Rising North: meet the next generation of music talent ready for festival fun
With the annual music festival on the horizon, we take a look at some of the rising stars playing the four-day Lerwick event
WITH ONE of the biggest weekends in the Shetland social calendar, Rising North, just a few days away, the anticipation for music fans is high.
Maddison Reynolds sat down with some of the festival’s ‘rising stars’ to get a glimpse at the future of the local music scene, and find out a bit more about some of the talent showcased at the event.
JACK B and RKP
Closing the first night of the event on Thursday in Trench are DJs Jack B and RKP, otherwise known as Jack Bryant and Ryan Peart. They are looking forward to lighting up the dancefloor with some underground beats.
The pair share a love of for the genre amongst their friends, with Peart noting that the shared interest got him into playing. Bryant’s dad also used to DJ, and he credits him for encouraging him to take up the decks.
“I never really found an interest until I was 17 or 18, and then all of a sudden it just kind of clicked. My dad and one of my good pals started teaching me and I found a love for it,” Bryant said.
Both are familiar with the local music scene, with plenty of pub nights in their portfolios. This is Peart’s first Rising North appearance, and Bryant’s second after having played with Basement Monkeys last year.
Although the pair often practise together, Thursday will be their debut event playing alongside each other to a crowd. They are confident that they can bounce off one another, with a keen sense for how to work together to get the dancefloor moving.
“When you’re DJing, you can’t just go in with one folder of music, because you can start playing and see on the floor that you haven’t got the reaction you expected and have to change it up a bit,” Peart said.
Feeding off the energy of the crowd is one of the joys of performing for both DJs, and a way of connecting with other people.
“Being able to almost interact with the crowd, through your own music and then seeing folk dancing around building an energy with them is great,” Bryant said.
“It’s good seeing folk that maybe you thought didn’t enjoy a certain genre music or and playing it and they actually do, you learn more about people just by playing,” he added.
The musicians taking part in the weekend get passes to the entire event, and if the pair are excited for anything above their own set it’s the chance to see some local legends.
“If there’s two acts you need to see, it’s our Trench set and the Dirty Lemons,” Peart insists.
SAUL HARDIE
Friday’s afterparty at Mareel is headlined by Franck, an up-and-coming Scottish DJ.
Supporting him is local DJ Saul Hardie, who is no stranger to the venue having played big events previously, including Hogmanay and previous years at Rising North.
Hardie’s first gig was with Basement Monkeys back in 2022, and alongside Bryant he joined them at last year’s festival. He has been playing for five years, deciding to test his talent after being surrounded by music his whole life.
Seeing his dad and brother playing when he was younger drew his attention to playing, and found he himself “absolutely hooked” from the start.
Describing his sound as “fairly energetic”, Hardie caters to crowds who want to dance and have a good time.
“I’m very eager to get on the Mareel stage again, it’s a crazy feeling seeing that many folk in front of you who are there to see you play,” he said.
Mareel’s auditorium has a capacity of 600 people, with space for a crowd just a tad bigger than that of the pub nights that Hardie regularly plays at.
The festival is a chance for artists like him to show off their talents to a larger audience, and for local people to enjoy music from outside of the island on their doorstep.
“All in all, I think Rising North is fantastic for giving folk something to go to every year and it’s exciting seeing it grow more and more,” he said.
“It feels absolutely mental to get a chance to support Franck, especially since I have been to several of his shows and he’s always been a favourite of mine. I’m unbelievably excited.”
ESSYKERT
Amongst the line-up for Clickimin’s main stage on Friday night are Essykert. Made up of Ewan Moncrieff, his brother Scott Moncrieff, David Irvine and Liam Inkster, Essykert are one of the heaviest sounding bands performing at the festival. I caught up with half the band, Ewan and Scott, to hear more about their anticipation for this weekend.
This is their third Rising North set, however, this year the heat is on as they prepare to take on the main stage for the first time.
“That first year, we thought how lucky we were to be on the bill at all. And then we were shocked when we were closing out the night last year and then obviously shocked again when we were on the main stage,” Scott said.
“There’s lots of bands that have been on the go longer than us and are more experienced that deserve spots like that. So, we’re very, very grateful,” he continued.
The band usually play covers, with songs from Nirvana, Alice in Chains and Pantera in their catalogue. Now, they’re taking the next step and releasing their own original music, with their self-titled EP to be released on streaming platforms at 7pm on Friday to coincide with their set.
They’ve already released one song from the EP, Michigan Blue Hell, an energetic single that establishes the band’s sound with a punch. Their setlist for the event will include other songs from the EP, alongside familiar crowd favourites.
Writing and recording their EP kept them busy in the first half of the year, with the band now ready to share their hard work with the crowd at Rising North, with CDs available to buy from the merch stand.
They played a gig at the Thule with Ten Tonne Dozer on 18 July, which was their first of this year.
“We played all our new songs in full at the Thule, just to kind of give a bit of a taste trying to make sure that we can play them still. It looked like folk enjoyed them, so we’re hoping that the crowd at Rising North will enjoy it as well,” Scott said.
There also is an appreciation from the band for the ability of Rising North to foster a younger generation into the Shetland music scene. “The local music scene seems to be in one of the best places it maybe has ever been, as far as I’m aware,” Ewan said.
“It’s not just the talent, but the opportunities that all these talented people have as well. There’s lots of experienced musicians, like the Rising North committee, who are all incredibly accommodating for the younger ones.”
Distinctly Mediocre
Distinctly Mediocre’s name is almost an invite in itself to see the band to find out if they truly do live up to their name, or even surpass expectations. Taking up on this, I went along to one of their practices as they prepared for their set at the all-ages afternoon gig at the Clickimin.
The band formed for a charity event in 2024, with members Meryn Carter, Astrid McDonald, Eilith Gunn and Vaila Jamieson. It was there that they saw singer Emma Duncan performing, and soon after she became the band’s fifth member.
It was Jamieson who conjured up the band’s name, joking that “I just thought that we were kind of bad at the time.”
The band are all self-taught musicians, apart from Duncan, initially picking up their instruments as a bit of fun. Their boundless energy and catchy performances are now well known in the local music community, having played alongside plenty of other local bands and performing at last year’s women-led festival Slippit.
They admit that it took a moment to find their footing when they started playing gigs, fine-tuning their sound as they went. Starting off as a country music cover band, they’ve since moved onto a more rock-based sound.
“There are so many country and folk bands in Shetland that we thought we need to be different. So now we play a lot of rock covers of pop songs, and other genres. We just add our own little spin on stuff,” Gunn added.
With a four-hour catalogue the band has plenty of well-known songs to choose from, whittling it down to their best for Saturday’s setlist. They have also dipped their toes into the waters of songwriting, with an original song Golden Roads.
Describing last year’s event as “the best experience of my life”, Duncan summed up their love for the festival.
“The Shetland music scene is unreal. It looks so good from the outside, but when you’re a part of it, everybody’s just a big tight close family,” Duncan added.
“We get to experience so much more than other people our age, getting to do gigs every weekend and meet loads of new folk,” Gunn said.
This weekend serves as the last gig for the band for the moment as three of their members leave for university in September. However, they see this as an opportunity to take things south, with talks of playing in Aberdeen or Glasgow.
Fans of the band should keep an eye out on the merch stand for the band’s limited edition Rising North t-shirts, designed by McDonald’s mam.
Razor Heat
Making their Rising North debut at the Lounge on Thursday night, Razor Heat are one of the newest bands taking on the festival. They formed in September last year, by members Kian Gray, Corey Burns, Coll Wylie and James Hawick.
“If you’d told me this time last year that we’d be an act at Rising North, I’d have laughed at you,” Wylie said.
The Tall Ships Races in 2023 struck a chord with the members, crediting it as the point where they started to think about taking to the stage themselves someday. They performed their first gig in November last year, and have kept busy since, recently performing at the Scalloway Foy and Simmer Dim Rally.
With a solidified setlist, the band are soaking up the final build-up to the festival with a cool composure. The scale of Rising North is unlike anything Razor Heat has performed at before, and has opened their eyes to the world of Shetland music.
“All the behind-the-scenes bits and pieces that we’ve gotten to see a completely different picture of the festival,” Gray said.
“When I was younger, I was a little bit anti-social and so getting to go out to Rising North and other events has let me become a bit more involved and confident,” Burns added.
Excited for the chance to see a range of local talent, the band are also eager to see the festival’s headline acts. Burns is keen to see Pale Waves, particularly their cover of The Cranberries’ Zombie, which he almost guarantees will be on their setlist.
“I’m most looking forward to seeing Ash, I listen to them the whole time and I think it’ll just be amazing to see them come up to Shetland,” Gray said.
The band have their sights set on moving beyond Shetland, hoping to perform at next year’s Orkney Rock Festival.
Whilst still in early days, the group suggests that there may even be the promise of original music on the horizon in the future. Perhaps we’ll hear a new song or two at next year’s festival?
Tickets for this weekend’s Rising North festival are available online.
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