Interview with Red Hearted Vibrations: ‘I’m buzzing to get these songs out, you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, you can taste it!’

Glasgow five-piece band Red Hearted Vibrations are gearing up to give us their biggest song yet next week (2 July) with ‘White Water’, a glam rock scorcher underpinned by power riffs, hinting at something darker underneath, which will also feature on their upcoming debut album.

Red Hearted Vibrations is made up of two sets of siblings: Laura (vocals) and Steven Nelson (drums), Craig (guitars) and Graham White (bass) plus Ewan Driver (guitar), who describe themselves as ‘the biggest mismatch of people, with all different musical influences has made for the greatest local band hoping to hit the big time’. Scott, their former keyboardist, is still very much on the scene but has left the band. A nursery worker, a barista, a caterer, a baker, railway engineer and a project manager, who have known each other since they were children, all came together with a desire to create beautiful, anthemic songs.

‘White Water’ is a proper 90’s, glam rock inspired track that showcases just how powerful Laura’s voice is. It’s pushed along by a catchy bass line and a power riff that has been stuck in my head for days. ‘I’m a big fan of glam rock, it’s built around that,’ Ewan said. Craig describes ‘as more guitar-centric than the other ones’ and laments that they’ve only had the chance to play it live once.

‘We all write individual songs as well and the final version is always different to how it starts!’

‘White Water’ is about trying to stay afloat, both emotionally and mentally. ‘We were messing about in the studio and were thinking about trying to stay afloat at times and other times it’s plain sailing,’ Ewan said. ‘It’s about keeping that balance between struggling and plain sailing. It’s a mish-mash, we all wrote it together.’ Craig nods:’ We all had a couple of lines for the chorus. It’s anthemic but a modern rock song. We all write individual songs as well and the final version is always different to how it starts!’

The other clear vibe from the song is sunny Californian days, cruising along a beach in an open top car, looking out onto the ocean and letting your mind drift away. Nonetheless, the inherent struggle in ‘White Water’ comes through strongly in the lyrics: ‘You showed me how to survive, the current pulls, lost without a guide. The waves crash through time, a struggle out, a fight against the tide.’

It will be the opening song on their 13 track debut album, which will come out on 7 November, followed by their ‘Hug and Pint’ gig on 11 November. They will also release another couple of singles before then, likely ‘Whiskey’ and ‘This Is The End’. Ewan describes ‘Whiskey’ as being about the party mentality: ‘Think Sunset Boulevard, a bottle of Jack, or our single malts, it’s a bit more rocky than ‘White Water’. I say that I’m not sure it’s possible to be rockier than ‘White Water’ and he laughs: ‘Ok, it’s less poppy rocky and more rocky rocky, if that makes sense? You write your songs based on your own personal experiences but the core of the band is still there.’

‘There are definitely big riffs in it!

‘This Is The End’ is, as the title suggests, apocalyptic: ‘It’s about the start of lockdown,’ Craig said. ‘The pre-chorus is about looking forward, it was inspired by things shutting down. It’s up and down with the vocals but it sounds happy.’ Ewan adds: ‘There are definitely big riffs in it! I’m buzzing to get these songs out, you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, you can taste it!’

They’ve also done a brilliant cover of Thunder’s ‘Love Walked In’, which is also on the debut album. Their version highlights just how radically you can change the essence of a song if you switch from hard rock male vocals to a sultry, powerful voice like Laura’s. It retains some of the 90’s hard rock vibe of the original but her voice gives it an edgy, bluesy spin that, for me, takes it to a different level.

They got to play one gig in March, albeit it not in front of a live audience, although they were surrounded by hundreds of LED screens -‘like on Ant & Dec’s Saturday Takeaway’, Ewan joked. ‘It’s the same company that does The Voice.’ Craig joins in: ‘You can see people’s faces on the screens as you play, it’s just good to get out there and get the amps turned up!’ I say that as long as social distancing continues, there must be a market for more gigs like this and they agree: ‘Yeah, I think there’s a market for a hybrid like this,’ Craig said. ‘We’d be up for more of them.’

Musically, there has been a noticeable shift since they released their debut single ‘Circles’ in 2018, which is poppier and less riff-driven than their recent songs: ‘I think our sound has stabilised in the last year,’ Craig said. Former singles such as ‘By My Side’ and ‘My Everything’ will also appear on the upcoming album: ‘We’re stuck on what to name it,’ Ewan laughed. ‘Do you pick a song title?’ I say that if they’re struggling to come up with it, taking a song title is the way to go. ‘We thought of naming it for Scott but he said ‘No, don’t do that”. He still wants to come to all the shows,’ Ewan added.

‘We say you have to have four part harmonies or it’s not one of our songs!‘

‘My Everything’ (2020) is a heartfelt, acoustic track written about Laura’s young daughter, Lilly: ‘Her wee daughter, Lilly, she’s her pride and joy,’ Craig said. For ‘My Everything’, Scott took an idea of Laura’s away and put lyrics down. We stripped it down a bit, we had a laugh doing the harmonies. We say you have to have four part harmonies or it’s not one of our songs! It’s a really happy song.’

Their cover of ‘Love Walked In’ is not their first foray into the world of covers: they’ve also done a briiliant cover of Alannah Myles’ ‘Black Velvet’, which was written about Elvis Presley. ‘We have all these influences, from Fleetwood Mac to Whitesnake, to 80’s and 90’s music,’ Craig said. ‘We wanted to be quite smart with our covers, it turned out so well. Laura shines through when it’s rocky but stripped back. We just have to make sure that Ewan and I don’t get too carried away with our amps!’

One of my favourite tracks of theirs is ‘The Girl Who Done No Wrong’ (2018): ‘It’s kind of about who misbehaves, a Bonnie & Clyde story told from the female perspective,’ Craig said. ‘It came to be fun to play, there are cowbells in it. It was a fun one to get Laura involved with. The bass solo in it, Graham’s face lights up when he plays it.’

As the first pre-chorus goes: ‘Do you ever feel like you’re slowly going nowhere, I can take you to places that you’ve never been to before. Do you ever wish like your life would take you somewhere? I can take you to places that you’ve never been to before.’

‘I idolised AC/DC growing up‘

Craig particularly treasures his Gibson J-45 guitar: ‘I always knew I wanted one at some point in time,’ he said. ‘I use it every time to record.’ Ewan’s favourite is also a Gibson, an SG. “I idolised AC/DC growing up, I saved up for it from my paper round and cutting grasses. It’s my workhorse guitar!’

I ask them who they’d love to collaborate with? ‘Anyone at the moment,’ Ewan laughed. Craig looks pensive: ‘I’d have to have a jam with Stevie Nicks,’ he said. ‘Oooh, that’s a good one, that,’ Ewan said. ‘Do they have to be alive?,’ Ewan asked. I say they don’t. ‘I’lll go with Freddie Mercury then.’ Their dream-line up would also feature Nicks and Mercury alongside Nirvana and Pink Floyd. ‘Freddie Mercury at the end,’ Ewan said, grinning. ‘It would be amazing!’

(Photo from left to right: Ewan, Craig, Graham, Laura, Steven and Scott)