Painting Rockets Release “Exposed” – EXCLUSIVE

We are extremely excited to bring you the new track “Exposed” from Edinburgh-based rock band Painting Rockets. They are made up of Keli Thomson (vocals), Stephen Christie (guitar), Craig Stoddart (bass) and Rohan Bumbra (drums).

Artwork by Iona Lee

Be ready to have this stuck in your head straight from your first listen and we fully encourage you to take an interest in Painting Rockets while they’re still in their early days of being a band. If they continue to produce top class anthems like this then it won’t be long before they explode onto the scene and are playing to much larger crowds. With a quarter of the year gone, this is my favourite release of 2018 so far and it will take something pretty special to top it.

I had the chance to speak to lead singer Keli Thomson who gave us an insight into the story behind “Exposed” amongst other topics such as band influences, Paraoke and future plans.

Can you explain to us the meaning behind the song?

This song was a really emotional one. I tend to write best when I’m feeling a burst of emotion – this time, I was pretty damn angry. I’d been holding on to a feeling of anger and hurt over losing friends in a very brutal way and this song was coming to terms with it and letting go of the resentment I had for being mistreated. It was coming to terms with the kind of people these friends were and calling out their fake personas. It’s me charging at them with no armour saying “You can’t touch me but you can keep trying”.

How did Painting Rockets come about and what was the idea behind the name?

Painting Rockets was the name of a demo Stephen was writing before I had joined forces with him. He has a habit of naming our demos completely randomly before we have lyrics to our song. I recall him saying he saw someone painting model rockets on TV so he decided to name a demo he was working on by that name… ended up liking it and renaming the whole project from it.

Who are your biggest influences musically?

It goes without saying that Paramore are a huge influence on me. I listen to a lot of soul music however and I try to implement that subtly in rock with vocal runs, etc. During writing our new music I had been listening to mostly PVRIS, Hiatus Kaiyote, Solange, Matt Corby, VUKOVI, Don Broco, Issues, NAO, Vulfpeck, John Mayer.

Keli, you won Paraoke (a karaoke contest aboard a cruise ship with Paramore), how was that? Have you been able to mention Painting Rockets to them?

I had the time of my life! It was a wonderful experience and the amount of positive response and support we as a band have received since then has been unbelievable. It was unreal to receive the feedback I did from Hayley saying she wanted to “steal my vocal runs”. They did ask me on stage if I was in a band and to tell the crowd about the band which was such an amazing platform to be given. I am forever grateful for getting to do that in front of a bunch of awesome musicians who were also playing the cruise.

You recently played King Tut’s and put on an outstanding performance (I know because I was there). Was that a highlight for Painting Rockets so far?

Thank you again for coming and for saying such kind things about the show! It was definitely a highlight. I feel like our hard work is starting to pay off with some of the recognition we are receiving and it was so good to debut our new songs, line up and sound for the first time. To be asked to play Tut’s was an honour – it is such an iconic venue. Hopefully one day we’ll sell out a show of our own there!

Is there anywhere specific that you like to go when you feel like you need some inspiration during writing?

Somewhere quiet with very little distractions are always the best places for writing. I am definitely an emotive writer so I need somewhere comfortable, cosy and safe where I can really tap into my emotions. Depending on my mood that can be my bed, or the beach, or a quaint little cafe. I base everything off my mood and my comfort levels that day.

What are your plans for 2018?

It’s going to be busy! We’re recording music all year with lots of fun stuff being dropped. New singles and videos galore which means lots of shows and new merch! We’re heading out on tour later this year for our first run of shows with the new releases with the details still being ironed out at present. It’s going to be a year of full-on graft. We’re not slowing down after this first release!

Check out the Painting Rockets website and be sure keep in touch via all social media pages to keep up to date of when and where they will be playing!

Painting Rockets: official | facebook | twitter | instagram | soundcloud | youtube

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