Speaker 1: What a great song that is. I love that. That
is called Scarlet. The band is the Painting, the album
is Before the Rain, and let's get Lewis in here.
Lewis Taylor is on the line with us via Microsoft Teams. Hello, Lewis, Hi.
Speaker 2: There, how's it going good?
Speaker 1: Good, Welcome to the show. I love that song. I
love that song so much. That is that is so good?
We play that. We played it when it first came out,
and I still love it as much as I I did.
Listen to the entire album, by the way, Before the Rain.
I think the whole thing is great. So I'm really
happy to have you on the show today.
Speaker 2: Oh, thank you. I'm really glad to be here to this.
Speaker 1: We excellent.
Speaker 2: Just before we go in it further, I went to
pass on condolences as well to yourself about your dad.
I lost my dad a couple of years ago, and
so I know what it's like.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I appreciate that very much. Yeah, it's it's
it's rough, it's yeah, it's it's uh. I'm still I'm
still kind of processing it all. But I'm sorry to
hear that you lost your dad a couple of years ago.
But yeah, so you you know what, uh, you know
what we're going through here. But no, I appreciate that
very much.
Speaker 2: No, no, no problem, but uh.
Speaker 1: So happier subjects. So, like I said, I love the
band and you guys are from Glasgow? Is that correct?
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're we're based in Glasgow. We're all all the
members are were you know, originally from different parts of Scotland,
but we're all based in Glasgow.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay? And then how long has the band been around?
Speaker 2: Oh as this iteration of the band, maybe around the
year and that's what I thought. Yeah, beforehand we were
in a we were a different band with a different name,
but that will that will changed about a year ago
and we decided to change name and change direction slightly
with what kind of music we played as well.
Speaker 1: So The Painting as an entity then is a is
a relatively new, uh project, which is interesting because you've
already got you've already got a full album out, Like
when when you became when the band became The Painting,
did did you immediately start working on this album?
Speaker 2: I think at that point in time we didn't realize
it was going to be, you know, an album. I
think we had thoughts it might be maybe a couple
of singles or you know, a kind of a shorter release.
And by this time went on and we realized that
we are very prolific when it comes to writing songs,
and we we think it's mostly we find it easy,
but we'll be just it just comes quite naturally to
to just you know, to write to write music. And
very quickly it became evident that we were you know,
we were having had a large batch of songs and
we decided, let's just record an album.
Speaker 1: It's cool when when it seems so natural and it
and it kind of comes easy, right, because that's when
you know you've really got something. I mean, it's you know,
it's fine if you have to to really work at it,
that's that's okay too. But when you when as a band,
when when just the songwriting process, when these songs just
come together quickly, it's that's how you know you're really
onto something. I think when it's when it's just kind
of natural and organic. And and part of why I
was so curious about that too, is because it is
a full album. Because we live in a time, as
you know, and you referenced it too, you you know,
you were talking about how you had to decide, you know,
are you going to do a full album or are
you going to do singles or an EP or whatever.
So yeah, so to make the decision to do a
full album, that's a big undertaking right out of the gate,
but it sounds like it made a lot of sense
given your situation with the band.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're definitely very, very ambitious when it comes to
things like, you know, like recording an album or you know,
we don't do things by half measures. We always try to,
you know, elevate things and aim for something quite ambitious. Yeah, yeah,
and yeah, you're Redially, it's a very I think it's
quite a rare thing to be able to be with
another group of musicians and be able to come up
with things very very quickly and you know, efficiently. I
mean I've been in projects before where it would take
it could take you months to even write one song,
whereas we could write a song not easily. I mean,
it does come with it does come with his you know, roadblocks,
but we can write songs fairly quickly. So yeah, I
think it's quite a rare thing, and you know, it's
it's always a fun process. With the rest of the
band members.
Speaker 1: I think I neglected to mention too. So you're the
best player in the band. So I am myself a
bass player. So there we go. Bass players unite absolutely.
How many how many people are in the band? Is
it a four piece? No, so.
Speaker 2: It's not became you know, kind of public knowledge. We
wear six six piece, but band well down to we're
now down to a five piece at this moment in time. Okay, Yeah,
we recently had someone exit the band, and I won't
go into it. It's it's not really you know, there's
no point in then too as what is But yeah,
we're yeah, we're five members and we're just continuing as normal.
There's no you know, it's not gonna Empeters or anything
in any way. We'll just keep going.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, Now the album Before the Storm is there,
I'm sorry, before the Before the Rain rather is there? Oh,
I know why I was singing storm. I was seen
about the song Waited the Storm, which we're gonna play
at the end of the segment. But yeah, but is
there any kind of a theme, you know, lyrically, is
there any kind of a theme of the album. It's
it's really cohesive. It almost feels like there could be
a theme, but maybe not. I'm not sure you tell us.
Speaker 2: This is this is the hard book because I'm probably
the wrong person task based as in Keaton, who is
the you know, the sega and let us as to
the band. But I think we all collectively agreed like
when we were you know, when we saw the lytics
and we heard the lytics, so it all kind of
points to can the new beginnings a lot of the time. Yeah,
and I think it's quite relevant obviously with regards to
us becoming a new project, you know, coming from the
ashes of an old band basically, and I know Kieren
wouldn't mind me talking about it as well. But obviously
he went through a breakup during this time and then
has now moved on to you know, a new relationship,
and that's essentially what the song Scarlet's about, is a
new relationship. So there's a lot of kind of new
beginnings is probably I think a quite a big you
know theme within the album, within the lyrics. I think
you're right as pretty cohesive, and I think it was
quite unintentional. I don't think it was it was set
out to be like that, but yeah, I think when
you you know, in retrospect, if you were, if I
was to go back and listen to it, or you know,
listen to the lyrics, I could definitely see that there's
a lot of you know, and intertwined kind of themes
that makes sense basically.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's very I find overall, it's got a
vibe that is very you know, it's it's sort of
dreamy and light in a sense, but also hopeful. Yeah,
you know, it's it's gotta there's just a hopefulness to
the to the album that I really like. And also
I wanted to ask about the cover for Before the Rain.
It's appropriate for a band, uh called the painting because
it looks like a painting. But I'm I'm and it's
a you know, I encourage people to look at it online.
It's it's a really nice cover and it's very I
think it's classy to the way the name of the
band and the name of the album. It's it's in
the upper left corner, you know, kind of kind of small,
you know, big enough so you can see it. Obviously
it's you don't have to hunt for it. But but
but the way it's sort of unintrusive in terms of
of the uh, the rest of the image of of
what looks to be a painting. But I'm curious about
the artwork. I mean, is that an actual painting that
that's hanging somewhere and uh or is it specifically for
the album or where does that come from?
Speaker 2: No? Actually, it's it's actually a fool graph really yeah, yeah,
we I think it's maybe slightly been edited to to
make it kind of look more like a painting that
I'm not entirely sure, but it certainly comes from a
photograph that we came across online and by a photographer,
and we you know, we obviously spoke to the photographer
and got permission to use it. But yeah, I understand
where you're coming from. It it does look like a painting.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it really does. It really does. Absolutely. What was
the so, what was the name of the band that
that pre pre dates the painting.
Speaker 2: It was Arcade State.
Speaker 1: Arcade State. Yeah, that's a that's an interesting name. That's
kind of cool. Two random ones and then and then
so so how many how many members from that are
in the painting.
Speaker 2: So at this moment and tell you just three? Three,
So it would be myself Jordan the drummer and Kevan
who is the guitarist and singer.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, now that project and then start the painting.
Was that was that difficult? Like was there a lot
of I'm especially curious because I've been in situations like that.
I don't play anymore. I used to play in bands
at this point. At this point, I'm more focused on
on broadcasting and stuff. But I've been in situations where
it's like, in fact, I've been in that exact situation
where one band, You've got one band, and you're thinking
about maybe making a new project with some of the
same people. So then it's like, well, what do we
do we just take what we have and change direction,
or or do we just say that's it, We're gonna
do this whole new thing with this new name. How
much of the old thing gets brought into the new
thing and all the nuances of that. So I'm really
curious about that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So, to be honest, things then in particular, will
I think, I think and they can. A plan for
Keaton was to do this as almost like a kind
of a soul project. We'd all it's into a big
long story about it. We all didn't perhaps part way
is quite. You know, it wasn't really amicable. It was quite.
It wasn't the most you know, it just ended quite
abruptly and will not fell out and hated each other
or anything. It wasn't like that. It just wasn't. Yeah,
it just looked like we were It was just over
and that was the end of it. And then Keran
announced that he wanted to start a new project. It
would be The Painting. He was the only member at
that point. I don't know if his plans were to
you know, get other members or do everything on his own,
but eventually, maybe after a week or so, he asked
me to come back and play bass for him, and
then Jordan, who is his brother, actually to play drums.
And then eventually it just got to the point where
we were just essentially a few members of Arcade State.
And then we started looking for a keyboard player and
another guitar player, and that's where Marta and John came
into the equation. Yeah, and when when it comes to
the style of music, we beforehand, we were more alternative rock.
Maybe I wouldn't say we weren't heavy like kind of
heavy music. You know, it was more a little bit
more abrasive than what we are now, obviously, but we
wanted to lean more into the kind of pop aspect
of things. And I think all of us, like our
one of our biggest influences is the war on drugs,
and we wanted to kind of lean more into that
as well, a bit more of a kind of I
guess I'm trying to think about what you would define
them as, almost kind of Americana sort of music. I guess, yeah,
like and mixed up with a kind of pop element.
So I think we're getting there. I think with the
album Before the Rain, that's only just the first step
in our revolution and sound. I think we were still
writing now like for future releases, and I think with
what we're writing is certainly evolving. So yeah, yeah, it's
been a long It's been a very quick year, but
also it feels like a very long year at the time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, you guys have been busy. You've been doing
a lot. That's wonderful. I'm curious did any of the
material from Arcade State make it into the painting or
did you just start completely new?
Speaker 2: So we started completely fresh? Yeah, Yeah, we actually think
even had a number of songs that we could have
carried over, you know, to this project, but we just
scraped them essentially. There might there might be a little
bits here and there, like a guitar line, or like
a few lines of like lyrics and things like that,
but it's not you know, it's not like a base
of a song that's came from the project. Everything is
essentially new.
Speaker 1: Okay, Okay, what was that difficult? Because you know, song
like some some songwriters will describe songs as being almost
like their children and it's hard to you know, it's
hard to leave them behind. Was that was that difficult
at all, like leaving all of that behind or did
it just seem like the natural thing to do or
what was that like?
Speaker 2: It definitely felt like the natural thing to do. Good,
But also we are quite cutthroat, well we we well
just scrap things and and just move on. Obviously there'll
be there'll be certain songs that you they will miss
from the old from the old band. Yeah, none of
it fits anymore. It really makes sense. So I mean,
I guess you could argue we could make it fit,
but I think we're quite content with the direction we're heading.
But no, I think we might be a little bit
of a kind of were entity there where we're quite cutthroat.
We don't mind, We'll just move on and write something else.
Speaker 1: Oh that's good, that's that's excellent. Good for you. And
then what's the lives situation like for you guys? Are
you playing a lot lot of live shows or so?
Speaker 2: There was a period of time when we were writing
the album we weren't really playing at all. It was
more just focused on the writing aspect of things. But
as the years came to a close, like coming to
a close, we have played a few gigs recently. We
played a headline show in Glasgow in October and then
another headline show in Edinburgh in November. It was sorry,
everything this whole year is just a blur. Yeah, but yeah,
so and we also played a kind of mini festival
like like a day festival, indoor festival in Aberdeen as well.
It started December, so you know, we were quite busy
coming towards the end of the year and then moving
into next year, we've got quite a lot coming up.
We've got a lot dates planned, We've got almost a
small mini tour of the UK planned as well, and yeah,
there's many other things in the works that hasn't you know,
it's not been announced jet and it's not being confirmed yet,
but there's a lot Next year is gonna be really
really busy for us?
Speaker 1: Well, very good, good good. So in a moment, we're
going to play at the end of our our conversation,
we're going to play the track Waiting on the Storm.
What should people know about this one? This is one
because I had asked you, so we'll pull back the
curtain a little bit. I did ask you, Yeah, what
you wanted to what you wanted us to play at
the end of the at the end of the segment,
and I don't I mean, is this going to be
the next single or is this just one that that
that you're really proud of or what? What should we
know about this song before we play it?
Speaker 2: Yeah? So this is an earlate single from the album
and the final single from the album. And this song
was actually written in I think maybe ten minutes. Wow,
it was a yeah, yeah, it was a very very
quick This is one of the occasions where we didn't
overthink it. We just played what failed natural and this
is what came out.
Speaker 1: Wow, excellent, excellent. So before we let you go and
before we hit that song. What should people know about
where to keep up with everything that you're doing as
a band? Where should people Where's the best place to
go online to keep up with the painting?
Speaker 2: Oh, I would say definitely on Instagram. Instagram's the way
you know where we are probably most active. You can
find as the painting official on Instagram, and yeah, that's
definitely the best place to keep up to date with us.
Speaker 1: Outstanding outstanding, Well, Lewis, I really appreciate you joining us
here today this morning or well, I don't know what
time is it where you are, where you are, it's
probably afternoon, right, Yeah, it's two theory tooth theory you.
Speaker 2: I'll forgive you you.
Speaker 1: It is indeed, it is inded. No, but I do
very much appreciate you doing joining us. Like I said,
I listened to the full album and we've become fast
fans of the painting here, really really like what you're doing.
So we'll definitely have to do this in the future,
and certainly once you have some new music, we'll have
you on or you know, or anything that you have
coming up that's exciting. You know, we'd love to have
you back and we will definitely do this again.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me and moving to
quietly come back on. It's been been a.
Speaker 1: Pleasure, wonderful, wonderful. All right, Lewis, thank you. We'll let
you go. We're gonna hit this track and we will
talk to you soon.
Speaker 2: Take care, no problem, Thank you any much.
Speaker 1: You got it, Bye bye, all right. That is Lewis Taylor.
He is the bass player for the band The Painting.
And here's another great track, and this is going to
be the next single. You heard it here first, at
least on American radio. You're hearing it for the first time,
so I don't know if it's been played over there yet.
But this is from the album Before the Rain, and
the track is called Waiting on the Storm.