Muso’s Guide introduces… Incrediboy and the Forget Me Nots

Incrediboy

It’s no secret that here at Muso’s Guide, we’ve got a bit of a thing for Glasgow. A city with a sense of camaraderie to go alongside its rich back-story. On our brief weekend stop a little while ago, we ran into Incrediboy and the Forget Me Nots, a delightful little ensemble led by Christopher Panks – coincidentally, one of our contributors. Aah, that camaraderie…

Formed around three years ago, Chris and and Mikey (other guitarist) “have written and played as long as we’ve known each other”. Based in the band-hubbub that is Glasgow, they’re surrounded by a wealth of unpolished talent as well as a core of “great bands that have been on the scene for ages”. According to Panks, these include French Wives, Brother Louis Collective and Zoey Van Goey – and with this exciting and consistent heart to the scene, “the difficult thing is to make it out of Glasgow”. “With these amazing bands playing all the time, it really spurs you on,” he continues. “You feel people pulling for you and wanting you to do well and it’s refreshing really, because there are a lot of scenes where bands would trample their own grandparents for a certain support slot.”

They’d describe their music as “simple folky pop tunes with post-rock tendencies… a band that could be some peoples favorite band, or at least someone’s girlfriend’s favorite band”.

Read some more here, download an mp3 at the bottom and show them some love.

How and when did you become Incrediboy and the Forget Me Nots?

“We started doing some bedroom demos and the songs sounded good but because we were like kids with new toys we fired about a million layers on, and it just didn’t sound as good when we stripped it down to play live. So we went about recruiting a backing band, for our first show we played at the Carling Academy Glasgow at a show I organised myself. Then for various reasons half the band couldn’t commit to us exclusively anymore, and we’re just getting into our stride again now, we have a fantastic new piano player and a great violin player, and it certainly feels a lot more natural I think.”

Who are Incrediboy influenced by?

“We’re influenced by hundreds of bands between us, but when we started out we were sort of trying to sound like a mix of Elliott Smith, Ryan Adams and Bright Eyes mainly. Newer stuff has been more influenced by bands I’m listening to loads right now, bands like Los Campesinos!, Emmy The Great and TANAOU.”

“When I decided to take it a bit more seriously I was struggling with writing because I couldn’t play guitar. I was listening religiously to the Smiths and couldn’t get close to Morrissey‘s lyrics, but then I heard this band called The All New Adventures of Us – the first line of the first song I heard was “Shhh said the match/to the box/don’t call me a burnout” and it was love immediately. And then I found out it was written by just some kid from Northampton, and looked a bit further to discover a bunch of other great bands around that area, bands like Tellison, Liam Frost, Line and a Dot, My First Tooth. Alll small town kids who could do it, so they were all a massive influence on me as well.”

What are the best and worst shows Incrediboy have ever played?

Without a doubt the best one we’ve played was the very first one, I think we surprised a few people. For a first gig we were fairly tight and I had an absolute blast, as soon as we came offstage I just wanted to do it all over again. We played with some superb bands as well; French Wives headlined and rocked the joint, State of Affairs were fantastic too. Worst, probably the one we played last about two weeks ago – it was just a nightmare, everything you hate about a gig: bad sound, incredibly dead, badly promoted everyone was pretty grumpy. It wasn’t a good experience.”

Plans for the future?

“We’re currently writing new material and from those new numbers we’ll take three or four and do our first EP. Depending on budget constraints and the strength of the new songs, it may become a mini album. We’ll continue to play wherever we can and hopefully to do a short Scottish tour early next year, depending on how well we’re doing. We want to get things right and not get carried away and rush.”

Have a listen and make your own call but we’re putting our backing behind Incrediboy to propel themselves out of Glasgow and into your hearts.

Incrediboy and the Forget Me Nots – Owed To An Ode

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