Waltzers, secret gardens and partying like it’s 1995 with The Tumbling Souls
With trending country music fused to trad, rock and indie sounds, and new tracks on the way, supergroup look destined to become playlist favourites
“Yeah, that song is very much about my childhood experience,” laughs Willie Campbell, flashing a mischievous grin. “Growing up too early in the 90s, on Lewis, that’s just what you did. Everybody got up to no good – it was the way it was back then.”
He’s talking about ‘1995’, the nostalgia-soaked comeback single from island favourites The Tumbling Souls, marking their first new release in over a year. The track bursts from the speakers with the driving energy of ferry traffic heading back home.
It’s a tune steeped in teenage crushes and heartbreaks, open cans from carry-outs stashed in plastic store bags, secret gardens, the local pyramid gatherings, and memories of Barvas discos from a time when town hall raves were all the rage.
“There was a real buzz about the 90s,” Willie reflects. “It was such an exciting time for music - and for being young and confused, and then finding my way with a band. Not everything was great, but there were so many brilliant memories.”
“There’s something about my generation on Lewis,” he continues. “We’ve never quite grown up - and I think that’s what I’m singing about. That fire that never really goes out. We’re still not quite all there, and that’s no bad thing.”
He laughs as he admits: “There’s lines in it about writing on the wall at 14 or 15. That’s true for me. Some folk went off and went daft. My daftness just lasted longer and got crazier. So there’s definitely a confessional side to it.”
One of the lines - a little banged up, and a lot less pretty, but I think we might be wiser - sums it up perfectly. “It’s a bittersweet song for me,” he nods.
“Seeing all these people who have moved back to the island - it’s nice. We go away, we go daft, and then we come back to the place we love most. It's a song for the folk in their mid-40s as well I suppose.”
That’s why The Tumbling Souls put out a call on Instagram and Facebook for old photos from the 90s to feature in a video for the song. “I really hope they come in,” Willie says.
Does he still have his own teenage snaps? “Oh yeah!” he exclaims. “I’m pretty sure up in the loft there’s an old Nike or Converse All-Stars shoebox, full of Polaroids and those Instacamera prints - everybody in those massive jumpers and baggy jeans.”
These days, The Tumbling Souls have settled into a tight line-up: Iain ‘Spanish’ MacKay (guitar, vocals), Louisa Barron MacDonald (fiddle), Iain Kernahan (guitar), Stephen Drummond (accordion), Willie (guitar, vocals), and their sixth member, Paul Martin (guitar).
They’ve been recording at Wee Studio in South Dell with owner Keith Morrison and producer Scott C Park. A second single – Nowhere In A Hurry – is already pencilled in as the follow-up release later this year.
Willie explains that this song draws on the haunting legacy of the island’s abandoned croft houses. “The images that I think run through it most strongly for me are the abandoned houses on the island and how a lot of them, we turn them into pieces of art, really, you know. beautiful monochrome photos of these abandoned croft houses, but there's sort of tragedy attached to them for me as well.
“They're almost like monuments in a way. They remind me of, you know, like churches. They seem like sacred places to me, these abandoned houses, because they're loaded with meaning. And, that's really what sparked that song.
“There's a line in it about photographs gathering dust in the loft and forgotten faces of people that inhabited these houses. So I'm just trying to provoke a bit of thought around it and just stubbornly standing your ground and living here.”
He adds: “It's not always that easy. I mean, like people are drawn away for work because the weather's terrible or the travel's awful, but there's so much that it gives people. And it's partly about that stubbornness of just staying where you are and keeping the community alive.”
Both songs will get live outings at HebCelt this summer – something the whole band can’t wait for, especially since Willie’s been inducted into the festival’s Hall of Fame. “I was really pleased they thought I was worthy of that,” he says humbly. “Like most artists, I get terrible imposter syndrome. But HebCelt’s been so good for me.”
He recalls: “My first HebCelt show when I came home to Lewis was such a boost. It wasn’t the best of circumstances - Astrid had fallen apart and my confidence had taken a knock. So playing there again, with that really high standard production meant everything.”
“Every year, every gig has been an absolute pleasure,” he adds. “The people that run it have a special place in my heart.”
Asked who he most hopes to see this year, he says: “Lulu! I’m so excited and looking forward to that. These seasoned pros from the 60’s and 70’s - they know how to work a crowd in such a unique way - it's effortless for them. So I’m very excited, it will be brilliant.”