New song due for release after Isaac put lockdown time to good use
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A CAITHNESS musician had time to kill during the coronavirus lockdown – and put it to good use.
Isaac Sutherland decided to write a song and contacted friends Graham Walker, Robbie Manson and Lyle Watt to see if they would be interested in recording the composition – appropriately entitled Time to Kill.
"It just started as a bit of fun but everyone agreed to do it," Isaac said. "The song has a Steely Dan/country blues feel to it and should be out pretty soon.
"I am just pulling it all together now. It has been about 10 years since I was in a recording studio at home and since then I got married and have a wee boy."
Isaac has been living in Hawick with his wife Sarah and young son, Bruce, since March 2019 after a spell in Spain.
Isaac explained that he recorded the track and when he was happy with it sent it to the others to add their parts. Discussions took place remotely about the sound and the end product.
"Hopefully we will all be happy with the result," he said. "The track, which is just over five minutes long, will be released on the online music site Bandcamp and can be heard on isaacsutherland.bandcamp.com."
Isaac comes from Dunnet and is a well-respected figure in the music scene. His fellow musicians are all from Caithness too.
Graham, who has played drums with a host of famous names, including Gary Moore, performed with several local bands before moving south. Robbie also played locally and worked with a number of bands and toured with Desmond Dekker.
Robbie lives in Norwich but comes home to Thurso regularly and takes part in the Live Jive events in the town.
Guitarist Lyle now lives in Glasgow and has performed with artistes such as Blue Rose Code.
Isaac played with Graham and Robbie and his late father, Johnny, at a Lighthouse gig in Dunnet a number of years ago.
Isaac has been doing a few recordings with various artistes over the lockdown period, including a song called Frankenstein which features Lyle and Jack McPhee from Caithness. The money generated from it will go to the charity Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland.
He is looking forward to getting his new band IS3 out playing whenever it is safe to do so. The three-piece featuring Isaac on guitar, Kenny Gair on bass and John McAvoy on drums were booked to play at various festivals this summer but that did not happen due to the Covid-19 restrictions.
"It is a different world now due to the coronavirus but we are keen to get on the road when the lockdown is over," Isaac added.
