“Loud”
is a subjective word. To a shy, introverted, bookish person, such as myself,
“loud” can be anything above three blips on a laptop’s volume scale. To the
party veteran, who spends more time on the town than in the office, “loud”
ceases to be an issue until the inevitable tinnitus accompanying the searing
headache the next morning.
Most
definitely filling a “loud” cranny among everyone with ears are
everythingwesayisfact (lowercase and zero spaces, of course), who hail from the
very unlikely locale of Stonehaven - a town otherwise known for its beach, the
pneumatic tyre and its deep-fried Mars bar. A town of less than ten thousand
some sixteen miles from Aberdeen somehow has spawned a band so noisy it’s a
wonder they can’t be heard from the Castlegate.
The
group was born as an instrumental duo back in 2007, comprising frontman and
guitarist Euan Davidson and furious-looking drummer Conor MacLean. At the time
their influences ranged from the Blood Brothers to Be Your Own Pet, or as Euan
puts it, “bands that made a tonne of noise but had fun with it”.
“We
tried to distil all the energy we had into making songs as a two-piece band,”
he explains. “In hindsight, we sound nothing like those bands, so maybe we're
doing it wrong. It sounds okay to us.”
EWSIF
- not the most attractive of acronyms, but it works - quickly filled a niche in
the north-east. Not often will a couple of teenagers choose to prioritise
offbeat guitar riffs and pounding drums above, well, anything else at all. What
they did was completely new to Aberdeen, a city whose tiny venues were
historically ruled over by heavy metal and singer-songwriter.
Despite
their success - and admirable press coverage - the group was short-lived and
petered out after only a year together. A renewed desire to get back onto the
stage fuelled talk of a reunion back in 2011. “We met again at a party and
talked about starting the band back up, [but] we had a lot of personal stuff
going on at the time.
“Then,
there seemed a perfect moment to get it going again.”
This
“moment” manifested itself as a gig put on by brand new promoter Laika Come
Home, a two-person squad who have an exceptionally strong affinity for live
music in Aberdeen, in late 2012. “I said there'd be a chance we'd do shows
again and we were lucky enough to be asked by Jan and Claire, who are good
friends,” Euan tells me. “We named a song on our EP after them as a thank you.”
The
comeback show took place at Cellar 35, a tiny venue underneath Rosemount
Viaduct which barely holds a hundred people. Their aural onslaught came as
quite a surprise to the uninitiated, as they showcased their thunderous sound
in front of a full capacity crowd. The yelped vocals were barely even audible above
the fuzz and crash behind it. “By far my favourite ever show that we've played.
I couldn't believe after four years out we could still fill up a venue. It was
ridiculous,” says Euan.
EWSIF
might fill a rather specialised nook in the underground scene, but their sound
and writing skill hints at bigger ambitions. “Ideally I want to live off our
band, but I don't see that happening. In real terms, I want to put an LP out
and tour.
“We
have fun making music, we're very lucky to do that. We just want to make some
great music and play shows. Just as long as we're still our own favourite band,
and hopefully someone else's, that's fine. Anything else is a bonus.”
JS
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