ONES2WATCH

By CHRIS SWEENEY

ICELANDIC rockers OfMonsters And Men putthemselves through apunishing globe-trotting schedule —because they can’t playat home.The band started off the yearin Australia, hit Japan are nowcoming to Europe before goingto the US.Then they will go straightinto the summer festival circuit.It’s so time-consuming thatthey rarely get to go back home.That’s partly down to thestorming success of last year’sdebut album My Head Is AnAnimal which was a Top Tenhit in NINE countries, includingthe UK and US.Singer Nanna Hilmarsdóttirsaid: “Last year was insane. Butwe’re working hard and it’s pay-ing off.”

HobbyThe key has been getting outof Iceland as the 2007/2008financial crisis in the countryhas left its mark.Nanna, 23, revealed: “Our gigson tour are nothing like playingin Iceland.“For a start, we hardly haveany venues left. It’s a sad thingand they keep shutting themdown.“We were in the right placeat the right time. We’ve got somany wonderful people whowork for us and made this hap-

pen. But there’s so many bandswho don’t get an opportunity inIceland.“It’s so expensive to be travel-ling out of Iceland and, to behonest, back home being in aband is considered a hobby —people don’t expect to pay youfor it.“You have these great bandsor successful musicians but theirother job is working in a recordstore or something like that.

They are always doing some-thing else to get by.“There’s so much stuff that’syet to be discovered and therereally is so much going on.“If people dig into it, they’llbe impressed — electric bands,reggae bands, it’s all there. Youname it, we’ve got it.”And Of Monsters And Men —also guitarist RagnarÞórhallsson, drummer ArnarHilmarsson, bass player Kristján

Kristjánsson and lead guitaristBrynjar Leifsson — admit thatthey’re national ambassadors,promoting their tiny country toeveryone else.Nanna said: “Bands like theFoo Fighters and Queens Of TheStone Age used to come butthey don’t anymore because ofthe financial crisis.“But we want more people tocome and see Iceland — it’s anhonour to represent where we

come from.” The band have justkicked off the UK leg of theirtour and every gig is sold out.And they’re at Glasgow’s O2Academy tonight.For now, the group are plan-ning to keep on riding the waveand hope the momentum carrieson.Nanna added: “Sometimes it’soverwhelming to look at whatwe’ve done — but we’re going tokeep going and enjoy it.”

ByJIM

ByJIM

GELLATLY

GELLATLY

ONE2SEE

NEWMUSIC

NEWMUSIC

ByCHRIS

SWEENEY

ACOUSTIC starlet Lewis Watsonis low key but is making an

impact. The fresh-faced youngsterfrom Oxford has a new EP The

Wild out.And he’s touring it all over the

UK with some dates already soldout. He plays in Glasgow at King

Tut’s on March 10 and thefollowing night at The Electric

Circus in Edinburgh.Get tickets at lewiswatson

music.com

ROMAN NOSEWHO: GP (Glasgow), BulletBeard(Tel Aviv), Young Cetin (Istanbul)WHERE: GlasgowFOR FANS OF: Skrillex, ChemicalBrothers, Knife PartyJIM SAYS: It won’t be long untilwe start the search for acts to per-form on the T Break Stage at T InThe Park this year. I’m againdelighted to be on the selectionpanel, along with The ScottishSun’s Chris Sweeney.Showcasing there can lead to

far greater things. Snow Patrol,The View and Biffy Clyro haveplayed the stage over the years.Roman Nose ended up playing

in front of 10,000 music fansthanks to a stray pint. BulletBeardtold me: “We were supposed toplay on the T Break stage but adrunk guy decided to throw hisdrink over the sound desk as wewere about to take the stage.“As fate would have it, we

played before The Wanted in the

King Tut’s Tent.” The band mem-bers met after moving in similarcircles in Glasgow.BulletBeard said: “We first met

at a mutual friend’s exhibition atSWG3. We began Roman Noseas a bit of a creative project withno real intention of forming aband. A few months later we wereoffered our first gig at the Arches.“That was late 2011, and from

there we’ve worked hard at culti-vating our sound and image.”

Nominated as Best Electronic Act,Roman Nose perform live at theScottish Alternative Music Awards(SAMAs) at The Garage in Glas-gow on March 8.Visit facebook.com/tennents

tbreak for updates on the T Breakstage.Q Visit romannose.tumblr.comQ Jim will be playing Roman Nose onIn:Demand Uncut this Sunday from 7pmon Clyde 1, Forth One, Northsound 1,Radio Borders, Tay FM, West FM & WestSound FM. indemandscotland.co.uk

THERE’S more to the Ayrshiretown of Largs than knickerbocker

glories at the famousNardini’s cafe.

Superb band Brown Bear AndThe Bandits are making their

mark and new single Olive Treeis only helping them along.It’s a real good tune — catchy

and melodic.Check out the video at:

facebook.com/brownbearandthebandits

NOT many singers shootstraight to No1 with theirdebut single.And even fewer do it with asong they only had time torecord once.But that’s what songbirdGabrielle Aplin did with hercover of The Power Of Lovewhich featured in John Lewis’Christmas TV ad.She said: “I was late on toit. The agency chose a load ofgirls to cover that song andeveryone else had pitched theirversions.“They got in contact withme on the Saturday saying Icould have a go if I wantedbut it had to be handed in by9am on Monday morning.“So on the Sunday night Iwas going to see Ed Sheeranat the iTunes festival and, justbefore, I went to the studioand bashed it out in one take.“I expected that even if theydid choose me, they’d want meto record it again but theyused that recording in theadvert. I can’t complain.“Everything was going welland I’d put my first single upfor pre-order before that evenhappened.“We had to push it backuntil February because of that.

It all worked out.” Delayed sin-gle Please Don’t Say You LoveMe also did the business, chart-ing at No6.And both hits will be on herdebut album English Rain,which is out in April.Gabrielle explained: “I’ddescribe it as essentially folkrock but it’s got this old Eng-lish wartime vibe but it’s stillpop at the end of the day.”The 20-year-old landed herdeal after being spotted onYouTube and controls all herbusiness dealings.

ScenesGabrielle — who’s from tinyvillage Sutton Benger in Wilt-shire — said: “I was studyinglanguages and geography, butthen I dropped out of sixthform.“I just couldn’t be botheredand I wanted a year out.“I went to college and didmusic business.“Having that knowledgemeans I can work behind thescenes now.Building up to her albumrelease, Gabrielle is hitting theroad to show it off.And she’s at King Tut’s inGlasgow on March 13.Q For tickets and to pre-order thealbum, go to gabrielleaplin.co.uk

ONE2HEAR

52 Friday, February 22, 2013 1S