Nairn-born Adam Ross of Randolph's Leap ready to kick off solo tour action at The Drouthy Cobbler, Elgin with The Burning Hell's Ariel Sharratt and Mathias Kom
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OF all the things a musician has to sort out in advance of a Scottish tour, the last thing they want to have to sort out is a cold.
And yet Adam Ross – the Nairn-born singer/songwriter at the heart of Scottish indie-pop darlings Randolph’s Leap – is dealing with just that, speaking from his sick bed in Aberdeen.
“It’s grim, it’s grim,” he chuckles mordantly. “At the moment it’s freezing, so yeah. I’ve got a cold at the moment as well, so I’m just trying to hibernate.
“Luckily it’s come at a good time so hopefully I can get over it before the tour starts.”
All being well, all will be well by Thursday, April 18 – when Adam’s solo acoustic tour kicks off in Elgin.
"You kind of look at Scotland in a different way when the sun shines!”
The 10 date tour sees Adam on the road with The Burning Hell’s Mathias Kom and Ariel Sharratt supporting – the pair returning the favour after Adam opened for them last December.
“This is first time we’ve toured together, but I think I’ve played with them three times before over the years – Edinburgh, Dundee and Inverness,” Adam explained. “We figured we had a lot in common musically and we liked each other’s music, so it seemed like a good fit.”
With the sun now shining – and the cold hopefully cleared up – Adam is looking forward to getting back on the road in his home country. “I love touring! Touring Scotland is such a good way to see parts of the country that you haven’t seen before.
“I was on tour for four weeks last summer with a theatre show called The Isle of Love which was written around my songs, and that was incredible because it was in the start of June when we had that heatwave.
“So you kind of look at Scotland in a different way when the sun shines!” he laughed. “Everything looks shiny and fantastic, yeah. It’s like being on holiday.”
Hearing his songs recontextualised and reperformed by the cast of the Isle of Love allowed Adam a new appreciation of his music. “It was really interesting to hear the songs in new contexts, new versions.
“I think what’s great as well about a theatre audience is that it’s a different atmosphere, very quiet, which I appreciate as a performer. It was a nice kind of platform to reach new people and I think the songs worked well in it.”
And that quiet theatre crowd was a boon for Adam as well as a performer. “It’s amazing the difference that makes. I’ve had a couple of solo gigs recently, and one of them was very noisy – just the nature of that venue meant that it was quite noisy.
“And that, I think it’s because I’m insecure, but I think it’s when you’re up there on stage on your own, and there’s a bit of chatter or noise or whatever, it’s very easy to convince yourself that, you know, the room is against you, but nobody is!
“And you know it’s irrational, because you can look out and you can see that the majority of people are watching the gig, but it can be incredibly distracting.
“Sometimes you feel like a bit of a diva for expecting that, but I don’t think it’s too much to expect – you know, when you go to see a film at the cinema, it’s generally expected that people will shut up and enjoy the film that’s in front of them.
“It’s fair enough to expect that from gig audiences as well, particularly when it’s acoustic stripped back music.”
With cinemas now having voiceovers reminding audiences to be quiet, perhaps that might be on the cards for Adam? “Aw, maybe I should do one of them!” he laughs. “Yeah! I think Mathias, he’s got quite a voice, he’s quite imposing-sounding – we can get him to record something!”
Randolph’s Leap’s Adam Ross performs solo at The Drouthy Cobbler, Elgin, on Thursday, April 18, with support from Mathias Kom and Ariel Sharratt (The Burning Hell). The show begins at 9pm and tickets cost £8. Go to www.randolphsleap.co.uk
