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Caithness band go on spaghetti western adventure in video for new single


By Margaret Chrystall

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THURSO band Forgetting The Future have released their latest single with a video that transports the four of them into a cartoon cowboy world.

The song, Inhaler, came out last Friday and lead singer Robbie McNicol (19) said: “We just thought this would be a really cool idea because everyone always says that the song has a kind of spaghetti western vibe.

“We are all in the cartoon – me and Max, Jamie and Connor.

“My character is trying to win this girl over and then a dog comes in at the end – I think he is the sheriff – and takes the lassie away. It is just so cool.”

As well as the striking black-and-white animation, the video mixes in live film set in a classic world of a western town with saloons and shoot-outs.

And it seems the song and the video have instantly struck a chord with the public and Forgetting The Future’s fans.

Robbie said: “The day we released it, I put up the video on our social media and wrote, ‘We just released our new song. It’s called Inhaler and it’s a good summer tune, let’s try and hit 1000 streams on Spotify by the end of the week.’

“That was the goal – but by the end of the day it had already reached 1500.”

Forgetting The Future – (from left) Jamie Mackay, Connor Wilson, Robbie McNicol and Max Paul.
Forgetting The Future – (from left) Jamie Mackay, Connor Wilson, Robbie McNicol and Max Paul.

The song itself Robbie describes as having a modern take on vintage rock with a dash of indie to create a summer feelgood singalong anthem – and it is about mending a relationship that has gone through some difficulties in the past.

The same cannot be said for Forgetting The Future themselves who have almost a fairytale story to tell about their own progress since the four-piece got together in 2014.

An early coup was getting to record with former Orange Juice mainman Edwyn Collins at his studio in Helmsdale.

Then they entered a battle of the bands competition and won, the prize being the chance to record four tracks at a studio in Nairn belonging to producer Ken Allardyce. He had worked in America on albums with huge names such as Fleetwood Mac, Green Day and Weezer.

Ken and the band hit it off and they went on to make Forgetting The Future’s debut album, Broken Phones and Hormones.

The band also signed to InTime Records label, owned by Ken and Alan Greer. The latter is now Forgetting The Future’s manager.

After around a year working on it, their album came out in February with positive reviews both in this country and in America. The band have also released singles Bluetooth, Sara Tonin and Cymru, with Inhaler being the fourth.

It comes to a shoot-out in the new video for Inhaler by Forgetting The Future.
It comes to a shoot-out in the new video for Inhaler by Forgetting The Future.

Forced apart by lockdown, drummer Connor Wilson (21), bassist Max Paul (20), Jamie Mackay (19) and Robbie will have to wait to play the single live. Luckily, many dates that had been planned for 2020 were postponed, not cancelled.

But in the meantime it seems the last thing the band members are doing is forgetting the future – and the songs keep coming.

Robbie has been using the time to write, recording songs on an app and sending them to the rest of the band who add their own parts before sending them back.

Robbie has also been playing livestream gigs online from home.

He said: “It’s a weird time at the moment, but you have to find the positives.”

  • Inhaler is released on major platforms such as Spotify, iTunes and Amazon. You can still buy previous singles and the album in the same places with physical copies of the album also available from the band’s website.

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