While Alan Carberry may still be cooling down after his recent EP launch and tour, he hasn’t put his feet up yet. The indie-folk songwriter is preparing to play a Solas Festival set with his band, The Freakshow Nightmares. We caught up with him for a wee chat.
Hello Alan! Let’s get stuck in, what are your current thoughts on Perth’s music scene?
I think Perth’s got a really good music scene; there are a lot of young, original bands, which is great. I think if you compare it to other cities of the same size it’s awesome. Where I’m from in Stirling, you get a lot of pub gigs, people doing covers – whereas in Perth you’ve got a lot of original bands. There is loads of good open mics, too.
You’ve recently formed a band, can you tell us a bit about how you came to get this together?
We’ve been pals for years. Me and Cory (the drummer), we’ve known each other for ages. He was in a band in high school with Josh and Darren, who are the guitarists. We’ve been jamming together for like seven or eight years, but just for fun. When Real Life Entertainment split up, I wanted to do some solo stuff. It felt like it was missing a little something, and I couldn’t think of anyone else that I’d rather work with. Then we’ve got Kieran, from Bohemian Monk Machine – he’s just the cherry on top.
We loved your latest EP Sitting Pretty. Can you tell us a bit about the creative process behind this?
This is something that I wrote a long time ago; it just took me ages to put out. They’re all quite old songs, most of them written on an acoustic guitar. I got Cory, Darren and Josh together to try to get some instrumental parts down.
The EP was recorded live in Teapot. We went out there and had a great weekend, got really drunk, and played some songs. I wanted it to be a live recording because the stuff I’d done before was all layered, and I didn’t like the way it turned out. I wanted to capture the same sound we had in the practice rooms, because I knew it sounded good.
So when you’re writing, do you just jam it and see where it goes, or do you know what you want before you write the song?
Usually I have an idea of how I want it to sound. For the new stuff, I already recorded most of the parts – I had set guitar parts and basslines for some of them. But then at some point I’d also be like, ‘can you just do a guitar solo’ or ‘give us something on bass’. Darren’s really good at all the atmospheric noises and stuff. So the guys come up with their own stuff as well.
We’re looking forward to seeing you at Solas festival this year! As a regular attender, what is your favourite memory?
I suppose… we played it (Solas) with Real Life Entertainment, and I’d played at the theater during the day for something; I can’t remember what. I just got on stage, put the guitar on, and dropped it. I snapped every single string. Six strings! My girlfriend (Liv) was really drunk, running about asking all the other bands if I could borrow a guitar. Haha, everyone was like, ‘No, why would I give him a guitar?’ Just playing was really fun; a guy gave me a wee tool to put the strings back on real quick.
Are there any acts that you’re looking forward to seeing play live at Solas this summer?
DOPESICKFLY and Ruby Gaines for sure. I also really like Kris Drever; it’ll be cool to see him. I always enjoy finding new artists at Solas, so I guess you could say I’m looking forward to the ones I haven’t heard, too.
Check out Alan’s latest EP, Sitting Pretty, available on all major streaming platforms now.
During her time with Perth Life Sophie oversaw and delivered a huge amount of work. From being the Deputy Editor of the physical What's On Magazines, to working with bands, creatives and wellness organisations across Perth and Scotland. Sophie was able to capture, record and share some of Perth's most memorable moments.
