MacGilli Interview
Transcript
00:00 Hello, my name is Mike McGilvray.
00:01 I write and perform instrumental acoustic loop music
00:05 as McGilly.
00:06 Hello, my name's Dale McDonald.
00:08 I do poetry and my own acoustic music as well.
00:11 Yeah, well, me and Mike went to school.
00:13 Both been playing music for quite some time now.
00:16 I think it just initially started
00:17 that we both had an interest in the same kind of music
00:19 and then we both played acoustic guitar
00:21 and came around to my house one time, a long time ago.
00:24 And it just kind of started from there.
00:28 This new song, "Chapters," compared to my last song,
00:30 "Momentum," where that was steaming into more
00:32 sort of gritty, dark sort of vibe,
00:36 this one, "Chapters," has got a more joyous feel to it.
00:38 It's more uplifting.
00:39 And we've done something differently this time around.
00:41 We have weaved one of Dale's poems
00:44 throughout the instrumental song.
00:46 And it's carrying a message, a very strong message,
00:49 which I hope people are going to take home.
00:50 The reason "Chapters" is important to me personally,
00:56 now without diving too deep into it,
00:58 but we lost somebody in the family back in December,
01:01 just before Christmas there.
01:03 Now, with loss comes with a whole mixture
01:07 of emotions and feelings,
01:09 but that's a chapter that unfortunately
01:10 we're all going to have to go through at some stage.
01:13 No matter how low you may be feeling
01:16 or how difficult things are at that time,
01:18 just have that great sense of belief.
01:23 Surround yourself with the right people,
01:24 have the right conversations,
01:26 and things will get better.
01:28 Things will start clicking into place in your life.
01:30 And that's the message that we're trying to relay here
01:33 with this project.
01:34 Given the nature of this song,
01:38 and the time that it was written at,
01:42 I just felt, no, this absolutely needed his poetic input.
01:45 So yeah, we managed to allocate time
01:48 and put pen to paper.
01:54 So me and Mike often come here and jam
01:58 and share different creative ideas,
02:00 but we also use it as an opportunity
02:01 to just talk about things that are going on in our own life.
02:04 And Mike had mentioned, obviously, the loss in his family,
02:06 and I was talking about some of the stuff in my life.
02:09 And then Mike told me about his new song called "Chapters,"
02:13 and he let me hear it,
02:14 and instantly came to mind the thought
02:17 of just about going through difficult times
02:20 and climbing up a mountain to a certain degree.
02:24 And that mountain being the physical representation
02:27 of the struggle that people go through,
02:29 and just how easy it would be to give up
02:31 and sacrifice ourself to our own vices,
02:33 whatever they may be.
02:35 And I suppose it's just about finding purpose
02:39 and meaning in that struggle,
02:40 and just using it to better yourself
02:43 and overcome the difficulties in life.
02:49 I pieced it together in January,
02:51 but after what happened in December with my family,
02:54 I thought, no, this needed more than just the music,
02:57 more than just that beat.
02:58 So it needed to have some sort of message.
03:00 So yeah, that's when me and Dale got together.
03:03 I think sometimes these songs are difficult
03:06 to piece together, some are easier than others,
03:07 but as soon as Dale had his input,
03:10 it just kind of fell together.
03:12 It was almost naturally, so.
03:17 Part of the video is gonna be filmed
03:19 up in the Scottish Highlands,
03:20 and the other part is gonna be filmed
03:24 in the surrounding areas of Inverness.
03:26 Now there's gonna be two storylines.
03:28 Storyline one is gonna be a metaphorical version
03:30 of storyline two, but both storylines
03:33 are gonna intertwine with the message
03:36 that Dale is trying to relay in his poem.
03:38 I hope people can listen to the words
03:43 and feel inspired, and just know
03:46 that, like I said, no matter how difficult things are
03:49 in your life, if you're able to find that struggle
03:53 and use it as a positive in your life,
03:55 then good things can come.
03:57 It's never too late to make a change in your life,
03:59 although it might seem difficult.
04:01 If you just keep going, as Mike said,
04:03 surround yourself with good people,
04:04 and good things can come from that.
04:06 - Absolutely.
04:12 I've got loads of ideas that I'm yet
04:14 to piece together on the guitar,
04:16 and some of these ideas will definitely
04:19 go hand in hand with some of Dale's work.
04:21 So given the time, yeah, you'll absolutely
04:23 see more of us in the future.
04:25 So for all you Belgium ticket holders,
04:30 I will be playing on the Friday
04:32 at the Free Range Folk Stage at 1.30,
04:35 and then on the Saturday, I will be opening
04:37 the Icehouse Stage at 12.30.
04:40 Now, given that Saturday's slot is gonna be
04:42 slightly longer than the Friday's slot,
04:44 it's gonna be a different version
04:46 to what you're gonna hear on the Friday.
04:47 So if your ears are craving something
04:49 a little bit different, then yeah, come along.
04:51 We can all have a dance.
04:52 (upbeat music)
04:55 (upbeat music)