WATCH: Jack Cochrane of The Snuts performs new song PTS for the Scotsman Sessions
Welcome to the Scotsman Sessions, a series of short video performances from artists all around the country introduced by our critics. Here, Jack Cochrane, frontman of West Lothian four-piece The Snuts, performs the track PTS from the band’s new album Joy in Short Moments
Unlike a certain multimillionaire singer-songwriter who's been making headlines recently, the Snuts have never been afraid to mix music with politics. Ever since they formed as school-friends in Whitburn, West Lothian back in 2015, the indie rock four-piece have used their profile to support all manner of vital social causes.
"As a band and also just as friends, we've always been able to speak freely and speak our minds," says frontman Jack Cochrane.
"Being an artist, you have a much bigger platform to do that. It's something that we are passionate about and you can see that in our live shows and in the way we conduct ourselves on stage, and in the causes that are important to us. As a band we believe that everybody has the right to be able to express that, to express their opinion in any way they want to without being censored."
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Released on 23 October through their own Happy Artists Records label, the Snuts' fourth album, Joy in Short Moments, finds them on typically heartfelt form.
"It's probably our most confident and accomplished record," says Cochrane. "The decision-making was really easy for us, we managed to pick out all the things that we felt made us great as a band and great as friends and put that in one place."
The song he's chosen to perform solo for the Scotsman Sessions is PTS, an emotive highlight from the new LP which, as the title suggests, is about post-traumatic stress.
As Cochrane explains, "I think it's been an important song for the band to understand where they're at. It was one that we really enjoyed making in the studio, we felt like we got into some stuff that we needed to get into."
Has being in a successful band lived up to everything he ever dreamed it would be?
"Yeah, I think it's more rewarding than we initially thought. When you're young and in a band you're striving for fame and fortune. We've landed in a position where we get to do exactly what we want to do. We make a living, we get to see the world, we get to connect with people, and we get to also understand ourselves better by making music."
And how has that understanding manifested itself?
"I think we've just had to learn how to be resilient, especially inside the music industry and just as a band who spend a lot of time together. I think the music is more mature but also has all the useful stuff that we've managed to carry throughout the rest of the records."
As for the future, Cochrane is focused on keeping up the band's efforts "in putting Scottish guitar music on the map."
"We've already taken it all over the world but we have some big stages and some big places we would like to be, and would like to share what we do on those stages. That's always been the ambition and probably will continue to be."
The Snuts play the Livehouse, Dundee, 19 November, the Beach Ballroom, Aberdeen, 20 November, the Corn Exchange, Edinburgh, 21 November and the Alhambra Theatre, Dunfermline, 23 November. Joy in Short Moments is released by Happy Artist Records on 23 October. New single Defibrillator is out now.
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