Scottish independence in 2014. ‘I love the English, I don’t understand it,’ he said.

‘Swing Door’ is essentially a break-up song and was written by Andrew. ‘He’d been in a relationship for a wee while and it ended and that’s when we started doing Braw at that point. He was depressed and mopey and it was quite therapeutic for him.’

‘Our voices sound very different but they blend well together’

Surprisingly, Andrew and Iain didn’t sing together much growing up, according to Iain. They started off playing the cornet (a half length trumpet, essentially) and Iain went on to play the trumpet. ‘I went to the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, the trumpet was my main instrument, I like to write for brass. After uni I did some gigs but I don’t enjoy it that much by myself. Andrew has a different background, he got into singing at uni in St. Andrews, he was in a posh chapel choir, he can sing the high notes, he’s the delta. Our voices sound very different but they blend well together, and there just came a point where we thought we’d have a go.’

Braw are often compared to Scottish rock duo The Proclaimers, comprising twin brothers Craig and Charlie Reid, which they are extremely flattered by because they’re big fans. ‘We do covers of theirs actually,’ Iain said. ‘We do ‘500 Miles’ and ‘Sunshine on Leith’, which go down well.’

They also do covers of Biffy Clyro, their favourite band. ‘I love their new album (A Celebration of Endings), we’ve seen them a few times live. Their bass player and drummer are brothers (James and Ben Johnston), they’re only down the road from us, they’re very humble. We cover their songs ‘Many of Horror’ and ‘Medicine’. We also do an acoustic version of ‘Instant History’. We’re playing some festivals next year (details still to be announced), so we need to do some covers!’

He is also a massive fan of Jamie Cullum and we wax lyrical for a while about how fantastic his two new Christmas songs are. ‘I like his jazz stuff and his pop song writing, he’s really great. There’s also a period of Take That that I like when they came back without Robbie, around their Beautiful World time (2006). We like Tide Lines (a four-piece band from the Scottish Highlands), they’re well up there, they live in Glasgow now. I love Rura (a very sought-after Scottish folk band), their song ‘Weary Days’ is really nice. They’re not around any more but Frightened Rabbit (a Scottish indie rock band from Selkirk) were a big inspiration. We like Amy Macdonald (a Scottish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and musician) a lot.’

Iain’s favourite gig that he’s been to was seeing Biffy Clyro headline the TRNSMT festival in Glasgow, which has replaced the T in the Park festival. ‘Our favourite gigs that we’ve played were probably a couple of wee intimate cafe gigs in Glasgow Southside, as it’s lovely to involve everyone.’ If he could tour with anyone, he goes for The Proclaimers. ‘I think you’d get some good parties,’ he laughed. ‘If we could open for Queen, that’d be alright, wouldn’t it? The parties might be a bit crazy, though! Or The Who and The Stones, that could be a bit mad!’

(Photo from left to right: Andrew and Iain)

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