A Scottish band are gearing up for a record-breaking third performance at Hebridean Celtic Festival.
Tide Lines, who formed in 2016, will return for their third-consecutive appearance at the festival - the first time any band has done so in the show's history.
The four-piece will join headliners KT Tunstall and The Shires in the festival's 24th year from July 17-20 at various venues across Harris and Lewis.
They played their first HebCelt in 2017 in the small Breasclete Hall in Lewis and also performed on the Islands Stage in the main arena - this year, they return to the show as headliners.
Lead singer Robert Robertson said: “We absolutely love HebCelt and are really looking forward to coming back for the third year in a row.
Read more: A review of the Hebridean Celtic Festival
“I think it’s a mix of the atmosphere around the town, the carry on with the other bands after the gig, which has always been great in previous years, and of course the gig itself.”
The band launched on social media in 2016, and less than 24 hours later their debut single 'Far Side of the World' had entered the UK downloads charts.
Amidst sell-out shows UK and Europe wide, they were also shortlisted for Live Act of the Year in the 2017 MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards.
But with just one single released, they found filling their first slot at HebCelt difficult.
“When we first started out, we released ‘Far Side of the World’ and then we only had a small clutch of other songs that no-one had ever heard before”, Robert explains. “So, it was quite tricky to fill an hour’s slot at a festival with only one song that people knew.
“In those days, we would fill the set out with a lot of covers and try to teach audiences the words of the songs we’d written but not released.
He added: "I think having the album and the EP out now really helps because it gives us a wider variety of stuff to perform that at least some people know and can sing along to.”
This year, the band take to the stage on Thursday, July 18 as headliners and admitted this is new territory for all its members.
Read more: The Hebridean Celtic Festival is a platform for the nation's young talent
Robert said: “At most festivals, I always think later, headline slots have the best atmosphere as the crowd have been enjoying so many bands all night and just getting louder and louder.
“At HebCelt, however, I’ve often thought that the crowd is pretty much ready to go from the start, so each band gets a great response whether they’re headlining or not.
“Therefore, it possibly won’t be too much different than our previous performances in the main arena, but there’s definitely an added honour to headlining a night at a festival of this size, and a festival that we enjoy so much.”
Tide Lines are currently working on their second album, and say that although the experience is considered stressful for some, they are finding it relaxing.
“The process has been going well, we’ve got a few songs ready and others in the pipeline”, says Robert. “We’ve been taking it easy and not rushing anything which I think has led to us being generally fairly happy with how the songs are sounding.
“Having said that, I never trust a song until it’s released and I hear proper feedback as to whether or not it is any good. So, I’ll reserve judgement on how the process went until the album is released.”
“Our approach to this second album has been slightly different. I think we felt quite rushed to get the first album out because we had released ‘Far Side of the World’ and started doing gigs before we had any more material ready to put out.
“We very quickly realised that we needed an album of material so that audiences could relate to more than just the one song in our set. So, in many cases, I found the first album process quite pressured.
“This one, on the other hand, has been a bit more relaxed because we’re just taking it as it comes and not rushing anything unnecessarily.”
Tickets for HebCelt 2019 are available here, and more information on Tide Line's upcoming single can be found here.
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