Words by Emily Fraser, Photos courtesy of Have Mercy Las Vegas
In March, Crispin McAlpine, Eilidh Cowan, Stephen Scott, Marc McLean, Andrew Napier and Grant Dallas, otherwise known as Have Mercy Las Vegas, played a sold-out launch at Dumbarton’s Denny Civic Theatre.
Roughly 10 years after their first album, That’s Life, barn-stomped its way round the festivals of Scotland, Light and Shade, the proverbial ‘difficult second album’ to be self-released by the Vale’s legendary transatlantic-folk band, finally arrived.
With a new set of 13 songs ready to record in 2019, difficulties arose for the six friends’ from delays caused by Covid, as well as lots of changes and personal matters – on the joy and sorrow ends of the spectrum – which had to take priority.
That’s life indeed, and I admire the band for not letting ‘life stuff’ keep them from their creativity, rather, the one seems to fuel the other to great effect.
Album Launch
I chatted to Crispin and Marc about the deliberately more diverse Light and Shade.
Bassist Marc enthused, “we were delighted the launch tickets sold out two weeks in advance, and we worked hard to make it the best show we possibly could.”
Songwriter, co-lead singer and guitarist Crispin reflected: “The feedback’s been really good, but family and friends’ opinions matter most… coming from a musical family, my most nerve-wracking moment was playing it for my parents!”
How do a firefighter, a midwife, a teacher, a banker, a painter and decorator, and an entrepreneur in their 30s and 40s make a new album from scratch in their spare time?
For Crispin, the melody is everything.
Suddenly a hook will pop into his head, so he records a voice note to revisit later with his big book of lyrics open, full of years of writing.
Often, he’ll sit and sift through verses, sometimes merging different ideas together, and strum on the guitar to find a chord structure for the chosen words and melody.
“Writing songs is something I do just for me, and I find it very therapeutic. I’d encourage anyone to attempt it, and let other folk actually hear what you’ve written.”
The guys acknowledge their luck that co-lead singer Eilidh has a natural talent for harmonies.
And, I think, all six musicians have a talent for making Crispin’s songs a reality together, while also expressing themselves authentically in their individual brilliance.
I asked if this intuitive connection has come partly from using music for mental wellbeing.
Marc shared: “We try and commit to meeting up locally each week, and we do play music together but we chat about life and have a laugh as well… some weeks it’s more chat with a couple of songs at the end!”
New Skills
Recording Light and Shade was a behemoth task, wrangled painstakingly by sound engineer Jamie Savage at the famous Chem19 Studios.
The band worked gradually through each song, one or two parts per day, with each person doing multiple takes in order to create the ideal blend.
Known for their multi-instrumentalism, they have branched out further with some new skills, also featuring friend, Ray Woods, on the brass section of Kick Drum and Rum.
“Our most challenging song was Costa,” remarked Crispin. “We spent ages trying to get the best energy and feel, ending up with 107 tracks in the finished mix!
“We had so many layers on several instruments and vocal lines, plus we rewrote the song three times in the studio because we couldn’t actually decide how the story should end.”
Most Clydesider readers will enjoy hearing tales of shared history, personal struggle, home truths and local colour on Light and Shade, you can do this by:-
• Listening to the new album on Bandcamp, Soundcloud, Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube
• Seeing the band play live at Doune the Swannie Fest, Glenroy Bar, Balloch, on Saturday July 27, Cardross Golf Club on Friday October 11, and The Pawn Lounge, Alexandria, on Saturday October 12
• Find them online at https://linktr.ee/havemercylasvegas
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