Sisters who supported big names in Scottish pop release single

Glasgow Times

2 days ago

'We are blown away by the response, it's such an amazing feeling,' says guitarist and singer Eva, smiling. 'We have met so many lovely people at gigs and still find it funny when someone asks for a poster to be signed.'
Drummer Grace agrees. 'It's incredible that people like us so much,' she says. 'We really appreciate them all.'
The Cords (Image: GordonTerris/Newsquest)
At Mono in the Merchant City, where the Inverkip duo supported The Vaselines in their first 'big' gig, the women are excited about the release of their single, Fabulist.
Out today (July 22), it's the first from their debut album, which will be released in September on Skep Wax Records in the UK and Slumberland Records in the US.
'We are so excited for the single and album, we've worked so hard on it,' says Grace. Eva adds: 'There are only two of us, so we've had to do all the guitar parts, bass, drums, vocals and backing vocals ourselves. This makes it even more special, and we hope that everyone really likes it.'
The Cords (Image: The Cords)
The Cords are sparkly, sweet-with-a-swagger indie pop sensations, who have already supported the likes of Camera Obscura, Belle and Sebastian, BMX Bandits and more. On the back of a cassette and flexi-single – both of which sold out in a matter of hours – Eva and Grace were invited to record a session for Riley and Coe on BBC Radio 6 Music.
It's been a bit of a whirlwind since, they acknowledge, with gigs around Scotland, across the UK and in Spain and Norway.
The Cords (Image: The Cords)
'We recently went on tour with Camera Obscura which was amazing,' says Eva. 'And a real highlight for me was when we played at Grant McPhee's Postcards from Scotland book launch, on stage with Katy Lironi, Douglas MacIntyre, Duglas T Stewart and David Keegan - I loved every minute of it.'
Grace says: 'The highlight for me has been all the people we have met along the way. We love gigging the most.'
Grace and Eva have been playing "properly" together for around two years, but the roots of The Cords go all the way back to drumming lessons when they were five years old.
'Our tutor started a rock school and we wanted to be in a band, so we went along,' says Grace. 'In the end, we decided to be a duo, I'd play drums and Eva would play guitar and sing.
'We wrote songs and played and rehearsed like mad. Our family loves music and our whole lives we were encouraged to learn instruments that we would like to play.'
Eva, who taught herself to play guitar in her bedroom, agrees.
(Image: Gordon Terris/Newsquest)
'There has always been music played in the house, all types of music,' she says. 'When we were younger we were always drawn to the sound of BMX Bandits, The Vaselines ...
'Our sound is indie pop, jangle pop with a definite C81/C86 influence, but it goes beyond that as I absolutely love Rose Melberg and everything that she has done from her early days in Tiger Trap to Brave Irene, The Softies and everything in-between.
'The Umbrellas have also been a big influence on us, and we both love them.'
(Image: The Cords)
Grace adds: 'I love The Cure and The Velvet Underground - I love Moe Tucker's laid back drumming style and try to bring a bit of that to The Cords.
'I think you can hear those influences in our music, but I also think you can hear newer influences which keeps the music fresh rather than just a copy of what was back then.'
The album was produced by Jonny Scott and Simon Liddel, and it respects the band's stripped-down, DIY approach.
'Recording was amazing, getting to experiment with sound and hear our music come together,' says Grace.
The album tour kicks off in Sheffield in September and finishes in Glasgow, at Mono on October 5.
'We really love Mono, playing here, eating here, browsing in Monorail,' says Eva, smiling. 'We've adopted it as our base as we feel so at home and have made many friends here.'
She adds: 'Closing our album tour in Mono is a big deal for us.'
The plan now is to 'keep gigging', says Eva.
'As much as we possibly can,' she nods. 'And hopefully start recording our next album as we are almost ready for that.'
Grace adds: 'We have no big, grand plan. We hope we can just keep making music and making people happy.'