Vibrant Voices: Scotland’s Music Scene
Recently, I sat down and had a chat with producer and director, Daryl Speirs, the face behind Straight Horizon Media, and the documentary “Vibrant Voices“. Officially out on May 10th, I spoke to Daryl about the process behind the making of the documentary, why he chose the title, and the importance of different people within the Scottish Music Scene.
“One of the ideas I had in my head for a while was doing some sort of documentary, so I thought it made sense for me to combine the people I’d met over the years with film stuff.”
Daryl mentioned that “in the very beginning of the documentary, you’ll see an interview with a busker called Michael Wernick“. Wernick was “the first guy that I actually spoke to“. Together, they spoke about Wernick’s “times and experiences on the streets and he was just so honest. I thought, that’s a great way to start the documentary because there’s no fakeness involved with it“. It was chats about stories like his, and the honesty that “made sense for me to name the documentary “Vibrant Voices“. It’s stories from people that are so mixed“.
I was intrigued to know what sparked the process of making “Vibrant Voices“. Daryl had said “to give you a wee bit of context, I was in a band for a number of years, and I was a solo artist“. He added that “when I left school, around 2012, I went into college to do media studies. A year after that, I did a two year course in television but it wasn’t really until I was studying that I actually became invested in music“.
It was these courses and experiences that resulted in him becoming “quite heavily involved in events and gigs and meeting people, so I met contacts over the years. When the first lockdown came, I took a backseat to music and I became more invested in film and the likes. One of the ideas I had in my head for a while was doing some sort of documentary, so I thought it made sense for me to combine the people I’d met over the years with film stuff“.
“Would be quite cool for people to see a, sort of, behind the scenes glimpse.”
I asked Daryl when he decided to start he project, and things he was keeping in mind for it. He noted that “it was last year, I think it was around April or May”. He has “been doing videography work for a while and I just wanted a challenge to be honest with you, that was the first reason, I wanted to take on a challenge“. Previously, he “did documentaries, but it was smaller scale, like 6 or 7 minutes. This one is 50+ minutes. I just really wanted to take on something, and try to make something that people would find interesting“. Daryl then reflected on those he’s spoken to and worked with and said he thought that “through the people that I’d met, that people would find it really engaging, so I just really wanted to follow through on that idea“.
“Vibrant Voices” not only contains stories from musicians and bands, but also faces from behind the scenes including venue owners and photographers. I asked Daryl why he felt it was so important to include their stories too, “over the years, I had a lot of good interactions with people and a lot of these people in the industry have been really kind to me“. He added that he “felt it was important to get a lot of different perspectives from these people as well“. Included in the list of interviewees is “Ronnie McGhie, who is a radio presented, he does community radio now. Through the years, he had me on his radio show and I just thought he was an interesting guy to speak to“.
Another person he speaks to his “photographer Bazza Mills, who took a lot of different photographs of high profile artists like Noel Gallagher, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Ocean Colour Scene, Gerry Cinnamon, The View, stuff like that“. Daryl also spoke to the owners of the owners of venue “the Purple Orange in Bathgate, really interesting guys as well“. He continued to say that speaking to people like these “would be quite cool for people to see a, sort of, behind the scenes glimpse“.
“You’ll be sitting next to someone who’s the brother of the drummer or their mum and dad are there. You make a lot of good connections through there.“
I was interested to know what Daryl discovered from the whole documentary process, and what sort of impacts it may have on those who watch it. “It’s uncovered a few things for myself,” he began, “but I think, more importantly, it’s opened up ideas to people that are going to watch the documentary for the first time about how things actually work, and how things operate. It actually is quite difficult for a lot of people in the industry“. He also added that different groups are represented in the documentary which speaks about “being a woman, being a venue owner, being a musician, a busker“. He pointed out that “there’s a lot of different circumstances and things that happen in the industry that I thought was important to talk about. So for me, spreadying that message to the general public was important“.
On the photos promoting “Vibrant Voices“, images of Barrowland Ballroom can be seen, a sight many of Scots are familiar with. I asked Daryl if there were any venues in Scotland that he thinks more people should visit, or are perhaps favourites of his. He said he’s “met some of my best friends and stuff through smaller venues. I actually, more recently, preferred the small venues. Places like Broadcast, Nice N Sleazy’s, Audio, stuff like that“. He noted that in these smaller venues, “the music feels a lot more personal” and that “if you’re in the audience, you’ll be sitting next to someone who’s the brother of the drummer or their mum and dad are there. You make a lot of good connections through there. I’ve met countless people through these small events in Glasgow and the likes“.
“You need to be an influencer, you need to be good at promotion. You need to be good at management, you need to be good at saying the right things all the time, which sometimes can be unfair but it’s just the way it is just now, in the industry.”
A lot of these smaller venues play host to many emerging talents and I was keen to know if there were any emerging bands or artists that Daryl wanted to promote. “Aye there’s so many“, he started by saying, “you’ll know this yourself, with musicians in Scotland, I used to see talent in something that would always shine through. Sometimes it doesn’t work that way“. He pointed out that “there’s a lot of talented bands and musicians, that don’t get the recognition they deserve and sometimes it’s just the luck of the draw“.
He continued, “on the documentary, there’s a band I interview called The Wits, they’re an indie band from Greenock, they’re amazing. I think they’re great guys as well“. He also named “bands likes the Fog Bandits” and “Megan Black, who I speak to and interview as well, she’s amazing. She’s doing a lot of good things“. He stopped to think of more, “there’s so many I could mention“. Daryl also said “Vigilante, another great band. There’s a lot of good solo artists out there as well“. When he played in a band himself, he noted that “there’s a lot of influences for me as well, from a lot of these other emerging groups in Scotland“.
There are also a lot of challenges facing upcoming talents and Daryl identified these too. “There’s always so much talent,” he began, “if they can get a bigger platform, it’s good. Again, sometimes it’s just the luck of the draw“. “It’s not even just about being a musician anymore,” he continued, “you need to be an influencer, you need to be good at promotion. You need to be good at management, you need to be good at saying the right things all the time, which sometimes can be unfair but it’s just the way it is just now, in the industry“.
“ I wanted to make it about the artists and people involved.”
Making a documentary with multiple viewpoints and different possible poses its own challenges. However, Daryl Speirs took these challenges on, “there was absolutely no pressure on myself because I wanted to take my time with it“. He said that to begin with, “I was really plodding forward with the interviews. I did, maybe, 5 or 6 in the first two or three weeks. I just, kind of, slowed down because I thought ‘I’m gong to put too much pressure on myself here’“.
Once he’d finished the interviews, “that gave me a lot more breathing space because I had all the time in the world to just edit it and really think about what I wanted to do“. When it came to editing these, “there was a lot of ideas that I had that I didn’t really follow through on because there’s different styles of making things. I was going to involve myself more in the beginning, but in the documentary, I say honestly like 4 lines and I’m happy with that because I wanted to make it about the artists and people involved. I tried a few different things out. It was just a fun process to be honest with you“.
With this documentary surrounding the whole of the Scottish music scene, I asked Daryl if he had any intentions to make something else of a similar subject, or something different. “In the future, it is something I’d definitely like to visit. But I’m not too sure what it would consist of. We shall see, we shall see“.