OFF THE GRID WITH ONE NINE EIGHT

This month, Glasgow‘s most exciting new music spectacle is set to take the city by storm as B12 Entertainment presents Off The Grid. A live series which brings 50 rising bands from across Scotland to some of Glasgow’s most iconic grassroot venues.

One of the first of 12 unique Off The Grid line-ups to take place across the city will be on Friday 28th August at Ivory Blacks, hosting Modern Ruin, In Reflection, Klozer and East Kilbride heavyweights, One Nine Eight. We caught up with the band to get to know them a little better, chatting songwriting, new music, the wider scene and – of course – Off The Grid.

For anyone unfamiliar with One Nine Eight, how would you describe the band’s DNA? Where did it all start, and who makes up the lineup today?

As a band, we are tied together less-so by our tastes in music etc, but instead just by our dynamic as four musicians who are all great friends outside the band. We take the piss out of each other, and we bicker endlessly, but it comes from a place of mutual love and respect for the band and for each other as people. We all went to the same school in East Kilbride, with Harrison (Lead Vox, Guitar), Charlie (Guitar) and Julian (Bass) all being in the same year and James (Drums) being just a couple years younger.

One Nine Eight originally started as Harrison Gray’s solo musical project (Under Water, anyone?), which eventually morphed into a full democratised band because of our ability to jam and create as a single unit.

If you could only pick three other bands to help define your sound, who are you choosing?

Sonically, we would say Deftones and Fontaines D.C are huge influences for us. While we take influence from bands like Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Radiohead and Queens of The Stone Age, we have been told that we sometimes resemble Linkin Park so we’ll choose that as a third option.

How does the songwriting process typically work for the band—is it born out of collaborative jams, or does someone bring a finished skeleton to the table?

A bit of both, to be honest. For example, songs like ‘Messed Up Feeling’ and ‘If I Was You’ were already pretty fleshed out by Harrison before we started rehearsing them as a band, as we will usually throw demos into a shared cloud that we can then just touch up and jam in person to see how they feel. However, songs like ‘Small Things’, ‘This Is Your Life’ and ‘Number 1’ were all born from just jamming in a room. In fact, ‘TIYL’ was basically made in one rehearsal by chance and is now pretty much our favourite song we’ve made.

It’s been over a year since your last release. Can fans expect to hear new music before the year wraps up?

Fuck knows. Since we already have quite a strong discography for a band of our size, we will likely be focusing on writing and gigging more intensely for the next while which will let us gauge what our fans truly want to hear, and what direction the band will take artistically and musically.

The Off The Grid bill at Ivory Blacks is shaping up to be one of the heaviest of the entire festival. Which track in your set do you pull out to get the room moving?

‘See Your Ghost’ is always a screamer. It is usually our closer and tends to get the room moving like mad. However, ‘This Is Your Life’ is probably our biggest headbanger for both us and the audience.

Gearing up for gig night, does the band have any go-to pre-show warm-ups or backstage rituals?

Nothing too out of the ordinary, except from making sure to grab our signature half-bottle of Buckfast, and/or a pint from The Crystal Palace.

Off The Grid is all about platforming the unsung grassroots scene. With independent music under so much pressure right now, what’s the biggest misconception people have about being an emerging band today?

I think the concept of the “big break” is basically non-existent nowadays, if it was ever real. I’m sure every emerging band in Glasgow has had to listen to relatives and friends tell them about how Oasis got discovered at King Tuts and that they could be next, which, while they may mean well, can come across a bit condescending.

To be frank, the music industry doesn’t work like that – 99% of bands have to graft for years and years before their ‘big break’ which, while tedious and frustrating, is ultimately worth it so that: a) you can learn when you’re being taken advantage of or f***ed over, and b) you can build a dedicated community of fans, colleagues and other bands with whom you all share your journey. We encourage every independent band to keep working on their craft even in the face of stagnation because, eventually, it will pay off and be infinitely more rewarding than being in the right place at the right time.

The local scene only works when everyone backs each other. What’s top-tier community etiquette in your eyes, and what gives you an instant “gig ick”?

Stay humble! Do whatever you want on stage for your art, and we encourage that, but ultimately no amount of fame, achievement or accolades excuses you from thinking you are better than the other bands on the bill. Even if a band you’re playing with isn’t your favourite type of music or not technically proficient etc, we should all respect our fellow musicians for the fact they’re at least contributing to our local scene.

Looking across the wider Off The Grid programme, if you were buying a ticket to any other show on the lineup, which one are you heading to?

We are raging we can’t go and see our friends Hotel Motel on the same night as our gig – go and check them out! Apart from that, we would also like to go and see Titanboa and co. on the 10th September.