OFF THE GRID WITH PEDALO

INTERVIEW | PEDALO by Anne Kelly

With a massive 9 gigs already in the bag for Glasgow‘s Off The Grid, this weekend brings two of the strongest line-ups yet. On Friday night, B12 Entertainment‘s month-long series hit the stages of both Sauchiehall Street’s The Garage Attic and the East End’s Drygate Brewery.

For the next stop in our Off The Grid interview series, we turn our attention to Drygate, which will host The Rants, Sidewalk, The Back Pages and Glasgow’s own dreamy pop band, pedalo. Ahead of the show, we caught up with pedalo to reflect on their latest release Delicate Thing, headlining King Tut’s and looking forward to EP no. 3.

For anyone encountering pedalo for the first time, how would you describe your sound, who makes up the band, and how did you all come together? 

We are Charlotte (Vocals), Geddes (Keys & Vocals), Nick (Bass), Beth (Drums & Vocals) and Steel (Guitar). We make up Glasgow’s dreampop outfit pedalo and have been putting out steady releases and gigging since 2022.

We believe we have built up a reputation for having a plethora of unique sounds, with our setlists including sing-along-dreampop bangers, shoegaze-infused choruses and psychpop tunes. We pride ourselves on capturing the emotion of personal experiences and translating them in an accessible and relatable way.

It has been a few months since your King Tut’s EP release show. Now that the dust has settled, how did the night feel from the stage, and what was your standout memory from the set? 

Honestly, reflecting on that night is kind of crazy for me. It was our biggest headline yet, and the energy in the room was just incredible. We had put in tonnes of work promoting the gig and preparing our set, and what I really remember was this sensation of finally being able to just let go and enjoy ourselves on stage. Like all the energy we had invested in the weeks leading up to the show was finally being released.

Of course, the most memorable moment for me was during our encore. It was the night of Scotland’s first World Cup game against Haiti, so we roped in our pal Kerr to play the bagpipes with us for a cover of ‘Loch Lomond’. I’ve never experienced an audience reaction like we had when we played that song. The football might not have gone as we’d hoped, but that memory will always stick with me.

As previously mentioned, the show marked the release of your second EP, Delicate Thing. How do you feel that this body of work differs from your first EP and does it reflect the pedalo going forward? 

We are still very proud of our first EP Migration, but we believe we have a better grasp of what we want pedalo to sound like with Delicate Thing. We believe we have grown not just as a band but as individual musicians, which has resulted in what we think are some of our best songs to date. 

Do you have a favourite track to play from that EP live? Which one did you reckon will get the Drygate crowds warmed up? 

I think we all really enjoy performing the EP’s closer, ‘Picture It Backwards’. It’s just such a high energy tune which builds through the verses into this massive wall-of-sound chorus where we all just get to rock out a bit. And of course, as guitarist I can’t deny myself the chance to grab the spotlight with my outro solo!

Shows like King Tut’s Summer Nights and now Off The Grid are crucial for the grassroots ecosystem. From your perspective, what are the biggest challenges of putting these shows together that the average gig-goer might not see? 

We pride ourselves on organising our own gigs wherever we can, and find there’s a lot of value in going through that whole process as a band. However, we wouldn’t have had our first couple of gigs without the help of the likes of King Tut’s Summer Nights. Gig series like these instantly connected us with other local bands, growing our network and making it easier to break into the scene.

One of the biggest challenges we face when organising our own gigs is putting together a lineup. The challenge comes when balancing a stylistically cohesive lineup with finding 2 or 3 other bands that are available to do it in the first place. This is why having a wider network has really helped us out, and we have gig series like Off the Grid to thank.

In terms of your influences, if you had to pick one decade of music that you think shapes you style, what decade would you settle on and what 3 bands would you pick as being the ones you inspire to most? 

It’s difficult to pinpoint a singular decade because there are elements from so many that we like to experiment with. We’re leaning into a more 80s sound with the synths, but then also we’ve got a kind of anthemic vibe going from the 2010s. Maybe it’s this amalgamation that makes us a very 2020s band.

We’re big fans of Wolf Alice, Radiohead and Alvvays, and there are definitely bits of each of them that come through in our own music. 

It hasn’t been long since the last release, but are you already putting the blueprint down for EP no.3? 

Although I cannot give too much away, I can reveal that we are gracing the studio again to lay down some new tracks for EP 3! We are so excited to explore a new era of pedalo, and we’ve really been pushing the boat out for these new tunes, so stay tuned!!

Outside of Glasgow, what is your favourite city to play or that you want to play? 

We did a tour of Scotland back in 2024, and playing to a sold out crowd in Inverness for the first time was such a thrill! It was the last night of our tour as well, which made it all the more special. In terms of what we’re looking toward, I’d be happy with literally anywhere outside the UK. If someone who isn’t from Scotland cared enough to come to one of our shows, I could die a happy girl. 

Finally, you could only buy one ticket to one of the Off The Grid shows (apart from your own) who would you invest in?

Tough question! There’s a lot of great bands on the OTG lineup, but if we had to choose, we’d pick the Garage (18th). It’s a stacked lineup, and our pals in Brielle are not to be missed! It’s a shame it clashes with our show, as we would absolutely be there.

pedalo will play Drygate on Friday 18th September alongside The Rants, The Back Pages and Sidewalk. Tickets are on sale now for a mere £12 (+ £1 booking fee) from B12 Entertainment.