TWO rock bands with strong Selkirk influences have been nominated for national music awards.
The Darien Venture – who count Liam Rutherford and Jonny Beveridge as group members – are up for best newcomer at the Scottish Alternative Music Awards 2010, while Gregor Fair and his group Trapped in Kansas are in the running for the best rock and a
lternative band.
Votes are being collected online until Friday February 19 and the winners for each of the four categories will be announced at an awards night in Glasgow’s Classic Grand on February 24 hosted by comedian Billy Kirkwood and DJ Jim Gellatly.
Lead guitarist Gregor, a third-year commercial music student at Ayr College, said: “It’s nice to be recognised for all the effort we put in to last year. We had two tours of Scotland and, like many of the bands nominated, we worked really hard.
“It is great to see Darien Venture nominated as well – after voting for ourselves I made sure I gave them a vote. It’s just a pity I cannot vote more.”
Plans for 2010 include more festival dates after successful debuts at Rockness and T in the Park last year, plus the introduction of new songs to freshen up Trapped in Kansas’ setlist.
Gregor added: “We have nothing planned as yet but are hoping to return to Rockness and will put ourselves forward for other festivals we didn’t go to last year, such as Belladrum and Wickerman.
“We have been politely turning down gigs until March as we feel we have played the current set enough. We hope to have a six-track EP recorded in April which will give us new material for the rest of the year.”
Trapped in Kansas have previously made a joint EP with The Darien Venture, and Liam from the Glasgow-based band is hoping for a double Souter success.
“It was a surprise to be nominated but also nice as the awards have been set up by students and they are the main target audience for our music. It is also a relief not to be in the same section as TiK.”
The Darien Venture will also release an EP this year.
Liam added: “We really have put all our eggs in one basket with the EP. We rushed the last EP with Trapped in Kansas and although the songs were good, the recordings were not. With us spending a lot of money on the new EP, we have decided to do the best we can and have spent two weeks in the studio recording five tracks.”
Just like Gregor, Liam also hopes festival-goers will be exposed to his band’s new material over the summer.
“The submission dates for the festivals are February to April so hopefully we will have enough time to submit two of our more radio-friendly tracks,” said Liam.
To vote for The Darien Venture or Trapped in Kansas, log on to www.myspace.com/scottish alternativemusic
