Working on their upcoming debut album for over three years, Aberdeen five-piece The Deportees are ready to unleash their unique sound for listeners across the globe. Hoping you’ll give them a chance, they put some time aside so we could put some questions to them all about their aims, ambitions, inspirations and more! Read on to find out what they had to say…
The Deportees drop their debut album this November
For those who may be new to your music, how best would you describe your sound?
A rock band with a folk heart.
What challenges have you faced in the music industry so far? How difficult would you say this career path is in terms of making a name for yourself?
In terms of making a name for yourself, in terms of getting yourself heard it’s very difficult, and that is the major challenge. People don’t want to risk losing time to something and aren’t willing to risk stumbling upon something they love, and it’s not just music but anything considered creative. Whether it’s new music on the radio, or a play you’ve never heard of, or a book by an unknown author or an art installation; I think people have so little time they’re willing to give away. It’s not just about artists being a small drop in the big music pond, but you’re fighting to be heard over everything. So you can only hope that someone hears you and connects with you and starts talking about you with enough passion to convince someone else to take a chance. Of course, there will always be people that take a risk, take a chance, and we love those people.
How important is it for you to have creative control over the work you produce?
For independent musicians, it’s all there is. It’s our music, it’s the heart and soul that we’ve put into it. It’s important because it’s about seeing that small idea you brought to the room explode into a fully-fledged song you’re proud of and want to share with people. That’s not to say sharing creative control is a bad thing. Listening to someone else’s opinion keeps you critical of yourself and what you’re writing and it forces you to get the best out of what you’re trying to do. There’s never only one way of doing things and you’ll never always be right. So it’s about seeing what we do as a collaborative effort.
Where do you draw influence and inspiration from for your work?
From the music we all listen to – and it’s safe to assume that at any point none of us are listening to the same thing – it’s each of the five of us that plays the biggest influence in the music. Ad, our guitarist, brings the ideas to the room but it’s from playing it together, tossing it about between the five of us, that determines where that idea is going to end up. The collaborative aspect is so important.
On the topic of collaboration, if you could collaborate with anybody going forward, who would you choose and why?
I don’t think any of us would have the same answer to this question but for me, right now, in a dream scenario, it’d be Tom Waits. I’d never properly given him a go until recently and I’ve just fallen in love. From the style of music to the words to the sheer stubborn determination to do whatever the hell he wants to do, I think working with him would be one hell of an enjoyable learning curve.
Tell us a random, funny fact about you that not many people know.
I’m a classically trained bassoonist. Which comes in just about as hand in a folk rock band as you can imagine.
Do you have definitive aims or goals for your career moving forward?
I think our aims are to keep on writing and playing music, sharing it with as many people as we can. We love playing together. The band, the guys themselves is what keeps us in the room together, more so than anything else, keeps us wanting to do this. The music we’ve made together, and feeling a sense of pride for it makes us want to share it with people. Playing to people is some of the most fun you can have – we all love it, so getting the chance to do it all keeps driving us to do it more. That’s our aim.
Where do you hope to be by this time next year?
To be playing more music to more people, having more audiences connecting with the music and loving something we love so much ourselves.
What should we expect from you in the coming weeks and months?
We’ve got some gigs coming up before we release the record on November 3, and we’ll hopefully be playing a lot more through to the end of the year and the start of the next!
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The Deportees will release their debut album ‘The Birth of Industry’ on November 3.