1) Who are you, who is in the band, who does what in the studio and on stage?
We are Urvanovic, and we play alternative pop with electronics, percussion and a string trio. I’m Tom, I write the music, sing, play a variety of instruments to an almost reasonable standard, and generally try to act like I’m in charge. Seonaid sings and plays trumpet. Niall tries to make sense of the semi-electronic mess that I’ve forgotten how to control. Dave plays drums, occasionally glockenspiel (begrudgingly) and sings. Bethany plays violin, guitar and sings (though on Saturday we’ll have the wonderful Amanda Currie filling in). Fiona plays violin and sings. Emma plays cello and sings (honorary ‘Urvano-member’ Rachel Wilson filling in on Saturday)
2) How long have you been writing and performing in this way?
I’ve been writing the music over the past 3 years or so, and we’ve been performing it as a band since 2012 with a somewhat evolving line-up.
3) How exactly do you work / write / record?
Generally I will write and arrange the music first before taking it to the rest of the band, as I’m a wee bit of a control freak… Although usually Dave will help work out the drum parts, as my drum ideas tend to be ridiculous. Then it can take months for us to work out a playable live version that isn’t a complete mess. The songs tend to evolve from the original recordings, as we have tweaked and changed things for the live versions, which we are now adapting again for the new album versions of the songs.
4) How do you feel your studio/recording style informs the way you perform your music live? Does it make it easier or harder, better etc…?
When I first started writing the music it was a studio project and wasn’t intended for performance, so I didn’t restrict the amount of instruments I used, or consider how many hands would be needed to play certain keyboard parts etc. As a result, working out ways of recreating the music in a live setting has always been a challenge. That is basically what has resulted in such a large group of musicians. There are seven of us in the band and even then some of us are playing more than one instrument, depending on the song. I’ve always been determined to make the strings a consistent and integrated feature in the music, and not just an afterthought on certain recordings, so we never play without them. This can make things difficult sometimes as it means that a lot of the time we have people filling in for gigs, but I definitely think it’s worth it for what they bring to the sound. And who doesn’t love strings anyway?
5) What’s been happening lately and what’s new with you?
We had our first tour back in October last year, featuring six dates around Scotland. We’re probably the least ‘rock ‘n’ roll’ band you’re likely to meet, so highlights included falling asleep during a heated game of ‘Articulate’ and enjoying homemade lasagna at Niall’s mum and dad’s farm. Oh, and singing three-part harmonies into two ends of a long metal pipe… which you can see here.
We’ve recently started work on our debut album, recording at Chamber Studio in Edinburgh. It’s in its early stages at the moment but we hope to have a single from it ready to go later in the summer. It’s a bit of a drawn-out process, due to the number of musicians involved and the difficulty getting them all in one place at the same time, but we’re getting there slowly but surely and it’s sounding rather promising so far! Release is optimistically scheduled for late 2014.
6) When was the last time you played Edinburgh (and where)?
Our last Edinburgh show was at Henry’s Cellar in January. Hefty burritos beforehand made for queasy times.
7) If you’ve played Limbo before, what did you like/rate about the experience? If you’ve not played Limbo before, what have you heard about it?
We haven’t played Limbo before, but I’ve been along to a few of them over the years, and it’s always been a fantastic night with top-notch music. We’re just hoping we can live up to that!
8) What’s next, coming up after this gig, for you and what are you generally looking forward to right now…?
We’ll be playing an acoustic set the night after our Limbo appearance (11th May) at the Forest Café with our good friends Stampede Road, then later in the month we’re playing in Glasgow at Bloc for ‘Saraseto Records Presents’ with SAMA Best Live Act winners Mickey 9s and noise-pop extraordinaires Pinact. You can find more info on our website.
Other than that we will be starting work on a second music video in June for our next single, using some form of water-based animation, then we’ll be locking ourselves away in the studio to get the album finished. 2014 tour also in the pipeline, so keep your eyes peeled!
9) How do you feel about Scottish independence and the whole ‘Yes’ campaign? Have you decided which way you’re voting yet (and, if so, what’s your decision)?
I can’t speak for the rest of the band but I have to say that I’m currently balancing precariously on the fence, perhaps leaning ever-so-slightly towards ‘yes’ if anything. I had a toe in the ‘no’ camp until recently though, so I’m sure I’ll be swaying one way or the other in time to vote. I’m finding that there’s a lot of exaggeration and bypassing of important issues coming from both campaigns, making it difficult to trust what you hear. I’ll be sure to research it all thoroughly before I make any kind of decision though, don’t worry!
10) If there’s anything else you feel strongly about, pls feel free to tell us about it here…?
There are quite a few of us so it’s difficult to find things that we all feel strongly about, but we all like tea. Oh, and stop breeding pugs. They can’t breathe.
