Scottish five-piece Constant Follower have unveiled a stunning panoramic performance recorded atop The Wallace Monument – overlooking the band’s hometown of Stirling. We reviewed one of their hometown gigs in 2016 in which Neil McFadyen was taken by their instantly compelling song:
With that guitar work moving between delicate atmospheres and a light intricacy, the resigned honesty and fragility of his songs result in an emotionally charged performance. The set has all the ingredients of something memorable and moving – an open heart, a longing to share and complete trust in his audience. With a début as strong as this, Constant Follower is one to watch.
They are the first band to film a session on top of the Wallace Monument. It was recorded earlier this year and directed by Martin J. Pickering. The stunning video features tracks from their acclaimed debut album Neither Is, Nor Ever Was which is available on streaming services and via Bandcamp.
Constant Follower’s drifting, heart-rending sound is a dreamlike reflection of frontman McAll’s own life. He was randomly attacked on his way home from his girlfriend’s house one evening near his 17th birthday in Glasgow. The catastrophic head injuries left him partially paralysed, unable to write or play guitar, and with all of his childhood memories up until that point gone. He spent the next decade on Scotland’s windswept West Coast, recovering, and gradually re-learning how to play guitar.
He began reading the poetry of Norman MacCaig, as it was the only prose he could follow, and eventually, the songs that make up his stunning debut began to emerge. The writing on the album breathe the salt spray, and the gentle beauty of the Scottish expanse.
Talking about the sessions, Constant Follower frontman McAll said: “I don’t remember my childhood, but my mum took lots of photographs. I look so happy in the pictures of us at the Wallace Monument. I see how magical it is for my own children – the building, the mythology, the huge sword – and can only think it must have been the same for me. I see it every day when I open my curtains and wondered what it would be like to play up in the crown overlooking the city, and why no one had done it already. So it was a great surprise and an honour when Stirling Council made it happen. To be able to play while stretching our eyes over this beautiful landscape… sometimes it was hard to sing for the lump in my throat.”
Filmmaker Martin J. Pickering said: “Filming my oldest best friend’s live set at the top of The Wallace Monument was definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity. On a good day, Stirling has the most beautiful light too. It’s shimmery, golden and silver and just amazing for photography and film. It was a physical and brutal shoot because it was freezing and extremely windy but that all lent itself to an amazing end result on camera. I cried when I watched my edit back.”
As well as a handful of July dates, Constant Follower are currently gearing up for a string of ‘Scotland on Tour’ dates, starting on 20th October in Tighnabruaich and ending on 30th October at Lochinver. See below for full dates:
Live Dates:
20/07/2022 – Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh
21/07/2022 – Broadcast, Glasgow
22/07/2022 – Secret Location, Stirling
20/10/2022 – The Hollies, Tighnabruaich
21/10/2022 – An Tobar, Mull
24/10/2022 – River Garden Auchincruive, Ayr
25/10/2022 – River Garden Auchincruive, Ayr
26/10/2022 – The Glad Cafe, Glasgow
27/10/2022 – Church of the Holy Rude, Stirling
28/10/2022 – The Assembly Roxy, Edinburgh
29/10/2022 – Inverness Cathedral, Inverness
30/10/2022 – Village Hall, Lochinver
17/03/2023 – Town Hall, Jedburgh
18/03/2023 – Regal Connect Theatre, Bathgate
31/03/2023 – Freckfest, Harbour Arts, Irvine
Find out more here: https://linktr.ee/ConstantFollower