Dingwall and Invergordon teenage band ‘blown away’ by ‘incredible’ support for new album
FIVE Ross-shire teenagers, who joined forces to release a debut album together, say they are “blown away” by all the support they have received.
Hailing from Strathpeffer, Muir of Ord, Evanton and Invergordon, the group first met at Fèis Rois’ residentials — a music school which brings people together to learn and develop skills in traditional music across Ross-shire and beyond. The band, named Highstreet, is made up of Ruairidh Stewart (16), Polly Noble (17), Flynn Wilson (17), Robert Swayne (18) and Emma Racionzer (17). Their new album is titled Highstreet Loves You.
“We met through traditional music — Fèis Rois residentials really solidified our friendship,” said Emma, violinist in the band. “Ruairidh and Robert had been playing more contemporary music together for a while, so they wanted to bring in some more musicians and instruments into the band. That’s when we started playing together and became the unit we are today.”
Highstreet have been playing together for around two years, and have spent a year working on their album, which was recorded in their bedrooms and partially at the Alness college.
Emma continued: “I love playing with them. It’s genuinely one of my favourite things to do in the world. At the centre of the album is how much we love playing music with each other and just having fun. There’s a lot of joy in playing music for other people, it’s brilliant.
“We decided to put an album together because we had been playing live a fair bit, and people kept asking us where they could listen to our music. Personally, I was really blown away by how many people went out of their way to support us — teachers, friends and random strangers on the internet with an interest in DIY music too. It’s incredible.”
In the album’s first few weeks streaming on Spotify, the band have already collected nearly 1000 monthly listeners, with the song I Am Meat proving to be their most popular track so far on the platform.
Explaining their plans for the future, Emma said: “Most of us are just about to leave high school in the summer. Polly is set to study music at Edinburgh Napier, with Robert possibly going there too, Ruairidh is staying in high school and Flynn going off to Ayr. I’m headed to Dundee to study art, but I do intend to keep playing! Most of us are planning on keeping it a big part of our lives, if not a full profession.
“We were also down in Glasgow to headline a DIY gig too! Hopefully before the end of the year we will be working on a new EP. Polly also has her own solo album coming out. We should hopefully be playing a few more gigs too before we scatter off to the four corners of Scotland — but we definitely intend to keep playing together, writing music and keep releasing some stuff hopefully!”
