Scottish alternative rock band North Atlas are soon to hit the Classic Grand as part of their UK tour this month! The Glaswegian four-piece is made up of brothers Leon Hunter (vocals) and Cam Hunter (drums), alongside Michael Hall (bass), and Arran Tarvet (guitar).
This will be their first headline UK tour and they will be hitting up Manchester, London, and of course their very own Glasgow! In the past, they’ve supported some incredible bands including Enter Shikari, Bloodwood, As Sirens Fall and even fellow Glaswegian rockers Anchor Lane.
If you’re a fan of Biffy Clyro you will LOVE these guys, and you need to check them out at one of their tour dates. North Atlas are adventurous in sound, and I am sure they are going to give us an interesting set as we’ve patiently waited for the band’s debut E.P. ‘The Longest Shadow Attached To The Ankle’. These guys are a band to watch out for and I do not doubt that the future holds massive opportunities for them.
Discovery Music Scotland was lucky enough to catch up with Leon and Mike before they start their tour in a couple of weeks so check out what they have to say, but why not do more than that and grab a ticket to come and check them out yourself before it sells out!!
Your new EP is out on the 22nd of September – can you tell us a little bit about it?
Leon (vocals):
Every song on the E.P. is an honest reflection about our own demons, they’re attached to you wherever you go, like a long shadow….I think might be going through some existential sh*t right now ha.
Who inspires you to make music?
Leon (vocals):
My bro, who is the drummer, he inspires me to keep writing. It can be hard to keep the energy and momentum up being in a band, we’ve always energetically bounced off each other and if something is good we say it is, if it’s not we say it’s not, we argue sometimes but not too often. Also Biffy, mon the biff.
Mike (bass):
You’re always going to be heavily inspired by the artists and you grew up listening to – but when you go out and start working with people and doing it for real – you find a much more, like, immediate, and intimate source of inspiration in the musicians around you…and their talent and their dedication… I’m lucky that I’ve got some pretty incredible bandmates.
For those who don’t know who you are – can you describe each band member in one word?
Leon (vocals):
Nice, I’ll describe the other guys from my perspective:
Aaron – Elvis Cam – Avatar Mike – Clamps
Your upcoming tour is happening soon, what is your favourite song to perform?
Leon(vocals):
House of Mirrors is probably my favourite to play live at the moment. There is a fun dynamic in that song, it goes from quite chill to super intense and back to chill again, it’s a differently structured song and I like that about it.
Mike (bass):
One of the ones from the new EP, is a song called ‘Seer’. Real high energy and have been loving the response it gets live.
Speaking of performing – you’ve recently played at Download Festival – a huge achievement! Tell us what was that experience like for you?
Leon (vocals):
Something I’ll remember about that show was that it was the first time I saw a few Scottish flags out during our set. So whoever you guys are that was much appreciated, humbled. The whole weekend was hot and the atmosphere was incredible, Bring Me the Horizon absolutely nailed their set on Friday night. It was great to see a relatively ‘newer’ band headline. Highly recommend a trip to Download if you haven’t been.
Mike (bass):
For me, it was just a crazy experience. I’ve been on that site, in those fields, sooo many times as a punter. So to be driving in, knowing you’re just about to play a set at Donnington… it was unreal.
You supported Enter Shikari at Glasgow’s QMU – what artists would you like to support or even collaborate with in the future?
Leon (vocals):
Shikari are the best, they treated us so well and made us feel welcome as a new band. I think it would be fun to open for Nothing More or Empire State Bastard. It would also be fun to do a musical collab with someone who’s into folk or tribal music, partly because it would push us to lock into new rhythms outside of rock.
Mike(bass):
Yeah, get some crazy tribal stuff with Heilung, or lean heavy on the industrial side with Petbrick.
For fun – what is your guilty pleasure song?
Leon (vocals):
I’m listening to the Blink 182 album called Neighbourhoods a lot right now, there’s a song on there called Snake Charmer which is such a jam. Tom puts on ‘the voice’ so hard in that track that it borders on cringe, that’s the best place for a song to be, right on that border of cringe, it’s what makes bands special.
Mike (bass):
Macho Man – Village People (with 0 guilt).
As part of Discovery Music Scotland, we’re passionate about supporting Scottish artists – do you have any favourite Scottish artists?
Leon (vocals):
I have so many favourites, I’ve always liked the LaFontaines, Fatherson and Frightened Rabbit. I saw Young Fathers early on as well as Bleed From Within. The list could go on for ages.
Mike (bass):
I know Biffy are super important to all of us in the band. Those first three albums, the guitar stuff was so different to all the other rock music I was exposed to growing up. Currently, can’t stop listening to a Glasgow band called GRAVELLE… just watched their DVD and it’s amazing.
What is the one message you would give to your fans?
Leon (vocals):
There’s no better place to be on Saturday 23rd September than the Classic Grand in Glasgow. It’s like 3/4 sold out so grab your tickets in advance and we’ll see you there!
Mike (bass):
✌️
So you better follow Leon’s wise words and grab a ticket before it’s too late otherwise you’re gonna miss out on an incredible night with North Atlas on 23/09/23!
