Melodic rock band Tiderays are latest in a string of impressive artists to come out of Dumfries
TIDERAYS are one of a host of emerging bands from Dumfries and Galloway.
I first came across them when attending the annual Dumfries Music Conference.
It’s always a great networking experience with workshops, guest speakers and live music showcases.
Tiderays singer Eddie Oakes is also a big fan of the conference, praising it as an opportunity to meet and get advice from music bigwigs.
He said: “Events like DMC are very important. It’s a great way to pick up advice from industry professionals and make contacts that can be beneficial moving forward.”
Even if you take mega star Calvin Harris out of the equation, I reckon Dumfries has been punching above its weight for a while now.
DMC can certainly take credit in helping build the scene and give local acts a platform.
Acts do need to get out of Dumfries in order to raise their profile, but that would be the same for bands from any town.
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Drummer Trevor said: “Dumfries and Galloway has a population of about 150,000. You can only take it so far when the population is so small, so we need to branch out to the cities.
“We can often get more bang from our buck playing in the larger towns and cities. That’s not to say our home crowd aren’t fantastic.”
I can certainly be guilty of being trapped in the Scottish bubble when it comes to music.
I’ll not apologise for that, but it can be easy to forget that Carlisle is actually less than half the distance from Dumfries than Glasgow. That’s something Tiderays have taken advantage of.
Trevor added: “We’ve got a following in Carlisle now, so the north of England is very important. We toured there in the spring and had a great time.
"Ultimately, we need to make ourselves known around the entire UK to be able to go full-time but Scotland and the north of England are doing well for us right now.”
TIDERAYS
WHO: Tiderays
WHERE: Dumfries
WHO: Eddie Oakes (vocals/guitar), Liam Russell (bass/vocals), Stewart Paterson (guitar/keys), Isla Gracie (fiddle/vocals/percussion), Trevor Newport (drums)
FOR FANS OF: Frightened Rabbit, Idelwild, Fatherson
MORE: tiderays.co.uk
Melodic rock with a folk tinge, Tiderays are well on the way to fulfilling their potential.
Initially, they went down more of a folk route, starting with Eddie’s solo material. That’s developed to give them more of an alt. rock edge.
Eddie and Trevor had been playing and writing together in various guises for a few years before they formed the band at the start of 2017.
Isla Grace was brought in as a session fiddle player, but she joined full-time earlier this year.
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Following last year’s The Anchor and Papillon singles, they’ve produced another gem with their latest tune Parallel. It paves the way for a debut album, which they hope to release in November.
Having played Butefest yesterday, the next big gig for Tiderays is August’s Solfest in Cumbria. Plans are currently afoot for a short tour of Scotland before Christmas.
Jim presents a weekly showcase of New Music on Amazing Radio Sundays 2-4pm.
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