RumRunners

Born out of the backstreets of Edinburgh’s rock and blues club scene, RumRunners’ have moulded a familiar but ultimately fresh sonic take on classic tones, rocking riffs and moody swagger, combining a contemporary gritty indie edge with vintage rock and blues roots at their heart.

Forming back in 2016 as a jam band trio, Guitarist; Will Howard, Drummer; Jim Shemilt and Bassist; Pete Lugg met after a chance encounter attending a gig in the heart of leith. Bonding over the blistering sleazy blues of Irish rockers ‘The Bonnevilles’, a shared passion for bands born out of the British Blues boom including Free, Hendrix and Gallagher mixed with a clear love and understanding of 70s rock laid a framework for their early jams. As the band began to compose their own material by osmosis the grunge/alternative and indie scene that was a staple during Howard and Shemilt’s formative years began to mould with vintage bombastic guitar rock to shape their first E.P ‘Embers’ released in early 2018.

Promoting their first record saw the trio play a slew of gigs around Scotland, cutting their teeth on the rock scene supporting the likes of Bernie Torme (Ozzy Osbourne), Chuck Mosely (Faith No More) followed by a tour with Glasgow rockers ‘Anchor Lane’ and finishing with a sold out hometown show with festival stalwarts ‘Mason Hill’. Though commanding a generally positive response from the shows and E.P the band felt their more melodic style was getting lost in the feedback of Marshall stacks that followed them.

Looking to develop their sound the band returned to the studio aiming to create a more open and atmospheric style to their playing, ditching the guitar solo fireworks for textural exploration and stripping the core of the recording session back to a single live room take, accumulating in a rounder, darker and more driving sound. Building on the resurgence of alt blues rock acts such as Rival Sons, Royal Blood and Nothing But Thieves, the band wanted to make their own mark on what it means to be a contemporary rock band wearing their blues heart on their sleeve. The result, the lusciously smokey and sway inducing new single ‘Voodoo Mystery’. Released earlier this year.

Though Howard has traditionally lead the band with his much loved white stratocaster and clean vocal style, he and the band felt they needed a true vocal powerhouse to carry them forward sonically and improve their live performances for a fuller sound. After months of searching the classic trio has now given way to an all out rocking quartet employing the enormously talented vocalist ‘Eddie King’ who brings a chameleon like vocal range to their older material and fresh soulful injection to their newer songs. Sitting somewhere between Paul Rodgers and Jeff Buckley, look out live videos of ‘Come Back Runnin’ for a tasty musical treat.

RumRunners are currently rehearsing, writing and recording new material with King and looking ahead to further gigs which can be found on their social media outlets. They have also just played to a packed out Edinburgh Blues Club gig with industry legends ‘Savoy Brown’.