WATCH: London band releases their self-made video of single Nessie
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A London grunge-indie-funk band which found Nessie muscling her way into a song they were writing have just released their video of the single. And now they’d love to play the song in Inverness!
Singer Charlie Raphael-Campbell – from queer-fronted band Charlescantbreathe – explains ...
Q How did the song come to be written?
A Our guitarist and me were pulling some songs together in the studio, playing this really nice chord sequence and singing about love and then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I started singing about the Loch Ness Monster. And I thought ‘If she wants to be in our song, then I’ve got to let her!’. The lyrics go: ‘Your long neck, your mystery, I wish that I could see you and feel you, Nessie/ You’re running through my head all night …’. Then in the chorus: ‘Oh baby, take me for a ride, take me somewhere nice’.
Q The band is based in London, so have you any Scottish links?
A In my family we are part Scottish and are originally from around Inverness, my dad says, so since I was a kid I’ve always had a fascination with Nessie. It just came out in the song and everyone loved it.
Q What kind of impact has it had so far?
A The release has already got us interviewed on BBC London radio stations this week. And a promoter who heard the interview and the song has got in touch to offer us some gigs. He wants to work with the band to put on some gigs, including a headline slot in Camden over the summer!
Q How was the experience of making your video?
A We had a Nessie prop and were doing it with a green screen so we could pretend we were there. It was really fun!
Q The single’s cover was a painted image of Nessie, who did that?
A The band’s drummer Lucy Yates created the colourful painting. The photos of Nessie tend to be a bit dark and grainy and we wanted to paint her in all her glory and expressing her as something beautiful. Lucy created the painting and we love it!
Q And she has already inspired some merchandise too!?
A We have already made our own tie-dye T-shirts in a special Nessie design in our guitarist’s back garden.
Q Where did you get the band’s unusual name from?
A The “queer-fronted” description of the band refers to me. It just seems the easiest way to put it. In a way I started the band to help me come to terms with who I was. I spent a lot of time in school being bullied so having an artist project really helped. The name came about as about 10 years ago when I was 13, I found out I had a spinal scoliosis – a curved spine. I’d had a weird feeling between my shoulder blades then when I was sitting at the piano, my parents noticed a hump on my back. Less than a year later I had surgery to fuse my spine. The scoliosis meant putting on a full body piece for 23 hours a day and I could find it hard to breathe. I was trying to come up with a name at the time to use on YouTube and Instagram and thought of ‘Charlescantbreathe’.
Q Can you perform OK now [Charlie admits she has chronic pain]?
A I don’t have much flexibility in my back, but it doesn’t hinder me. It can be really painful if I jump too much on stage – I go hard! I feel it four days later, but it is so worth it. It’s what I want to do!”
Q Next ambition for the band after the release of the new video?
A We would love the chance to come and play it up there in Inverness!
