Shiverin' Sheiks extended summer season

The local foursome will take their re-interpretations of vintage sounds from the 30s, 40s and 50s to the Best of the West festival in Inveraray this weekend, after several months that have seen them gig all over, including at Glastonbury.

The rockers play regularly at Blackfriars and cover anything from Roy Orbison to Bing Crosby, but the success of the past few months has taken them aback.

“It’s all coming from when we put the album (A Curious Case of the Shiverin’ Sheiks) out and toured with Glasvegas a couple of years ago,” explains guitarist Duncan Kennedy.

“There’s been good press right from the get-go and this year has been great - we got to play Glastonbury for the first time, which for a band like us, who don’t really play mainstream music, was a fantastic thing.”

Their Glasto debut was certainly one to relish for the quartet, who are drawn from members of other Glasgow groups like the Five Aces and the Bottleneckers.

Having known each other through their other bands, the pals - Duncan, singer Dave Addison, bassist Richard Anderson and drummer Ross Wilson - currently present their reinterpretations of older songs as the Shiverin’ Sheiks, while working on original material under the name the Strange Blue Dreams (an album with singer Christine Bovill has just been released).

Both versions of the group got the chance to shine at Glastonbury.

“I was very much a Glasto newbie,” recalls Duncan.

“One of the boys used to go, just for kicks, and he was trying to describe it to us, but it was only when we driving down and trying to get in that we realised how impressive it (the site) is.

“It was great, we ended up doing a couple of shows. The Sheiks set was a blast and we went down really well, but we were wondering how our own stuff would go, and it was the same - a great reaction.

"It was a massive shot in the arm for us.”

Now they’ll appear at Best of the West, the family-friendly bash that takes place in the lush grounds of Inveraray Castle.

The brainchild of the Duchess of Argyll, it aims to spotlight not just music, but also the food and drink of Argyll, with an emphasis on local produce.

It's headlined by the Peatbog Faeries this Saturday and Skerryvore on Sunday.

“Inveraray is a familiar haunt of ours and we were asked to do the festival by someone we know,” explains Duncan.

“There seems to be a general groundswell of enthusiasm for it, and it has really crept on us over the past couple of months.

"It should be a really nice affair and the setting is fantastic - it looks a lovely place to play.”

The band has already proven themselves adept at winning over all sorts of crowds.

A couple of years ago they supported Glasgow’s own indie-rock heroes Glasvegas.

It might sound a strange pairing, but those with long memories will recall how James Allan’s gang started their career playing a much more vintage style before upping their guitar feedback.

“You couldn’t ask for a nicer bunch of people,” adds Duncan.

“James and their drummer had popped into our residence at Blackfriars and were chatting away about how much they liked all this 50s stuff, and asked if we’d be interested in going on tour with them.

“We went ‘aye, aye,’ thinking we’d never hear from them again, and then got an email the next day asking about it. The tour was great, there was no pretension at all.”

The group tackle all sorts of old tunes, but what they feel links them is a love of quality pop music.

“I guess the common ingredient we all like is the pop music side,” adds Duncan.

“It’s very much high fidelity pop music - in Nashville in the 50s, with Patsy Cline and the Every Brothers, it was all focused on hit making, or Stax or the Brill building era.

“It’s about trying to get the catchiest, best song that’ll make people either have a dance and a good time or cry into their pint. It’s that factor we very much identify with, whether it’s Rn’B or country or soul.”

The Shiverin’ Sheiks play Best of the West this weekend. Bus and tickets cost £25.50.