Four people in Glasgow, Scotland, decided to begin making music together. Named after a track on the frontman’s solo EP, GINGER started breaking into the independent alt-rock scene. We chatted to lead vocalist Robbie Orr about their debut single ‘Gardens’, the official music video (filmed in self-isolation), and their future aspirations.
How did you come up with the name GINGER?
The name came from a track called ‘Ginger’ on my solo EP which I wrote about my mum. 50% of the band is ginger too, so that helped.
How did GINGER come about?
We came together after meeting around the open mic circuit in Glasgow having run nights individually at Drygate Brewery (Cat’s Pyjamas) and Dukes Bar (Dukebox). Claire and Alex had been in a band called Hannibal’s Pantry which I was a big fan of, so when they moved on from the project I got in touch. Garry lived with them and is a talented songwriter, so I asked if he’d play bass and he said: “sure, why not.”
How would you describe your music?
A mix of 70s rock, 90s rock and 00s indie rock with lots of four-part harmonies. We’re big fans of The Killers, Weezer, The Rolling Stones and Bon Iver.
‘Gardens’ is your debut single. How did you feel when it was officially released – scared, excited, anxious?
Excited and curious I’d say. We’d been working on the single for about six months doing little tweaks here and there. We were excited to share what we’d come up with. I think we were happy with what we’d created so the anxiety wasn’t too big. We were curious to see what everyone thought.
What can you tell us about the video for ‘Gardens’? How did it come about?
The video was filmed from the living room window of my flat in the city centre of Glasgow during self-isolation. We’d initially planned on pursuing a totally different video concept out on location around Glasgow before the pandemic began to spread in the UK. I began to show symptoms and followed government guidelines to self-isolate, which meant we couldn’t go ahead with our original plan.
Lockdown was implemented, but we still needed a video. I decided to ask Alex, Claire and Garry (who are all flatmates) to walk around on their daily allowed exercise and play their instruments in my front garden while I filmed from the window. I interspersed some film of my garden, plants and the neighbour’s cat, added vintage-style film reel effects and this is what we came up with.
What challenges did you face when making the video in self-isolation?
The biggest challenge was getting Alex, Claire and Garry into the video during lockdown, and also making the video interesting to watch with simple shots of my garden. Filming through my window fixed the issue of getting the band in the video and I got some help from YouTube tutorials to make the garden shots a bit more interesting. Hopefully, people enjoy it!
What are the benefits of a home-made video?
I guess you can control everything about the project – the way it’s filmed, the editing, the colouring – which is nice. I think home-made videos can be more intimate as well, which is great for expressing the personality of the band and the environment we live in.
What do you find most difficult – melody or lyrics?
Definitely lyrics. For a long time in rehearsal I would make up lyrics as I went along until Alex, Claire and Garry told me to stop being a weirdo and write something down so they knew what to sing. We’re getting better with lyrics as we go.
We know ‘Gardens’ is merely the beginning, but where do you hope to be in five years?
Five years looks a fair distance. We’d love to have a couple of albums out by then and be playing festivals around the UK. The dream is to get somewhere like TRNSMT here in Glasgow, but really we’d just love it if people were enjoying and following our music. To be signed to a label would be awesome as well!
Do you have any message for our readers?
Just to say thank you to everyone who’s listened to our music and followed us so far, hopefully, we’ll see you all at a gig soon. To potential fans, we hope you like the single and please do shoot us a message on social if you’d like to chat!
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