Five Mins With: So…Who Are Sound Of The Glen?

By Alex Harris • 6 years ago

Sep
2018

So…Who Are Sound Of The Glen?

So, you’ve seen their video’s of local music artists singing in lush green glen surroundings, dotted all around the island…but who is the actual team behind Sound Of The Glen?

We recently had a brief Q & A session with them for you to find out more

So guys, who are you…and who does what?

I’m Brook Wassall, I film everything video wise for Sound Of The Glen.
I’m Simon Talbot and I deal with the sound side of things.

Tell us about your personal history that led you to Sound Of The Glen

Brook: I wanted to get involved with filming some live sessions for years but wasn’t really sure where to start. One day I noticed my good friend Terry George asking for a camera to hire so he could record some songs. I instead pitched him the idea of some outdoor live recording, and it all pretty much started there. I quickly realised that good sound is an integral part of live sessions and asked Simon if he fancied helping along with it.

What inspires you with your work visually and music wise?

Brook: Visually I was inspired by many other live sessions I’ve seen. One in particular called ‘The Doe Bay Sessions’ that would stick to only one camera take and would always be shot outside. The atmosphere behind these sessions really caught my attention and I wanted to bring that atmosphere to the sessions we do.

Simon: I’ve always had a passion for recording and especially capturing live sound. There’s just something magical about capturing a performance in its rawest form. For the type of thing we are doing I was originally inspired by ‘A take away show’ who records artists in various locations around France mainly. There is a session with Local Natives which is just breathtaking.

There’s lots of local artists we would love to record a session with.

What do you hope to achieve with this project?

The aim is to grow it into a platform for musicians to showcase their original music in a format that is visually appealing, but also perhaps somewhat different to their usual sound. For example, we may not be able to drag a generator and heavy amp sounds into a glen, but if you can make your sound work with more of a stripped back setup or battery powered amps, we’re open to any genre or idea.

What artists would you like to get to sound of the glen who haven’t yet been on?

There’s lots of local artists we would love to record a session with. For the most part however, we find it’s important to let anyone have a chance at getting their music out there, and so we highly encourage any musicians who want to showcase their music to get in touch with us. We also realise that not everyone will know about us, so we actively pursue in asking musicians we’ve discovered if they’d like to record a session with us. The list is evergrowing!

Describe briefly what a typical day in the life of Sound Of The Glen is like?

Usually we organise around 3-4 different musicians/groups to meet in the afternoon at our glen of choice, then we’ll find a spot suitable for a recording and start shooting. It usually takes around 2 hours to record everyone on the day. All in all, it’s a great day spent out in nature enjoying some great music for everyone there on the day to enjoy.

The aim is to grow it into a platform for musicians to showcase their original music in a format that is visually appealing, but also perhaps somewhat different to their usual sound.

How do you see the project growing – where would you like to take it over a period of the next 1 or 2 years?

The big idea of course is to hopefully bring the music to a global audience by presenting it in a professional manner. We’d also like to not just limit it to Isle of Man musicians, but be able to provide a platform for any musician to showcase their music, and in turn hopefully level a field between larger known acts and smaller known/starting out acts on the platform. One of the long term goals for us would be to incorporate it into a festival of some kind, taking the vibe and atmosphere we put into the videos and bringing it to an audience for people to enjoy live.

Who are your favourite music artists, both internationally and locally?

Brook: Since starting the live sessions I’ve easily discovered a bunch of great new music here on the Isle of Man. I can’t pick out anyone in particular that we’ve recorded already as they’ve all surprised me with their music. Some of my current favourites however that we haven’t recorded yet include Sy Hurst, Sanssouci and Han FX. Internationally it’s always changing, currently it’s Bryan John Appleby and Wolf Larsen. As well as favourites like This Will Destroy You, The Asteroids Galaxy Tour, Explosions In The Sky and The Raconteurs.

Usually we organise around 3-4 different musicians/groups to meet in the afternoon at our glen of choice, then we’ll find a spot suitable for a recording and start shooting.