Inverness TikTok sensation Katie Gregson-MacLeod adds UK tour to 'stratospheric' year of firsts
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Highland singer-songwriter Katie Gregson-MacLeod had plenty of news to deliver last week, her first UK tour, the release of new single Guestlist – a tantalising teaser from new EP Big Red out on October 13.
“It’s my first proper UK tour, so that is a huge thing for me – I haven’t played in some of these places before," Katie said.
"I’ve got a band!
“And we sold out Edinburgh in a day!
"All these things are firsts!” Katie said from North London, where she is now mainly based.
The excitement bubbles up in her voice.
Talking about single Guestlist she laughs at being challenged to come with the best guestlist she has been on so far – and mentions names including Ed Sheeran and George Ezra.
But bumping into celebrity musicians is something that can still be slightly bizarre for her.
Being nominated for a prestigious Ivor Novello – not the rising star award her team had hoped she might be nominated for – but the best song (lyrically and musically) category for Complex, alongside Harry Styles and other industry big-hitters such as Florence & The Machine, Katie found herself being interviewed alongside Sting.
Talking about “the Ivors” experience now, Katie said: “As a songwriter, to be nominated for that category wasn’t in my sights. That was just wildest dreams territory and such an honour!
“I never expected to be recognised for songwriting so early on and with that song – I didn’t expect anything!” she laughed.
“And the awards day itself was one of those proper pinch-me moments though so many amazing things have happened this year.
"Not that I have become numb to it, but you can’t let each one of them hit you because then you wouldn’t do anything!
“You ride the wave.
“But then with that one, I was stopped in my tracks.
“It’s all just gone stratospheric," she said of her year so far.
"But the Ivor Novello nomination, I just couldn’t wrap my head around it!
“The actual day was so surreal as well.
“I was doing an interview and and the guy doing it with me just suddenly said ‘Sting is going to come and join us!’. And I was sitting there just thinking ‘What’s happening!’.”
It can be hard to remember with all the highs of her record label signing last year, her releases since on the Columbia label, awards and nominations – plus meeting the odd music legend along the way – that Katie is right at the start of building her career, though she has been working on her music for years doing pub gigs and supports and building up her presence on Instagram and TikTok.
Inverness singer songwriter Katie Gregson-MacLeod is reaching for the stars
TikTok star Katie Gregson-MacLeod's performance to win Inverness home crowd
Back in her hometown at Eden Court in February, as part of her Highland tour – her confident, relaxed performance could easily have come from someone who had been winning over crowds for decades.
The only giveaway that playing her first-ever tour was a brand-new exciting experience, was the odd in-joke for friends and family in her banter between songs for the sellout home crowd.
The singer songwriter might be living in London now, but her love of her Inverness home is still alive in her heart – and in her songwriting!
Only a couple of days ago she tweeted to reveal a local Inverness pub is featured in a new unnamed song she has just finished, sharing the lyrics: “Now you kiss my friends in the Gellions loft.”
But a year on from the upload to TikTok of the snippet of song Complex (Demo) that has changed her life, Katie is still clearly having to get her head round the surreal wonders coming at her every day.
At her ‘home festival’ Belladrum in July, the emotion of everything this past year has brought to the singer-songwriter’s life hit home during her set on the Saturday at the Grassroots Stage.
And as she started to perform Complex, the song that started it all, Katie was laughing and crying as the crowd including family, friends and complete strangers sang the lyrics word-perfect back to her.
At the time she told the audience: “I wrote this on Belladrum weekend last year.”
Looking back now, she says: “It was a year since I had written Complex and not long off a year since I had released it, so it felt like a bit of a full circle moment.
“And it also felt really weird to have so many people I knew there, and people I didn’t – so many people I didn’t know singing along.
“It was really emotional and one of the highlights of my year, I think.
“I love Belladrum anyway – even as a punter I was there on the Friday having a good time – but I definitely didn’t know just how much it was going to hit me. There were family, friends from uni, the Edinburgh and Glasgow music scenes, my auntie and uncle, my friends from school, my mum and dad – a crowd packed full of people I knew, so that was really cool and made it more emotional, like we were all experiencing it together as part of that journey.”
Complex has now been streamed by 45 million people. EP Songs Written For Piano was released at the end of last year, with two singles this year and five more songs coming next month with EP Big Red.
Big Red also gives its name to the tour which in November and December will take in cities Edinburgh, Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester, Dublin and London, as well as Paris and Amsterdam.
Check out the list of live dates, festivals and releases Katie has packed in over the last 12 months and it is hard to believe she is a performer at the start of her professional career.
A reminder came a fortnight ago with the news from the Scottish Music Awards that the latest honour for the musician is a nomination for their breakthrough award.
And she was the first artist revealed to be playing live at the awards event on November 4 with a ‘special performance’ on a bill that includes The Who.
“The last year has been so wild for my career, but it highlighted to me the importance of my years in the grassroots scene in Scotland and the way it shaped me as an artist,” she said at the time.
“I’ll never stop shouting from the rooftops about the Scottish scene, because I’m so proud to be a part of it.
“Thank-you to the Scottish Music Awards for this recognition, it’s baffling and affirming in equal measure.”
But in working to get her head around everything that being a rising star brings, Katie is also relishing the chance to use her huge new opportunities to explore everything with her music she once might have dreamed of as a driven young musician.
As well as immersing herself in writing music and recording it, she is passionate about the chance to work on the creative presentation, such as the videos that go with her releases.
Was Katie’s public ready to see her transformed into an owl in last month's Your Ex video?
“It was built onto my face with prosthetics – I was in the chair for about seven or eight hours and that was definitely a new experience for me!”
The Big Red EP will include five songs that Katie says tell one story. Your Ex and Guestlist are the first two to be shared with the world, with September, TV Show, and Girlfriend to come.
“This particular set of songs is condensed into one period of time, between last December and February, which is why they are together in this collection," the musician explained. "They all follow one story – and it does feel like one story – within those five songs.
“It’s like five different angles, five different moments within one story and it is nice to be able to explore in such detail with so many different ‘takes’.
“I really enjoyed building up this EP, not just with the songwriting, but also the creative direction because it did feel easier to be more cohesive, easier to think of the order of the tracklisting.
“It’s very rare when it happens quite like that, but it’s really fun and we have really made a world around this EP.”
The single Guestlist is out now. EP Big Red is released on October 13, LINK to pre-order. Tickets for the Big Red tour are on sale now. Edinburgh is sold out. Glasgow King Tut's tickets HERE: Full tour info HERE: MORE on Katie: katie-gregson-macleod.com
