In the spotlight – Voldo

In the spotlight – Voldo: Voldo are an alternative four-piece band from the west coast of Scotland with Kyle Meldrum on vocals with Amanda Lorean, Jimmy Skiffle on guitar, Nunny Boy on beats and production. Get the scoop on their band name, most memorable day as a band and dream collaboration.

Where does the band name come from? How hard was it to come up with a band name?

“Voldo is basically a nickname Kyle was called, named after the character from Soul Calibur, a computer game. It has something to do with the way Kyle would run when playing football. It just stuck. After we had recorded a few tracks Kyle suggested why not call the band Voldo?”

How would you describe the band’s sound to a first-time listener?

“Think along the lines of Portishead, Beck, Fat Boy Slim all having a jam session together. It’s very hard to put us into a genre as we do play many different styles, DnB, Hip Hop, Rock, Dance, etc. Lately we have been described as mushroom music.”

How do you distribute roles/responsibilities within the band?

“Pretty much Nunny will say what needs to be done, everyone is given whatever task best suits them and we get on with it, but it’s mainly Nunny that’s the driving force behind it all.”

You released your first single in 2020. Were any of you involved in other musical projects before that?

“We started putting the band together about November 2019. We had all worked with each other musically in some shape or form before, going way back to 2003.”

“I think it was March 2020 for our first single, then followed by our album ‘Sophia’ in May 2020. We had worked on a project called ‘Ideal Elements’ under the name the Voldese Falcon back in 2003, which is available for free on BandCamp.

“Nunny Boy was the producer for the rap group All Time High from 1993 to 2006. He also worked with many other artists as a producer and remixer including MOG, Werd (SOS), Nitty Gritz, Wurrd Jenkins, Erywon, The Lovely Eggs and Wendy James.”

“Jimmy Skiffle has been in a ton of bands over the years. Amanda has collaborated with loads of other artists over the years.”

Could you describe your creative processes? How do you usually start and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you tend to follow any predefined patterns when composing a song?

“A lot of the time we will send each other ideas via Whatsapp – it could be Kyle singing in the shower, Jimmy Skiffle playing a guitar hook etc. But a lot of the time we will run through the ideas at the Banger Factory (recording studio) – Nunny might play an idea for a beat he’s started, Kyle will pull out some lyrics he’s been working on, we’ll drag in Amanda to get her input and get her to add to it, Jimmy will appear with his guitar and just start adding to it. Other times we’ll have a rough mixdown of an instrumental and everyone gets to write their parts to it. As far as patterns go most of the time the rule book gets thrown out!”

You’ve collaborated with OrangeG and Invisible Squirrel (amongst others), what’s the importance of collaborating? What do you think your fans get out of it?

“We love to do collaborations! It’s such a cool thing to have some of your favourite artists jump on a track with you, or remix one of your songs. It’s also a great way for our fans to hear another artist that they might not have been aware of, and vice versa, you’re making your audience reach much wider.”

If you could have a song collaborated with any band or singer, who would it be and why?

“It would’ve been amazing to have someone like James Brown on a track, simply as we all really dig his music and his epic voice, but if it had to be someone that is alive today then maybe The Pixies – as they’re just super cool.”

What is the most rewarding part of making music?

“Creating something from nothing. It’s such a great feeling when you’ve written new songs or an album. It’s just one of the best ways of expressing yourself. If others enjoy it then it just amplifies that feeling.”

Most memorable day as a band?

“Probably when we had a launch party for our second album ‘Nostalgia Regalia‘ and Kyle ended up so wasted he was passed out lying on the grass (see photo). It was just a really great night and when you go too hard mixing your drinks kids you end up paying the price!”

What are your plans and goals as a band for the year ahead?

“Our main goal right now is promoting our latest release ‘Melting Pot’, we’ve been working hard with putting it together as a live show, trying to figure out what tracks can actually be performed live and others that will just stay as studio recordings.”

What’s your favourite song from the Cool Top 20 and why?

“Such a hard choice but we would have to go with Joe Adhemar – ‘When Our Lungs Are Empty’, we have been a fan of Joe’s work for a long time and we just love his sound.”

What song would you like to add as a bonus track and why?

“We’d love to see pMad – ‘Medicine’ in the Cool Top 20 – been listening to their a lot recently.”

Is there anything else you’d like us to know?

“We get asked a lot about who’s done our album artwork for ‘Melting Pot‘ and the answer is Jonny Cannon from Cannon Hill Comics.”

Social media links:
https://linktr.ee/voldo
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