TORRS is a young Alternative/Indie rock band from Stewartry and Dumfries who are hitting the South West Scotland with a bang!
Torrs released a video (which they have made themselves!) on Friday 29th January of a Red Hot Chili Peppers song called Goodbye Angels. By Sunday 31st January it has received over 6000 views on Facebook and has also had a good following on the bands Instagram and YouTube Pages.
The boys’ first gig was back in 2017 when they played at an Open Mic night at the Catstrand in New Galloway. They played covers of bands like Gun n Roses and Nirvana and were known as PureSilver.
Co-Managers of Torrs, Darren Andrews and Chris Walker Told DGWGO “Chris and I have been manging Torrs since November 2019 and we had high hopes for them in 2020 and then COVID happened. We had lots of gigs and festivals planned. Namely Eden, Parkfest, Castle Douglas Rugby Club, The Vault Arts Centre plus a few more! We recorded the single Kaleidoscope Skies primarily at Circa 16 studios with support from the Catstrand. We then tweaked it a little more when Thomas joined the band with Ross Nurney mixing in new guitar parts. The plan was to go and record a further three songs for a debut ep but Covid restrictions at Christmas put an end to this again. So in the short term the single will be released on 14th February with the EP following in the next few months.
We hope the boys will do well with the single and that we will gig when we can, starting with Dumfries and Galloway and travelling further afield when we can. They are a talented bunch of guys and we have high hopes they will go far!”
Darren Andrews and Chris Walker
Co-Managers of Torrs
They have gone on to play at various gigs and festivals across Dumfries and Galloway. They have supported bands like the Lutras and up and coming rock band Tomorrow is Lost.
Torrs won a battle of the bands and gained a slot at the 2020 Eden Festival and were due to take part in Stranraer RNLI Parkfest 2020 but unfortunately due the the Covid Pandemic that event was cancelled.
Coronavirus has put a stop to the gigs but the boys have been writing and practising as much as they can during lockdown. Torrs mix up acoustic with electric in their songs.
Torrs have a single and lyric video (also made by themselves!) for their song Kaleidoscope skies coming out on Valentine’s Day.
Stuart Whan, Singer told DGWGO “Buzzing for the single to be released as it’s been so long in the making and since Thomas joined us it’s really become a different song somehow.
Really happy with how it’s turned out and I feel like we need to thank Circa16 Recording Studio in Dumfries for helping us record the track as well as our friend Ross Nurney for mixing and mastering the track beautifully. We’d definitely recommend that others choose to work with these guys as they were both very helpful in making the track into what it is.
Hope everyone likes it!
Can’t wait to start gigging again once restrictions are lifted and I’m really looking forward to getting back in the studio to record more material.”
“I’m really looking forward to finally releasing the band’s first original song properly.
William Stevens, Bassist Said “Besides not being able to gig, lockdown has been productive for the band. It has allowed us to have time to create more music and to think up ideas for our material. Also, it allowed us a lot of time for me to finish off the “Kaleidoscope Skies” lyric video, which is a stop motion animation that Stuart and I started but couldn’t finish due to the restrictions.
It has allowed the band to record covers at home and release them to YouTube and our social medias which helps people get an idea of what type of music we listen to and what our inspirations are. The thing I am most looking forward to when we are out of lockdown is definitely giging! Which I’m sure the rest of the band can agree with, especially with Thomas now in the band.”
James Jones, Drummer commented “Very excited for the release of our single, it’ll show everyone our sound and what we have to offer. I do the drummage.”
Thomas Holmes, Lead Guitarist Told Us “I joined the band in early October and by that time the bulk of the song had already been recorded and was nearly ready to be released. Stuart sent me this track to learn and maybe come up with some lead parts that could sit on top. I was instantly impressed by the way the melody transitioned between the different chordal harmonies so my main challenge was to come up with a guitar part which would compliment exactly that and not take away from it in any way. Thankfully, I seemed to succeed in that and the band approved of my added spice, decided to keep me, and wanted my parts recorded to be put on the single!”
When restrictions are lifted they will record an ep. This was planned months ago and they are itching to go!
Torrs are Stuart Whan – guitar and vocals, Thomas Holmes – lead guitar, William Stevens – bass and James Jones – drums. The boys are only 16 and 17 years old!
