The Latecomers are a Rock & Roll group based in Edinburgh made up of Andrew, Andoni, Fergus, Jim and Jamie.
So first of how did you all meet?
Andrew: Our school had a rock night coming up. I wanted to play but I needed people to cover up my mistakes.
Where are you all from?
Fergus, Jim, Andrew: Edinburgh.
Andoni: Madrid.
Jamie: Dundee.
How long have you been playing your respective instruments?
Fergus: Not long enough. Jim: 3 months. Jamie: 8 years. Andoni: Andrew: A good few minutes.
What genre of music do you consider your work to be?
Andrew, Fergus: British Invasion, rock and roll.
What are your influences?
Andrew: Chuck Berry, obviously, Little Richard and The Beatles, basically any rock and rollers from the early 60s.
Fergus: Alcohol, usually.
Do you do covers and if so what’s your go to?
Jamie: Lots of classic rock and roll standards.
What if anything does your name mean/why are you called that?
Andrew: I turned up late to a rehearsal and introduced my group to the receptionist as ‘The Latecomers’. Something clicked and we tossed a coin. Since then it’s taken on more meaning for us.
Do you have a process for writing your songs? /Which of you writes the songs?
Fergus: Yeah, we have a method where we all drink a lot of beer, except Andoni, who’s high on vicodin – then someone will make up a random riff and then we’ll all come up with offensive rhymes until it sounds good and then substitute the lyrics. Andrew: In other words, not really.
What are your rehearsals generally like?
Fergus: Everybody tells Andoni to shut up.
Andrew: Loud, messy and sweaty, with a lot of abuse – reminds me of a girl I used to know.
Jim: LOUD.
Do you have any interesting/funny stories about gigging or touring?
Fergus: After our lead singer developed a bad case of man flu, it was down to the 3 of us to divide the singing of the set between us. We started this seamless trip to our gig in Glasgow, from Edinburgh. The first disaster was the destruction of the keyboard case, which meant it was very awkwardly carried onto the train, along with lots of Mcdonald’s food! The train we boarded ended up being the wrong train, which took us to the one and only Polmont, a small village with nothing in it but two council houses. After taking a selfie with the Polmont train station sign we thankfully were able to board the next train to Glasgow, and when we arrived it was pouring with rain, so the uncased keyboard became soaked. Alas, against all odds we arrived to the venue for our sound check on time, but unfortunately they didn’t have a snare drum… or any amps. The others managed to sort some of that stuff out while I went to buy lots and lots of beer to make everyone feel better, and after a while we went to a nearby rehearsal studio to practicing playing our set together for the first time ever. Instead of doing so, we turned all the amps to 10 and practiced our death metal voices, so when it came to the gig we had entirely lost our voices. Against all odds our set actually went quite well, though, and we even got called back to the same venue for a longer set!!
Andrew: Andoni was handling almost all the singing for this set we were playing at a charity gig. On the morning of the big day he pulled out because of illness. We decided we were going to still make the show and divvied up the songs between us. An hour before the soundcheck the venue let me know they had no amps. Luckily I had some terrible practice ones under my bed which I brought over. On the bus I checked my phone to discover that my bandmates, including our substitute drummer who so far had 45 minutes of rehearsal time with us, had caught the wrong train and were stranded in a small village. With little time I pushed on for our soundcheck, only to discover the venue was missing a snare drum as well. I’m no drummer but apparently those things are quite important. Our drummer had to improvise a beat – using only cymbals and kick – which sounded like it belonged in a free jazz ensemble more than a rock band. Naturally we had a quick rehearsal before the gig in which we destroyed our voices and had a couple (several?) drinks. Miraculously we managed to finish our set, and the audience even seemed to enjoy it. We have never let Andoni live that fact down.
What has been your biggest challenge as a band? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?
Andrew: Andoni’s ego.
How can fans-to-be gain access to your music? Do you have a website with sample songs or a demo CD?
Jim: Soundcloud, new stuff coming soon.
Have you released anything yet/if they have how has it gone down and are you planning anything for the near future?
Jim: Meh, kind of.
Where have you performed? What are your favourite and least favourite venues? Do you have any upcoming shows?
Andrew: Henry’s Cellar Bar in Edinburgh is where we got started, nice underground vibe and they weren’t all that skeptical of our fresh faces.
What do you think about downloading music online?
Jim: I don’t download music illegally myself, but I can see the appeal. I think streaming apps that deliver a good service have become a much better alternative to pirating.
What’s your outlook on the record industry today?
Andoni: What record industry?
First Published on: www.newhellfireclub.co.uk
