Messages from fans are driving on Divides

The band have been leaving an open book for fans to write into at their shows over the past few months.

And while asking for feedback can sometimes be a dangerous gamble, the five-piece have been heartened by the response so far.

“The journal was our singer Nicole’s idea and we’ve had really good feedback off it,” explains the group’s guitarist David Lennon, ahead of the group playing King Tut’s next Wednesday.

“It’s basically just a journal that’s open and they can put their thoughts down on absolutely everything and anything, from the band to something about themselves. It’s totally anonymous and it’s a good way of connecting with the people that are coming to the shows. There’s been a lot of support, and you can tell that although you might not always think so, that your music is having a big impact on other people, which makes it all worthwhile.

“Maybe you’re playing a show and there’s not a lot of people there, but seeing something they’ve written down really drives you on to keep making music.”

Divides first formed in 2014, out of the ashes of various other rock and punk bands. A promising start to their career saw the band lift the Best Metal Band prize at the Scottish Alternative Music Awards and earn a slot on the T Break stage at the T In The Park festival in 2015.

However the band’s momentum then stalled when both their singer and bassist departed for various reasons. Now the revamped line-up of the group – singer Nicole Mason, guitarist Colin Horn, bassist Scott Johnston and drummer Dave Maxwell, along with David, - are hoping to push forwards in 2017, having released the track Make A Killing towards the end of last year.

They are already aiming to head to Wales in couple of months to work on am EP.

“We’ve got a lot of songs, but we’ve had to scrap the set we had and start afresh when Nicole came onboard,” says David.

“We’ve had about six or seven songs written over a couple of months though, which was great, and now we’re just wanting to get our best material down on an EP as it’s been a couple of years since the first one, so it’ll be good to have something that people can listen to properly.”

Some of those fresh songs might be debuted at Tut’s, where the group will be playing as part of the New Year’s Revolution series of shows, aimed to showcasing new and unsigned Scottish bands.

“It’s a great opportunity, and there’s a lot of good bands playing it as well,” says David, who’s from Uddingston.

“The only downside is that people are still recovering from Christmas a bit, and it can be hard to get people along to gigs, especially in midweek. But it’s such a big opportunity, especially for bands like us. We’re playing with Get Out Strong, who are friends of ours. We’ve heard a few songs by Crashes and Take Today as well, so it’ll be good to see them live.”

After headlining Tut’s, the group can look forward to going out on the road with the Welsh group Breathe In The Silence. However touring, and recording, is increasingly difficult for bands, and David admits there’s a continual financial battle going on.

“We’ve all got full time jobs, and it’s really tough,” he explains.

“There’s a lot of bands who pack it in because it’s so hard to make any money nowadays, because everyone is just streaming everything and most of your money comes from touring, which is hard to do until you’re at a stage when that becomes something you can do for months at a time.”

However the band are still going strong. Losing their singer could have forced them to call it quits, but David was delighted that Nicole was able to join up, having previously played with her in another Glasgow band, Armstrong.

“When Tasha left Divides we thought we’d try it out with Nicole and see what it was like and if she fitted in,” says David.

“It wasn’t something we rushed into but it went well and it was something that she seemed to enjoy, so we’ve just gone from there.”

Divides, King Tut’s, Wednesday, £8, 8.30pm

Jonathan Geddes