Two of Scotland’s most exciting indie bands have been rehearsing and recording with the help of Sound Production students at Forth Valley College’s Stirling Campus recently.
Glasgow based Bella and the Bear and Hector Bizerk dropped in to make use of the excellent facilities and FVC students - Jamie Flynn, Eamonn Kennedy, Jack Pacitti (all 2nd year HND), Zach Dysart, Lauren Auchie and Jack Boyle (all 1st year HND) and Sarah Findlay, Kayleigh McNab, Andrew Murphy (all NC ) - gained valuable experience by assisting them on the mixing desk and production side of things.
Audrey Tait from Hector Bizerk, said:
“We know FVC lecturer Ian Fairclough and he was kind enough to allow us to come in for a session and we have really enjoyed it.”
Lauren Gilmour from Bella and the Bear, this year’s Scottish Alternative Music Awards (SAMA) Best Newcomer award winners added:
“We have worked on four or five songs with the students here and they have been brilliant. We are students ourselves and we know how valuable experience like this is. It was just great to get some excellent rehearsal space as well. The students have kept on saying ‘thank you’ to us and we don’t know why. It is us who should be saying thank you to them.”
FVC Sound Production Lecturer Ian Fairclough, said:
“Bella and the Bear and Hector Bizerk are right at the forefront of the Scottish music scene, so to get this calibre of musician in for a whole week is vital experience for the students. It allows the students more time for critical listening of their recordings and gets them involved in the creative song writing and production process to a much higher level than we usually could in class time.
“I am very, very proud of how all the students handled themselves during the week’s production. Bella and Hector plan to release these recordings as singles in the near future. This means the students will gain a production credit on a single and for them to attain this before they have left College, will give them a unique advantage to getting a foothold in the Industry in the future.”
Hector Bizerk are playing the Tollboth in Stirling for the Strange Behaviours Festival on Saturday 27 February and tickets are priced at £7 (advance tickets) or £9 on the door.