Aidan MacColl, Alasdair Robertson, and Fraser Laing are three young men from Fife, Scotland. Together, they go by “Mosco,” a newly arrived alternative band whose mature and sophisticated sound impressively surpasses their current teenage years. Frontman Alasdair’s vocals are marked by somber undertones, which when paired with his guitar, are artfully capable of breaking into the minds and emotions of his listeners. With Fraser on drums and Aidan on bass, their synergy comes into full swing – the end result: potently melodic alternative rock and roll. Mosco’s powerful, angsty music is well put together. They are without a doubt a great example of the unaltered talent that many unsigned artists can showcase.
Their first E.P. “Puzzle” was released earlier this year in September and features five tracks. This is a great debut from a young band, and we hope to hear more from them as they continue to evolve their sound.
Graphite: You guys are surprisingly young! When did you first come together as a band?
Alasdair: Aidan and I started jamming and writing songs earlier this year. We weren’t really aiming for a specific sound at that point, it was just mucking around really. We soon discovered it was hard to get a real feel for the material we were writing without drums That’s when we recruited Fraser. He just lived up the road from me, so it was ideal. We crammed the songs we had already written into Fraser’s head over two nights and soon we had our first gig.
Graphite: Could you let us in on the story behind your band’s name?
Alasdair: We don’t like to tell this story often, but basically a very messy weekend in which someone turned up in Moscow. Although Facebook wouldn’t let us have the “W.”
Graphite: What is the first song you guys wrote?
Alasdair: It was a song called “That Guy, That Girl” and it was just… awful. The first of the EP tracks that we wrote was either Eyes, or Blindfold, can’t really remember which.
Graphite: Coming from a small town in Scotland, it’s impressive that you guys managed to get your songs to spread so fast, to the point where people in Montreal and New York have heard them. How did that all come about?
Alasdair: It all started when Indie Shuffle featured Dissolve In The Sun. We didn’t even know about it at the time until our Soundcloud account started receiving way more attention than it ever had done, we thought it was a glitch at first. We soon found out about the feature and we were stoked.
Graphite: What kinds of gigs and venues do you guys normally play at?
Alasdair: We try and play live as much as possible in as many different places as we can. We’ve played in Dundee, Edinburgh, Dunfermline, Perth and many more cities around Scotland. They’re usually small music venues so our next step is to play to a bigger crowd and maybe even travel outside of Scotland.
Graphite: Which one has been your favourite gig so far?
Alasdair: Our latest gig at Buskers was too much fun. Something just happened and we got so into our performance, t’was fun. Aidan: Probably the last one we played in another dundee venue, 20 rocks. It was buzzing. Fraser: Our most recent gig in ‘the dog house.’ We played with such enthusiasm that everyone was left with a big smile on their face, and we had much feedback on that gig!
Graphite: How do you guys manage to balance your music with your other obligations? Is it easy to handle?
Alasdair: Well Aidan is the only one still at school. Fraser and I left just this summer and are now at higher stages of education. You do need to balance time, yes, but it’s always worth it, there’s nothing we enjoy better than writing and playing music with each other. Fraser: It is quite hard since I have two jobs and full time college, but I make time for the band, BAND ALWAYS COMES FIRST.
Graphite: If you guys could perform at any big music festival, which one would you choose and why?
Alasdair: T in the Park. It’s just up the road from where we are based so we go every year a long with a lot of our friends. That would be the dream probably.
Graphite: Where could we usually find you guys playing music?
Alasdair: In my bedroom
Graphite: Where can we find you guys on any average weekend?
Alasdair: KFC
Fraser: KFC
Aidan: KFC
Graphite: Tell us a little bit about the process behind producing and releasing an EP. Where did you guys record it? When did you guys start working on it?
Alasdair: Our first EP was kind of a collection of the first generation of our songs almost. I think we dived into making a product faster than bands our age usually do, probably because we were so certain of the material we were writing. We found our sound really quickly when other bands can take months to do so. The first couple of tracks were recorded and released around spring time, without an EP in mind, we just felt that that was probably the easiest route to go down, especially after all the attention the internet had given us.
Graphite: What are your plans after your first EP “Puzzle”?
Alasdair: To record a single probably. We don’t really have set in stone plans for anything at the moment, but we definitely want to release more music.
Graphite: You guys have a pretty mature and powerful sound for your age! What inspires you guys most? Where does all that energy and synergy come from?
Alasdair: Thank you so much! Erm…Red Bull? I once drank three cans at one practise! But nah, Aidan and I have been playing classical music since a very early age so I suppose that might help a bit. We don’t feel we’re limited by our instruments, in the sense, we can really reach our full potential in the studio, we can add stuff and change stuff easily to have the song reach its full potential in the recording.
Aidan: I guess just we’re pretty passionate about our music. Bands like Alt-J inspire us a lot in the way their music is so immersive and full, and I think energy is a huge thing not just for live music, but for putting your all into making a song (or album) as enjoyable an experience for someone as you can. That is what drives me, anyway.
Graphite: Who are the artists that first propelled your passion for music-making?
Alasdair: I think we all inspire each other. We are always showing each other music and idea’s that trigger each others creative mind set. That’s definitely the case for me anyway, we couldn’t make music half as good without each other.
Aidan: It’s a pretty big spread… I listen to a lot of music because it’s really important to give you different ideas for different musical directions.
Fraser: FOALS, AND ALT-J for me
Graphite: Do you guys intend on pursuing your music careers full-time?
Alasdair: That’s the dream yes. We don’t think about having our name in lights or anything (well apart from Fraser maybe), if we could do this and make enough money to live and support a family then there would be no hesitation.
Graphite: Have you guys been approached by any labels yet? If not, are you guys working towards that, or are you planning on going down a different path?
Alasdair: We had a couple of emails from different labels but nothing came of it, which was probably for the best if we’re honest. The last thing we want is for these years to be in any way corrupt by businesses. We’re still so young, and so unfamiliar to the game we’re playing. We love how things are going at the moment so why not keep it how it is?
WRITTEN BY NAIMA VOGT
PICTURES PROVIDED BY ALASDAIR ROBERTSON
