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Ross-shire band The Clampdown are releasing their single Funkadelic on Saturday with a video premiere on Friday – same night they play Mad Hatters, Inverness


By Margaret Chrystall


There's an exciting moment for Ross-shire's The Clampdown over the next 24 hours – their new single's video premieres on YouTube on Friday when they also play Mad Hatters for a live date they have been itching for. Margaret Chrystall gets an update ...

Q Tell the world how The Clampdown got together?

A Sam Cowan: Myself and Ru met at Highland Music College back in 2019, we were into similar music styles and decide to jam together, we seemed to click musically straight away. Ru got hold of Tom who was an old friend of his and he slotted in perfectly with his funky bass style

The Clampdown.
The Clampdown.

Q I imagine as for any band, the last two years might have altered the original Clampdown blueprint – any particular casualties to grand plans – and how is the band getting on with coming back to life on the live scene and recordingwise?

A We released our first singles in 2019, Anything and Ride, before the lockdowns and it was a bit of a blow at first. But we used our time wisely, we rehearsed about three to four times a week and wrote new songs together. We did a live session for Rapal in March and played our first support gig at the Ironworks in Inverness, which was a great experience. We’re looking forward to playing many gigs over the summer including our first appearance at Belladrum Festival this year.

Q Tell me about the new single – and what you want the world to know about it. And any plans for future releases you can prime people to look out for?

A We released our last single Can’t Take This in March which sort of showcased the more punk-inspired side to the band. Our new single Funkadelic shows the more funky, psychedelic element to The Clampdown sound. With the funky drum and bass groove and melodic chorus we hope this will be a dancefloor filler everywhere this summer!

Q What music/bands/ influences are making the Clampdown hearts beat quicker in terms of inspiration at the moment?

A Bassist Tom – The Chilli’s, The Jam and Peter Tosh; lead singer and guitarist Ruairidh – The Who, Oasis and Joy Division; drummer Sam – Fontaines DC, The Clash and Arctic Monkeys

Q Probably the last question and a basic one, what would you like music fans to hear in your music ie I suppose I'm asking where do you put your music in terms of genres?!

A Always a difficult question, I think the influences that sum up our sound best would be a fusion of psychedelic indie with punk and funk overtones.

The Clampdown's new single Funkadelic is out on Saturday but the video will premiere on YouTube on Friday (May 27) at 5pm – the same night they are playing in Mad Hatters, Inverness, supporting Dictator. They have also been booked to play The Free Range Folk stage at Belladrum on the Friday night at 9pm.


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