Q&A - neverfine

Following the group’s first two releases ‘Silhouettes’ and ‘Voices’, neverfine are thrilled to announce their third and final single from their forthcoming EP ‘Do Everything, Feel Nothing’ – ‘Imaginary Friends’, which is set to be released on August 11th 2023.

After the band’s first two singles received high praise and radio play on platforms such as BBC Introducing, Amazing Radio & Scots Way Hae!, Imaginary Friends arrives as a darker, pop-rock track which explores themes of self-isolation and internal struggle. The group are scheduled to play Central Belters at Broadcast, Glasgow on August 13th and their debut headliner at Sneaky Petes, Edinburgh on September 2nd to celebrate the release of their EP which is slated for a September 1st release.

Your new single 'Imaginary Friends' explores some really interesting sounds, tell us more about the creative process for this?

Craig Kelly: Honestly, Imaginary Friends was one of the easiest songs to write for neverfine so far. I never use lyrics as a basis for my songwriting. I always start with the music first by finding a certain sound that sparks an idea, find a melody (which usually becomes the chorus) and then build the song from there. After I arrange it, I send it off to Ashley and let her work on the lyrics for a while. Once she's finished we get together and start to chop and change a few things until we feel like we've got to a good place. After that there's a bunch of time spent in the studio with our incredible producer Edwin who helps us take the songs up that extra notch. Imaginary Friends was interesting because it started off really bright and hopeful, but I wanted to introduce something a little darker to the song so me and Edwin ended up making the drum sounds and bass parts a little heavier and eventually we added some distorted guitar to give it a little bit of an edge.

Ashley Palkowski: I've seen Craig spend hours upon hours going through synths, drums and guitar patches to find something that he resonates with. But like he says, the concept and ideas behind Imaginary Friends came really quickly to him, it was the same for when we came up with the lyrics too which were written in one night. This was by far the easiest song for us to write for our EP.

If you could choose any artist to collaborate with, who would it be?

AP: Nine Inch Nails would be so cool! I feel they share really similar concepts and ideas to us. They’re a big inspiration when it comes to my songwriting personally so I’d say that’s the natural choice for me.

CK: That would be cool, but personally if I ever got the chance to collaborate with either HEALTH or CHVRCHES it would be a dream come true. Absolutely love both those bands and they really inspired me when I started writing the music for neverfine way back in lockdown. There are so many artists in and around Scotland that I'd love to work with too, so who knows? Maybe something will come of that in the near future.

 Tell us your three desert island albums ? 

AP: Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly. That album is a masterpiece!

CK: There's so many albums I would choose from, but if I'm being honest with myself it would be The Bones of What You Believe by CHVRCHES. When that album came out it really changed the way I listened to music at the time and opened me up to a lot of new genres and artists that I would have never found if it wasn't for them releasing such a fantastic album.

What show has been your highlight this year? 

AP: By far I’d say our recent headline at Sneaky Pete's. The fact that the show sold out was so special to us, and an incredible accolade for us as a band who only put themselves on the map this year.

CK: Yeah, we were blown away by everyone's support and we can't wait to go back to Sneaky Pete's again. It's an amazing venue with great people and we'd love to work with them all again. Shout out to Gordon for being the best sound guy we've ever worked with!

 What show has been your highlight this year? 

AP: By far I’d say our recent headline at Sneaky Pete's. The fact that the show sold out was so special to us, and an incredible accolade for us as a band who only put themselves on the map this year.

CK: Yeah, we were blown away by everyone's support and we can't wait to go back to Sneaky Pete's again. It's an amazing venue with great people and we'd love to work with them all again. Shout out to Gordon for being the best sound guy we've ever worked with!

If you could share a message to other Scottish artists, what would it be ? 

AP: “Don’t stop, keep going”. My vocal tutor from college always used to tell me this when it came to performing, but it can be applied to any facet of life. No matter how difficult things get, keep chipping away at it and trust the process, because what’s for you will never pass you by.

CK: Go to more local gigs and support Scottish artists!

What can we expect from neverfine in the future?

AP: We’ve got a lot of things currently in the works that we’re looking forward to announcing in the coming months, but in the meantime we want to start playing shows outside of Scotland and continue writing, recording and releasing more tunes! We’re all very excited to see where our journey as a band takes us next.

Follow neverfine here

Q&A - Cortnë

Cortnë is an authentic young alt-pop singer-songwriter from Glasgow’s Southside, currently living between Glasgow and Edinburgh, drawing inspiration from past relationships, feminism and religious imagery. With tracks featuring dreamy harmonies, crisp airy guitars and driving drums, it’s easy to see why she’s been championed by BBC Introducing Scotland, BBC Radio Nan Gàidheal, Amazing Radio, Scotland on Sunday and The Skinny.

The young artist has established herself through an array of performances across Scotland with gigs in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Inverness, Dundee and Dumfries. Cortnë has appeared at Belladrum and the first-ever Dundee Pride, as well as supporting the likes of english duo Medowlark, Lauren Hibberd and ROE at SWG3’s Poetry Club and The Sisterhood at the iconic King Tut’s since starting out.

Cortnë - Eve cover art

Read our Q&A with Cortnë below:

What was the first instrument you started learning? When did you get into music?

I started learning guitar at a music summer club when I was in primary school. We learned Livin' on a Prayer by Bon Jovi and I practiced every night and asked for a Bon Jovi CD for Christmas that year haha! After that, I was on and off getting guitar lessons and teaching myself. As for when I got into music, well that's kind of been around for my whole life. When I was around 4 years old we used to have this big cassette player in the living room and my mum would play the ABBA Gold album on it and I remember hearing it and thinking "I want to do this". I also used to collect the free CDs my gran would get in the papers and learn all of the songs on them off by heart which has led to me knowing the words to some very random songs.

Your recent release 'Eve' is out now. Can you tell us more about this project and the team behind it?

So 'Eve' is part of my debut EP 'Florescence' (out 13/10/23) which I had the pleasure of working with a group of very talented musicians that I am lucky enough to call my friends (Aidan Spiers, Ryan Hughes, Adam Frew, Sabrina Mandulu, Moilidh NicGriogair, Rosi Tudhope, Drew Young, Jamie Reid and Jack Dorrian) it was so lovely to have them all on board. The songs were produced by Jamie Holmes who honestly made them come alive, it was really nice to work with someone collaboratively who just wanted to make the tracks sound as good as they could. Lewis J Smith snapped the single artwork and the EP artwork which I can't wait to reveal. For 'Eve' in particular, Rhianonne Stone has produced the music video which is all about celebrating women! The video is out in September and I'm so excited for it. And for all of the musician admin like PR, gig bookings, radio plugging etc. I do all of that on my own which is a bit crazy with a full-time job but definitely an interesting and important part of the industry to learn about.

If you could change one thing in the music industry, what would it be?

Fairness. It would be really nice to see musicians being paid more and being given more transparency in general. Some people doing great work on this are Pop Girls Scotland, Jo (Josephine Sillars) and Rachel (Kohla) do amazing work to make sure women in Scotland are given a platform and have created such a wholesome community for women in music. There are other artists such as Be Charlotte (who runs female-only songwriting camps), Brownbear (who speaks up on inclusivity in the Scottish music scene), and Sanjeev Mann (who recently started an accessible venue petition) who are all doing amazing things in an attempt to make the music scene a better place to be.

What advice would you give to others like you starting out in their career?

Take every opportunity you can and do what makes you happy. I should probably mention that I work for two youth music projects Music Plus and Hit The Road so definitely check them out too. I myself was a participant on Music Plus when I was younger and honestly without that experience I genuinely don't think I'd be doing what I am now.

If you could trade places with any musician in the world, who would it be?

This is a really hard question haha! I'd like to have the best of both worlds and be someone successful but also someone who could still go to Tesco without anyone actually knowing who they are. I think maybe someone like Lucy Dacus would enable me to live my Hannah Montana dream lifestyle.

When can we catch you playing live next?

My EP launch is on Friday the 13th of October at The Glad Cafe in Glasgow. It's going to be a really special night, there are some very talented support artists yet to be announced and I'll be playing with a full band so it's all very exciting. Tickets are £8 and you can get one here: https://offaxisgigs.com/product/cortne/

Follow Cortnë here