Entertainment / Biggest headline gig yet a success for the Plonkys
“IT FELT great…the vibe of the whole night was brilliant,” says The Plonkys drummer Arron Peart as he reflects on the band’s biggest headline gig to date.
“It feels like so much more of an event playing on the Mareel stage, which just adds to the experience.”
He and his bandmates may still be on cloud nine after performing at the 600-capacity Mareel auditorium last Saturday (31 May) – a gig which sold in a matter of hours.
The band, who also feature David Sandison (guitar/vocals), Taylor Pirie (guitar) and Steven Anderson (bass), have become one of Shetland’s top party bands since forming off the back of the Covid pandemic.
They are known for their wide range of covers, but the ‘summer spree’ gig on Saturday also saw the live debut of their first original release – the song Reading Between The Lines.
Reflecting on the success of the gig, which saw No Half support, Peart says a highlight was having numerous guests on stage through the night – Matthew Scollay, Sigmund Danielson, John William Halcrow, Kevin Tulloch, Lisa Anderson, Darren Jamieson, Callum Anderson and Callum Nicholson.
The 2025 Nesting and Girlsta jarl squad, who had the Plonkys among their musicians this year, also joined in on the festivities.
“Having all our guests come up and play a fair few songs we’ve never done before was absolutely brilliant, they all sounded amazing,” Peart said.
“Another highlight was playing Reading Between The Lines live for the first time. It felt good seeing a fair few folk singing along, especially since we only released it a day before the gig.”
The band started off post-Covid where Peart, Pirie and Sandison would “meet for cans and perform a ‘Snapchat karaoke’”.
During these sessions the trio would ask for requests before learning a snippet and posting it online for that person.
“Steven was working offshore at the time so he never really made it to many of these sessions,” Peart said.
“As the FOMO [fear of missing out] got worse, he saw sense and got a job back on the mainland so he could focus on the band.
“When he came back I think it took us about three months and several failed – or drunk – attempts at practising to finally play some right songs.
“This is where the name originated from, and by the time we’d done our first gig we felt like it was too late to change it.”
So what is the secret to the band’s success? “I think the fact that we were all pals before we even started it is a big thing for us as everything has felt pretty natural from the get go,” Peart responded.
“We put a lot of hours into practising, drinking, arguing, laughing and making silly promotional videos or posts.”
Known for their covers, the shift into releasing original material may have come as a surprise to some.
But Peart said the band have been sitting on a few original tunes for about a year.
“We’ve just been pushed for time to record anything as we’ve been busy with gigs and Up Helly Aas,” he explained.
“We’re hoping to get an EP out over the next year as we’ve not taken on too much function gigs this year.”
Buoyed by the success of their headline Mareel gig, other notable events on the horizon for the foursome include a yet-to-be-announced set at the Rising North music festival in August, as well as a Christmas cloo-up gig.
Meanwhile boosted by an increase in Security Industry Authority (SIA) trained security staff in Shetland, the Plonkys gig was the second full-scale standing concert held at the Mareel auditorium in the space of a week after the Boppapalooza festival the Saturday prior.
Before that the last large scale standing gig in the auditorium with live bands was in March 2020, with some people said to have let their licence lapse during the Covid pandemic or decided to no longer work in the industry.
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