'You just have to see it as an opportunity to write more songs'
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CAITHNESS band Neon Waltz released their new EP Huna last Friday and should have been on tour, but are getting creative in coronavirus lockdown.
The postponed tour will happen in September now, and the planned time after that tour in a studio may happen later, but there is now time for songwriting towards their next album.
And, with coronavirus isolation in force, it probably doesn't make much difference that three of the band – drummer Darren Coghill and guitarists Kevin and Jamie Swanson – are in Caithness while singer Jordan Shearer is in Edinburgh where he has been an accidental viral star with 20,000 and 30,000 views a time.
His daily series of comedy operatic songs sung down to the street from an open window have been keeping him – and thousands of people out there – entertained.
“It became a bit of a hit. Band fans and other people have been watching and we gained quite a lot of followers on Twitter – it’s gone semi-viral,” Jordan explained. “It was manic – it got to the stage I was afraid to look at my phone."
He added drily: “And it’s a bit annoying because it was getting more views than our music does!
“I’d rather they were tuned into the music than watching me being an absolute tw*t!”
All this self-isolation, I think there will be a lot of good music coming from it.
Now Jordan's boredom has shifted onto producing the first podcast from their tour regular, puppet Steve McClintosh, the Glaswegian alcoholic who reveals talents of his own in his first show.
Though plans before coronavirus hit had been for Neon Waltz to go into the studio to work with a couple of producers before getting down to a new album, Jordan is philosophical.
“Music and football are my two big loves and the football season is over, but I’m not mourning it because there are bigger issues," he said.
“And all this self-isolation, I think there will be a lot of good music coming from it and from people being trapped in the house.
“We’re just going to have to go along with it.”
Jordan has been living down in Edinburgh since the birth of his 11-week-old baby Sonny.
“It feels like we’ve been in isolation since he was born, so it feels as if not much has changed,” the singer said.
“But you just have to see it as an opportunity to write more songs. What might come from this time is a better song that could go on the album.”
Talking about the songs on EP Huna, Jordan said: “Thanks for Everything and All in Good Time, we recorded quickly.
“All in Good Time we just recorded live – probably the quickest we ever recorded a song. We had all the gear set up in Freswick Castle and tried to nail the recording in a day.
"There’s a live video on YouTube of us doing it.
"Strung Up is a song I wrote about three or four years ago and it was about moving back in with my mum and dad after me convincing them and myself that I was going to make it in the music industry and going to stand on my own two feet.
"Then I had to move back in with them – and it's about the shame of that, or that was the feeling.
“I’ve moved on quite a bit from that time, so it’s weird for me hearing it, but the song is new to everyone else.
"It wasn’t even about feeling depressed back then, really. It was just a feeling of moving back home, not a bad time, just a song that takes you back to a certain time."
This time in spring 2020 looks like being one remembered for igniting Jordan's boredom, which explains the comment introducing the podcast: "Jordan hasn't lost his mind during isolation – honest!"
The Huna EP is available now at https://neonwaltz.lnk.to/HunaEPTW
And on vinyl: https://www.neonwaltz.com/products/huna-ep-12-vinyl-2
