Tide Lines (two words) is a Scottish four-piece folk/pop band, not to be confused with Tidelines (one word), the annual Book Festival held in North Ayrshire. We wanted to chart it,” says Robert, referring to ‘Eye of the Storm’ which did actually chart at number 12 in the UK in the first week and made it to number one in Scotland. It’s good,” he says, referring to their live gigs. “We bridge that gap. It’s always a lively crowd. We definitely have a young following but it’s not like we’ve left behind the older generation, they can be part of it as well. It feels like a pretty inclusive experience when you see our audience, which is nice. I don’t think you’d find anyone that would feel out of place.” What are you most looking forward to for the release of An Ocean Full of Islands and touring with new songs?

That was magic!” says Robert. “We got some really nice prime time plays on Radio 2 which is really great. We’ve had good radio play from across the board and long may that continue. We’ll have another single coming out in the new year… so hopefully that can be the same.” Tide Lines today release their eagerly anticipated new album ‘An Ocean Full of Islands’ featuring the Radio 2 playlisted single ‘Written In The Scars’, plus ‘These Days’ and ‘Rivers in the Light’. Next week they embark on a tour of the UK and Ireland, which includes a long sold-out show at Edinburgh’s 2800-capacity Usher Hall, as well as their biggest London gig to date at the Electric Ballroom. Also confirmed as headliners at The Gathering Festival, Tide Lines recently announced their biggest ever headline show, a 6,000-capacity big top festival-style show at Glasgow’s Queen’s Park.

A welcome for pilgrims

I’m chatting by Zoom to guitarist and vocalist, Robert Robertson, and drummer, Fergus (Gus) Munro. The first thing I do is congratulate them on their sell-out gig in Edinburgh’s Usher Hall in March. That audience, Robert confirms, is multi-generational and includes everything from 16-year-olds to 85-year-olds.

The band’s 2023 tour is, Gus tells me, their most extensive UK tour so far. Understandably, they’re all looking forward – with nervous anticipation – to getting started. Their second album, Eye of the Storm, was released in May 2020 and debuted at #12 in the Official UK Album Charts. Eye of the Storm also topped both the Scottish and independent album charts on the week of its release. [4] That said, they only really had one song (‘Far Side of the World’) so the sets proved to be slightly challenging and included mainly cover songs. By the time they released their second album, they had a better strategy.A collection of pop songs that are catchy… built around the idea that people can relate to them straight away, sing along with them and would be good live. It’s at times reflective, at times uplifting, but it’s pretty upbeat throughout. That’s always been the aim of it.” An Ocean Full of Islands’ is available HERE. The band’s official store offers a range of bundles, which include signed CDs and vinyl, and a new t-shirt. A turquoise vinyl edition is also available via retail.

Obviously, there’s a bit of life experience in the lyrics, but there’s definitely a bit of fiction in the songs as well where I just try to use my imagination and put myself in other situations. Some of it relates to where I’ve been brought up, some of it to what I’m doing at the time, some of it to Glasgow… or the people… or to the experiences we’re having. And then, there’s a bit of storytelling as well.” Tide Linestoday release their eagerly anticipated new album‘An Ocean Full of Islands’featuring the Radio 2 playlisted single‘Written In The Scars’,plus‘These Days’and‘Rivers in the Light’.Next weekthey embark on a tour of the UK and Ireland, which includes a long sold-out show atEdinburgh’s 2800-capacityUsher Hall,as well as their biggestLondongig to date at theElectric Ballroom. Also confirmed as headliners atThe Gathering Festival,Tide Linesrecently announced their biggest ever headline show, a6,000-capacitybig top festival-style show atGlasgow’s Queen’s Park. For those that haven’t heard your music, can you tell us about each band member and how would you describe your sound? How is it seeing the listeners’ response to your music and what can they expect from your upcoming album?That was a real boost for us moving forward but it came at a strange time… because it was during Covid and we couldn’t take full advantage of its success in terms of turning that into something tangible.” There’s less Gaelic and pipes but it’s still very much the heart of what we do. But certainly, in a live set, the bagpipes have his huge effect. In Scotland it goes down well, but when we go down to England it goes down an absolute storm!” We didn’t really have a proper chance to tour with the last album when it was fresh because it came out in May 2020,” Gus explains. “You want to get out there when the album comes out, get people when they’re really excited about it.”

The band’s third, self-produced album is titled ‘An Ocean Full of Islands’ and is set for release in February. I ask what led them down the self-produced route.

An Ocean full of Islands

Most of the drummers that I like are actually songwriters like Dave Grohl from Foo Fighters, or Prince or Stevie Wonder. I think the hardest thing to do is to approach the drums from the mindset of a songwriter. When you hear a songwriter playing drums to their own songs… it’s obviously the perfect drum part for the song because it’s coming from the same mind as the person who wrote the chords and the lyrics. I always try and be more inspired by that and not by the guys with the biggest drum kits and the most cymbals.”