Leisureland: The Sound of Renfrewshire

Fresh from releasing their new single, Scott Simpson and Adam Dolan of Paisley’s own Leisureland detail their journey thus far

How and where did the band begin?

We originally started under the alias of Ribena Boys in college, which is a s***e name, we know. We realised we needed a name change and we just named it after Leisureland, the café in Paisley. 

Is that a place you have frequented over the years? 

Aw, every Sunday, hungover as f**k (laughs). We go there for a brekkie and a game of pool. The time would vary from between 7am and 1pm, but it’d always be the same story. 

Would you say the band has common influences? Or has the sound developed into an eclectic mix? 

I think now especially, it’s a mix. Back in the day, it was just the vibe of whoever has written the song, then they’d add wee bits. Now, if one of us is writing a song, we’ll bring it in about halfway through and then it’s more of a team effort. 

In terms of influences, I definitely bring a Paolo-esque approach and when it comes to the sound, we’re really honing in on those soulful elements these days. 

Willie J Healey is also a big influence, I’d say, great songwriter. 

Would these count as dream support slots? 

For us, it’s all about festivals. We’d love to get some of them under the belt. Above all, we just want to get out of Glasgow and Paisley to play somewhere else. We obviously love it, but that’s the only place we’ve performed really. Except for a cycling championship (laughs). 

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You recently sold out King Tut’s, a venue that has been considered a real proving ground over the years. Did that feel like a milestone for the band? 

Aye that was amazing, particularly because we weren’t expecting it. We’d basically said to ourselves, right, let’s not pressure one another to get the sell out and if it happens, we’ll be even more buzzin’. We knew we’d promote it, get it busy and have a bangin’ night, but we didn’t expect that. 

It was definitely a step up and made it a special night, and now, I think they want us back. So, it was a real feather in our cap for promoters. 

Tell us about your latest single, Feelin’ Real Blue and how it differs from your other material. 

It’s more soulful. We wrote the song together and it initially had more of a hip-hop flow to it, but then we decided to slow it down. So, it’s more of a ballad, but not as solemn as other tracks like Tired. 

The Glasgow and surrounding music scene has a lot of punk bands at its heart. Did Leisureland make a conscious effort to separate yourselves from that sound? 

I love punk, but we wanted to do something different. When we were younger, we went to see a lot of punk bands but just because I wanted to be in one, didn’t mean I wanted to do exactly that, you know? Even a lot of those punk bands have branched out to do other things. 

Leisureland

Despite the fact that you’ve naturally got desires to branch out, is the Paisley music scene still something you’re inherently proud to be a part of? 

100%. I think we’re trying to get another Bungalow headline for the summer. It’s not confirmed yet, but that’s the plan. We haven’t stayed away, but because we did so many gigs there beforehand, we wanted to establish ourselves in Glasgow.

So, now that we’ve done that, a sold out Bungalow is next on the bucket list. It’d be amazing. We can always get a good crowd at The Bungalow, so to be able to get other bands from Paisley on there would be great. 

Have you got a New EP on the way?

We’re planning to record it soon, around April. Most of it is written and we’ve got a rough idea for the artwork, so we want to go in and just lay them down. 

Is the primary focus on expansion in the coming years? 

Aye, let’s just see how far we can take it. So, it’d just be cool to see it grow even more. It’s happened recently with shows like King Tut’s where there are people we don’t recognise at the shows. 

I remember seeing a couple down the front who had been singing every word, but I didn’t recognise them. So, I went up and spoke to them and it turns out it was an anniversary gift because they’d seen us at Tenement Trail and thought we were that good. So, things like that feel great, I was like ‘holy sh*t’. 

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