RSDUnsigned 2019 winners
We are pleased to introduce you to the winners of RSDUnsigned 2019, HEAVY RAPIDS!
We caught up with the boys to find out a bit more about them:
How does it feel to know you’re going to have 500 copies of your music pressed to vinyl?
It’s a real buzz! We tend to buy records from bigger bands and bands starting to lift off. We feel so privileged to have this opportunity and are excited to have our music pressed onto the old faithful of music formats. We applied last year and made it through to the final but to win this year, perfectly coinciding around the release of our EP, is perfect. Everything happens for a reason we guess. Total fate.
Tell us a bit more about you as a band? Where are you from? How long have you been making music?
We are Antony, Dillon, Jamie and Johnny and we are all from areas surrounding Glasgow. We’ve all been playing in different projects since the high school era and finally formed Heavy Rapids together 2 years ago. We take a collaborative approach to writing which allows our own tastes and styles to show in our tunes.
Are there other artists/ bands that have inspired you to get to where you are today?
Bands like IDLES, Shame, Fontaine’s DC, The Blinders, The Orielles, Fidlar & Viagra Boys are all current bands we love and aspire to play with at some point. They are great role models as bands. And of course, our local scene is crammed with talent, so that’s always exciting and inspiring. The list of bands who were our idols growing up is too long for this answer but some of them were Green Day, The Who, Pink Floyd, The Clash, The Doors and Arctic Monkeys.
HEAVY RAPIDS!
Are there any record shops that have been particularly supportive to you as a band? Any favourite record shops in the UK?
Truthfully, we haven’t had any real connections with record stores in our area but recently a store in Paisley we often went in to buy from called Feel The Groove shut down. It’s a shame to see a shop have to shut its doors, especially when the owners are so passionate about their business. They do still have an online presence so maybe we will see another store opening in the future. Another favourite is Fopp on Byres road which recently dodged Sunrise Records cost cutting axe after they bought over its owner, HMV. Yeah it was a big chain of stores but it all started as an independent, ran in Glasgow’s markets in 1981 and the staff in the chains original store certainly know their stuff. It’s a shame to see our record shops going through hard times. We can only hope that in the coming years physical distribution continues to gain back its former strength.
What’s the dream as a band? What do you want to do next?
The dream is to make music people can relate to, make life's work out of the band and hopefully see the world in the process. We have a whole load of gigs and festivals planned this year including: Live at Leeds, Camden Rocks, Electric Fields and Stag & Dagger. We will also be supporting Cabbage in The Deaf Institute and Brudenell Social Club this April/May which is a bit of a dream come true for us. We want to get ourselves in venues around the UK as much as possible and would love to break into Europe for some dates!
Follow the boys on social media:
IG @HEAVY_RAPIDS
TW: @HEAVY_RAPIDS
FB: @HEAVYRAPIDS