INTRODUCING: Spyres

For young bands upcoming bands, it’s a fascinating time to be in the music business. Having the creative chops to make amazing music, working at something as a hobby that is turning into a business venture, while working towards grades, keeping a social life and all the other responsibilities that come with growing up. Four pieces from Glasgow SPYRES have been in such a position. Taking the rock scene by storm, we caught up with guitar and vocalists Keira and Emily about their extraordinary start in the industry.

SPYRES has had a tremendous start to their career, however the success hasn’t come without hard work and dedication. “I think it is harder because we had to work around school and exams but we always make it work,” Keira says, “Jude and Alex (bass and drums) both work full time now and Emily is still at school and I’m at uni but we always make it a priority to get to the studio.”

The band has always had a determined and passionate attitude towards their work, even from their beginnings as an acoustic two piece. “We started when we were about 14 or 15. As much as we loved doing the acoustic stuff at that time it just felt natural for us to progress to making a bigger and heavier noise. We always wanted to go electric and even when it was just the two of us; we would mess around with the electric guitars but we were still quite young and didn’t really know a lot of people our age to come in and play the bass and drums. We’re really lucky that the first people we asked to try it out with ended up actually working really well with us.”

Obviously, given the world we currently live in, and the fact that women in music are often overlooked, or treated with less respect than their male counterparts, it might feel like scary place to be at a young age for the two. However, both Keira and Emily’s attitude and mindset shows a professionalism that will carry them far. “We really hope for equality within the industry sooner rather than later even though there are a lot of powerful females in music we look up to,” Emily explains, “Personally, we see ourselves as musicians first and foremost but we can see where this pressure may come from as women are still underrepresented within the industry. Hopefully by the time we get back out on the road, we will see a lot more women breaking through in music.”

Once the band found its footing, it’s been a hit the ground running situation. SPYRES have blown all expectations out of the park for what a youthful indie band can achieve, and the reception they would get was unreal. “One of our highlights of 2020 was going on a UK tour in February supporting Lauran Hibberd,” Emily recalls. “A goal we’d love to achieve is to go out on our own headline tour across the UK. There are so many venues that we still want to play. Our next step is to record and release our first EP, get back out gigging and start planning an album release, we’re dying to get back into the studio!”

Having been so young starting their career, aside from the day-to-day juggling, you might assume the huge attention would cause some problems. Thankfully, because of the community SPYRES has come up in, that’s not been a concern. “Before we started gigging, we didn’t anticipate this much attention in such a short space of time so being younger wasn’t something we ever thought about,” Emily admits, “The Glasgow music scene is a strong community and all the bands have been very supportive, because of that, our age has never really been an issue – apart from the riders of soft drinks.”

With such a polished, energetic and well written set of songs to tempt new listeners, it’s easy to see how SPYRES have gone from strength to strength. Keira recounts, “The attention we have got is unreal. Even from the first song I don’t think we were expecting that big of a reaction and for things to kick off so fast. When we were recording the tunes, we always hoped they would do well but I don’t think we ever expected it to come as quickly as it did.”

The band, with such a bright sound and a bright future ahead, really rate having a wonderful musical background as a fundamental part of what drives then to make music. “I think me and Keira can both agree that we were inspired by the people around us,” Emily tells us. “A few years ago, before the band had started and we were just a two piece, we had a lot of the same influences and artists we looked up to. We were constantly going to a gig every other weekend and seeing the audience’s reaction to the band’s set really gave us ammunition to start writing our own music, in hopes of us being in their position one day. Personally, when I was growing up, I would see my dad play in bands and write his own songs too. I got a guitar when I was a bit older and was determined to start writing like him. As a band, I think growing up with our parents having good music taste is a big plus as well.”

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