Ewan Donald (vocals, various guitars, questionable dance moves) Ewan Murray (lead guitar, winning smiles, expertly-brewed tea) Fraser Will (keyboards, bassoon, crowd-rocking arm manouevres) Jamie Donald (drums, backing vocals, harmonicas, journalistic wisdom) Mitch Bain (bass guitar, rider provider, scarily swift Stella-drinking)
Influences
We are influenced by, but don't necessarily sound like... Bell X1, Frightened Rabbit, Radiohead, Jonah Matranga, Ryan Adams, Bright Eyes, Murder by Death, Rilo Kiley, Ben Folds, Idlewild, Damien Rice, Deathcab For Cutie, New Found Glory, Gomez, Nick Drake, The Gaslight Anthem, Budapest, Unbelievable Truth, The Frames, Fionn Regan, Twilight Sad, Dan Lyth, Funeral for a Friend, Reindeer Section, Muse, Duke Special, Frank Turner, Aereogramme, The Cure, Whiskeytown, The Acorn, Ludovico Eineaudi, Cooper Temple Clause, Jeff Buckley, Snowpatrol, The Strokes, Russian Circles, Guggenheim Grotto, Billy Talent, Trashcan Sinatras, Jack's Mannequin, Driveblind, Turin Brakes, Lisa Mitchell, Gemma Hayes, Lights.Action!, Sufjan Stevens, Oceansize, Clayhill, My Vitriol, Neutral Milk Hotel, Bob Dylan, Longwave, Toploader, Mogwai, Anna Meldrum, The Hazey Janes, Little Kicks, Elliot Smith, Brendan Benson, The Bluetones, Biffy Clyro, Little Comets, Joy Division, Lightspeed Champion, Wilco, Finch, The Subways, Minus the Bear, Sixpeopleaway, Leaves, Teenage Fanclub, Endor, Ben Harper...
Indie-Rock-Folk-Pop. Straight up. With a twist.
Headlight began in 2003 as Ask the Panda, an ill-advised and short-lived duo of Ben Drane and Ewan Donald.
Soon after, the moniker 'Headlight' was assumed, and the two chaps released a demo CD, cunningly entitled 'Headlight', which was...well...ahem, not great. Soon after, the dull kiddy-emo of that first release were shrugged off, as Ewan "Muzzi" Murray and Fraser "Qupes" Will joined the fun.
A brief flirtation with happy-clappy-uber-camp pop ensued. But not for long. Everyone realised Ben couldn't drum to save his life, so fraternal friend Jamie "Hay" Donald was drafted in and Ging moved on to the bass. A new CD was recorded in 2007 named the 'Half Truth EP'. It sold a few hundred copies, but was released at a time when the sound was changing to something more definite.
Since then, the band have experienced the 'Fingers Out' phenomenon and we have now is fully-functional Headlight, combining piano and guitar-driven songs to dazzling-ish effect. Their festival debut at Wizard 2007 has been swiftly followed by playing all the major city venues in Aberdeen including the famous Lemon Tree, Drummonds, Moorings and The Tunnels. In the latest and last game of musicianal chairs, Ben Drane vacated the bass hotseat. After a brief spell of "hell, we don't need a bass!" chat, much pride was swallowed with the inclusion of bass maestro and Waves Radio darling Mitch Bain into the 'Light set up. Finally there is a settled lineup, and a forthcoming EP to be released early 2009. There's life in the old boy yet...
THESE ARE OUR NEXT GIG'S I HOPE YOU CAN MAKE TO SOME OF THEM THE ELIZABETHAN IS FREE AND THE CAFE DRUMMOND'S GIG IS ONLY £ 3 SO IT WONT BREAK THE BANK SEE YOU THERE
Hey there! Hadn't heard anything about where we were staying so were about to make other arrangements but if you guys have a floor/couch spare and its no bother we would gladly take you up on your offer if its still going? :) Message me and I will give you me mobile number if you like if thats easier to get in touch. :) A.
RubyRuby ISSUE 2 IS OUT NOW! The North-East of Scotlands best, FREE music E-Mag. You can find a preview on our MySpace page or get a copy sent straight to your inbox by joining the mailing list: rubymailinglist@btinternet.com
MONDAY 8 JUNE POST WAR YEARS + Headlight & Farewell Singapore Tunnels 7.30pm 14+ - £5 from One Up and www.ticketweb.co.uk
FRIDAY 12 JUNE WAVE MACHINES + The Little Kicks Tunnels 7.30pm 14+ - £5 from One Up and www.ticketweb.co.uk
Dont forget our 2 for 1 offer on both these shows - you can even mix and match and get 1 for each show!!!! So 2 tickets for a fiver - just leave your name in our blog BEFORE 12 noon MONDAY for Post War Years and BEFORE 12 noon FRIDAY for Wave Machines!!!!
Hey Headlight how are you? We are really looking forward to the post war years gig with you guys,last time we saw you was at the lemon tree and it was awesome! We are playing with general fiasco this wednesday 27th May in drummonds it would be really cool if you could come along mucho love FWSP xx
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Hi tnx for the add!,WILD a first pre-mix song from my upcoming solo album is online now!!! Please listen to my ORIGINAL SONGS and let me know what you think!
You guys are fantastic. A good band but as people extremely friendly and supportive. I appreciate all you've done for me and my old band. Hope you can play on the 20th. x
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