"The 'live' feeling was always something that we wanted to capture from the moment we started writing the EP"- The Rants

I sat down with The Rants for a more in-depth interview.........

Q - The Rants have grown massively in a short space of time, what do you attribute that to?

A- I think we have definitely had a bit of growth, however it has been a slow and steady uphill climb that has been going on for the last, almost, three years now. I think our music connects with people, it comes out of personal struggles or experiences and a lot of people can probably relate to that. That's probably been the main reason for the growth. With that though, we are nowhere near the levels that we want to, or know that we can be. We almost don’t really stop to think about numbers sometimes as we know we will become obsessed with them, instead we are obsessed with being better all of the time. We want to see growth in our songwriting and in our live show, and hopefully that translates to people who want to give us a chance.

Q - You’ve played a lot of dates throughout the UK over the last 12 months, has that influenced the sound on your new EP Harrier?

A- I would say yes. As much as the subject of most of the songs doesn’t reflect it, I think the music does. We’ve been really lucky to get to meet and witness so many artists from all different backgrounds and musical influences and that, without knowing it sometimes, can help broaden the scope of an album, EP or song while it’s being written.

Q - Following on from that, there seemed to be a slight change in the band’s sound from the December 2025 release of the single Blue that has carried on into your new EP. Was there anything that prompted that change or do you feel it was just a natural progression?

A- I think it was a challenge to write a different type of music. Funnily enough, ‘Blue’ was the first song we done this with. It was originally written in a way that sounded closer to how the songs on our first EP do, however as we continued to develop, our sound, the song changed. ‘Blue’ was definitely the bridge between the 2 projects. ‘Harrier’ being an EP that can sound different but have the same themes throughout. It’s the same subject matter but how it presents is vastly different and we really enjoyed that challenge when it came to writing this EP.

Q - I feel the new EP has a ‘live’ feel to it, for instance, I love the way the start of Lois Lane integrates background sounds and gives the listener the feeling of being in the room and part of the narrative of the song. Was this deliberate songwriting choice from the start or did it develop during the recording process? 

A- The ‘live’ feeling was always something that we wanted to capture from the moment we started writing the EP. We think that our live set has always been full of a certain energy and we wanted to capture that in the recording of ‘Harrier’. In terms of the clips at the start and end of ‘Lois Lane’, we had floated around some ideas of how we wanted the song to stand out, and alongside Luc who produced the EP, we found some old videos and tapes with people close to us and he turned it into what you hear on the final mix of the song.

Q - Who in the band is the main catalyst for songwriting or is it just a big melting pot of ideas? 

A-  In terms of songwriting, for the first project it was mostly Fionn, who had written the lyrics and initial ideas for the songs, and later the rest of us would flesh out the ideas in a rehearsal room. With the new EP it has been a bit more of a collaborative effort in terms of original ideas and lyric writing, albeit Fionn does still get down most of the ideas. Changing this has allowed us to completely write from scratch while all four of us are there and watch it build up naturally.

Q-  I’m currently researching for a bigger article at the moment so this is something I'm asking all the bands and artists I speak to….. King Tuts has been in the limelight recently with it not being the iconic venue it used to be, or giving bands the illusion that it is the vital stepping stone to success- what's your thoughts? Is there a venue that you personally think now has that status?

A-  King Tuts has its place in Glasgow history, and it is still an important venue in the career of a Glasgow band. Selling out Tuts is like having a degree on your musical CV almost, it opens a lot of doors and helps you build more connections. However, the whole Oasis thing is a one time, and you’re probably not going to get signed for playing a show there any time soon. It has a cool history and is a fun venue to play but it isn’t the be all and end all venue.

Q- Where do you see the band in 5 years given the harsh landscape of the music industry?

A-  I think in 5 years The Rants are going to be in a very different place. If how much we’ve grown as musicians in the last 3 years is anything to go off, we’ll be closer and closer to our targets and dreams as a band. We’re very lucky to have hit pretty much every goal we’ve set out for ourselves since we started so as long as we keep setting our standards and targets high, stay ambitious and keep writing the best music we can write then i think we’ll be just fine.