Conor Gaffney

AmeriCymru:  Hi Conor and many thanks for agreeing to this interview. You are a guitarist and vocalist with Glasgow band Anchor Lane. Care to tell us a little about the band?

Conor:   Hi, thanks for inviting me. Yeah I am, we are a heavy rock band. We are currently preparing to release our debut ep in February having already released our single 'Finished for Twelve' this month. We have been playing together for about a year and a half. Well, I say that but we got a new drummer in June 2016. So as the current outfit we've been together for six months. We have some awesome shows organised for this year already including two EP release shows one in Audio, Glasgow and one in the Dreadnought, Bathgate. Our show in Bathgate we are really excited for, we haven't played there before and also we have a great band from Wales called Kane'd coming up to support us. We played with Kane'd in September 2016 supporting Kee Marcello, former guitarist of Europe. Kane'd were on tour with him and they were awesome people, we all really hit it off and when we saw them play we knew we had to play with them again! The date for our EP has yet to be released so like our Facebook page to keep up to date!

AmeriCymru:  When did you first decide that music would be your future. What is your musical background?

Conor:   Good question! I think I was around ten or eleven when I decided I wanted to be a musician. It was when I listened to 'American Idiot' by Green Day. That was the first album I ever bought, first of many haha! I loved the energy and passion in the music, the lyrics. A lot of people say that 'Dookie' is their best album which is fair enough, however I would disagree. As much as it's a good album it for me, it doesn't evoke the same passion and raw emotion that 'American Idiot' does. As you can tell Green Day have been a big influence on me. I grew up with music, pretty much every second person in my family plays an instrument, sings or both! Family parties would involve having a drink, food and then taking out the guitars and having a sing song together. My Dad and older brother Kevin leading the session quite often. As you can imagine it was my Dad that got me into playing guitar and singing. My Dad has an awesome singing voice, he used to play in bands but it was a different time and just didn't have the opportunities that I have had. I think that's part of the reason why he and my Mum are so supportive.

AmeriCymru:  You recently collaborated with Gwenno Dafydd and Katherine Cole on their 'Don't Give Up Hoping Hannah' single. Care to tell us a little about that experience?

Conor:  Yeah that was a fun project to be a part of. Katherine put up a post in the Scotland is alive with music group page on Facebook. She said she was looking for a male rock/folk vocalist. I'd always wanted to try singing for someone else and so I sent my stuff over to Katherine. She got back to me later that week asking me to send her a rough demo of the song. After I sent the rough demo over she got back to me about two weeks later. She told me they wanted me to sing the song so I got myself booked into the studio. It was about this time that Gwenno got in contact with me. She sent me a message asking if she could speak over the phone to tell me the background of the song. I appreciated her doing this because I like to know exactly what I'm singing about. I love that she wrote the song in response to the heartbreak she witnessed after the votes were counted.

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AmeriCymru:  What attracted you to this project? Do you think there will be an indyref2?

Conor:  I liked the patriotism of the song. Like I said when I shared this song on my Facebook, politics aside this is a patriotic song. That's what drew me to it, I'm a patriotic guy. I love Scotland and I'm proud to be Scottish, it's my home. I'm not sure if there will be another independence referendum. I'd like there to be one as I feel a lot of 'no' voters were persuaded by lies. Sadly these lies were found out when the votes had been cast.

AmeriCymru:  Who are your favourite bands currently on the Scottish/UK music scene?

Conor:   Oh, there are a lot of great bands around the Glasgow scene at the moment. My favourite would definitely have to be the boys in Mason Hill. They're a heavy/hard rock band much like Anchor Lane but they've got their own unique style within rock the same as us. They have a classic but modern rock sound that just gets your head banging! Their singer Scott has one of the best live voices I have heard. The dude literally blew me away! The rest of the band are amazing as well though, don't get me wrong! James and Marc on the guitar duties drive the riffs with intensity and both have great tone! Matthew their bassist and Craig their drummer are about as tight as they come. Matthew unapologetically rocks out on stage and shows no mercy for his hair as he whips it everywhere! Craig is a tight drummer who smacks the kit like nothing else, I don't know much about drumming but if they're loud and tight they do well by me! I saw them live for he first time in the Dreadnought at their headline show. Having been a fan of them for about a year and met them at other people's gigs. They're awesome guys, me and my band mates Jack and Matthew got along very well with them at Dreadnought. I've mentioned them already but Kane'd have got to be one of the best bands on the UK circuit right now. They're a seven piece band which is awesome! Three singers all sisters Stacey, Chez and Stephanie. Backed by four awesome musicians Harry Scott Elliot their guitarist is among the four best guitar players I have seen. The dude is extremely talented! He was on that Sky Arts show 'Guitar Star' definitely check him out on YouTube. Another band that I would say are great is Edenthorn, a rock band from Newcastle that Anchor Lane played with in The Bungalow, Paisley. Their singer Kyle was again, another singer that totally blew me away. We're hoping to be playing with these guys and girl again this year! They've got a great Foo Fighters/Pearl Jam feel while bringing their own unique flair to it! Definitely one to watch!

AmeriCymru:  Who would you consider your major musical influences?

Conor:  Wow, everyone and anyone I've ever listened to really! I have so much influences it's unbelievable. If I were to narrow the list down to the biggest ones I'd need to start with Freddie Mercury and Queen. I just love them! I wouldn't say the music I write is much like their but I definitely have a massive love and respect for Queen. They just knew how to write songs everyone would love! Another influence would have to be bands like Alter Bridge Black Stone Cherry and Foo Fighters, bands that taught me you can have clean vocals with heavy guitar riffs. Obviously I have to mention 'The Boss' Bruce Springsteen. The man is just an amazing song writer, he tells such amazing stories and has had an amazing career. I saw him play Hampden, he plays for like two and a half to three hours. Just him. You compare that work ethic and devotion to fans with artists half his age who play hour to hour and a half sets, you see Brucey is just different class.

AmeriCymru:  Any new gigs/recordings in the pipeline?

Conor:  As I mentioned we have our EP releasing in February and an two awesome EP shows in March as well as supporting the legendary Manny Charlton, founding member of Nazareth. Both my Dad and Scott our drummers Dad were buzzing about that show as they're both big Nazareth fans. We have also been booked for an awesome festival date this summer - The Wildfire Festival .  We are totally fired up to be playing this festival! We also have a show in Audio with Fahran on the 1st of April. We're really excited for this show!

AmeriCymru:  Any final message for the members and readers of AmeriCymru?

Conor:  Thank you for checking out the interview and I hope you enjoy the song! Don't give up hoping!