SUSAN SZYMBORSKI caught up with the suddenly very busy Ross-shire band

SUPPORTING Bon Jovi at the O2 Arena, having their single played at the Scottish Cup Final and performing at RockNess – 2010 has been a momentous year for Ross-Shire indie band, The Side.

The currently un-signed four-piece has been on the go (in various incarnations) for over five years now, but has never experienced such a busy and productive few months. I caught up with the band’s vocalist and guitarist, Hugh Winton from Alness, to find out why 2010 is shaping up to be The Side’s best year to date.

The Side rock on - or at least on rock!

The first thing that struck me about The Side is how busy they are. I scheduled a quick interview with Hugh just after he got back from a mini-tour of Scotland with the band and just before he jetted off for a well-earned holiday. He explained that he and the other members of the band, drummer John Ross, keyboard player George Campbell and bass guitarist Ryan Golder, work full-time in other jobs and sometimes struggle to find time to write new material, rehearse and play gigs.

If things are busy for the boys in normal circumstances, the last few months must have been manic. Their first big coup came off the back of another Ross-shire “side’s” success. First division football team Ross County beat Celtic to make it to the final of the Scottish Cup. George Campbell, who shares a hometown with the Dingwall team, was at the match.

Hearing the Celtic supporters sing “you’re going nowhere” to their underdog rivals reminded him of one of The Side’s songs. He explained; “Listening to Celtic fans chanting that we were going nowhere, I thought that our song could be a perfect County anthem as it has the same name, a similar theme and a fan-esque chant. I contacted our singer and we composed a taster video and got right into the studio to record new lyrics.”

Forgive the pun but, the new version of Going Nowhere went somewhere. Staggies across the country downloaded The County’s Going to Hampden, propelling it to number 23 in the official UK Indie Breakers chart, the band were featured on both the BBC and STV news, and the single was even played to tens of thousands of fans during half time at the Scottish Cup Final.

Although Ross County ultimately lost to Dundee United, Hugh remembers the team’s cup run with affection: “Praise should go to County for their achievement, it was an amazing occasion and I’m glad we did the song.”

The Side

The next milestone in The Side’s 2010 calendar was the goNORTH showcase in June. Now in its tenth year, goNORTH aims to promote Scottish bands to an international audience and bring together people from all areas of the music industry. This year the event was held at venues in and around Inverness.

The Side took part by playing sets at The City Bar and the goNORTH stage at RockNess. Hugh comments: “We’ve played at goNORTH and RockNess before so it was really good to be asked back. We got some great feedback from the crowd.”

Although the boys enjoyed performing at these events, it was by entering a spin-off competition that they really reaped the benefits of goNORTH. The Side were selected from over 1,000 other bands to support Bon Jovi at the 02 Arena in London on 8 June.

Playing to an audience of around 23,000, Hugh describes the gig as “the best we’ve ever done, the whole day, the whole occasion was just amazing. Our dream would be to concentrate on our music full time, but if we don’t get a record deal, we can look back at that as our pinnacle and think not many bands get to do that.”

The Side at RockNess.

With such glittering achievements under their belts, I asked Hugh why 2010 has brought so much success for The Side. He sums it up as a mix of planning and opportunity.

“At the start of the year we all got together and decided to have a bit more structure to the band. We tried to set down a template of things to do each month, but then things like the Ross County single were totally unexpected. It’s definitely been our best year so far and if anything else happens now it’ll just be a bonus.”

The lads are now gearing up for their next string of performances at the Belladrum Tartan Heart festival, King Tuts in Glasgow and The Tunnels in Aberdeen. They will also be releasing a DVD of their Bon Jovi experience and a new EP later in the year. With their recent achievements, passion and work ethic, you get the feeling that 2010 has more surprises in store for the Ross-shire band.

© Susan Szymborski, 2010

Links

• The Side