As part of an occasional series on emerging artists in Scotland, The Decibel Decoder follows up the first interview, Cowboy Hunters, with Edinburgh post-punk 5-piece National Playboys. The band comprises Kyle McFarlane (vocals), Ewen Kerr (guitar), Dave Reed (bass), Megan Pollock (drums) and Anna Trost (vocals, guitar, and synth). In the interests of full disclosure Megan also plays drums and guitar for the aforementioned Cowboy Hunters. This week National Playboys released new single ‘Fragments’ and lead singer Kyle took time out to discuss both the new single, their own headline tour, and how they were invited to play Truck Festival in July.
I read in a previous interview that the band name doesn’t have a particularly interesting backstory!
The music started as a solo project just after COVID. I had all these songs floating around and I came up with a list of names and I was joining different ones up and it sort of stuck. Obviously I met the rest of the guys and just never bothered to change it. Either through laziness or whatever, we just kind of left it!
With Anna and Megan joining National Playboys, what sort of impact did that have on the band?
We’d met Anna from gigs at Sneaky Petes and Whiesltebinkies and we’re really good friends with her. And then I wrote a song about a year, a year and a half ago and we wanted female vocals on it. We asked if she wanted to do it and she worked on the demo, and it worked out really well. I thought it would be really good to have her there the whole time, not only because she’s a really good singer, but she can play the guitar and the keyboard, and the fact that she’s in another band, she can offer advice and help out on that side of things. So she came along, and we shuffled the drummer around as well. We’d known Megan from playing with Cowboy Hunters, and they’re doing really well, which is good to see, because we’re good friends with those guys too. We all get on really well, not just musically, but as friends because they’re both really lovely people. I think for the band as well, it’s really good having strong female musicians in the group. And when you talk about the name, if it was a band full of guys it wouldn’t be cool. But the fact that there’s that female energy in there as well and they’re both really good songwriters and really nice people. It’s good to have a balance, and to have those different voices in the group. I think it’s probably been the best thing we’ve done so far, for sure.
National Playboys have released their first music of 2025 with ‘Disease’ last month and ‘Fragments’ this week. Did you record the two tracks at the same time? They are quite different. ‘Fragments’ has a real Bauhaus vibe to it.
We did, it was over a session over four days. We wanted to do loads of demos just to have them in the back pocket. Then we had the two single ideas, and that’s maybe why they sound different because we were doing loads of recording at the time. ‘Disease’ is more like the live show, it’s the more energetic one, whereas I think ‘Fragments’ is the first song that’s actually how I wanted the band to sound like, if that makes sense. The first songs that we did when we started, like ‘Red Spy’ and ‘Scarlett’ they were more indie alternative rock, more digestible, nice songs to get started with. We then did a more punky, rougher song with ‘Disease’. But in terms of how I actually think the band should sound, it would be ‘Fragments’, a bit gloomy, as you say a bit Bauhaus post punk sort of thing. And I quite enjoy performing those ones as well, because I’m actually singing! For singles I think you can explore different things.
I also read that you don’t really want to dissect the songs, that the listener is then free to interpret, but I do have to ask about the impactful line “let the bodies hang” in ‘Fragments’. Does that refer to something in particular?
‘Fragment’ was a poem first, maybe two or three years ago. From my point of view I was writing about, especially in Edinburgh, you don’t really see as many live bands anymore. The original line was “fragments of a disco ball”. So it’s like the death of live music. You can’t really walk into a place to see live music as much. It’s more club nights or acoustic covers. In terms of that imagery, it’s the image of people dancing with “let the bodies hang”. That’s the image I wanted to see, but I wanted to keep it a bit vague as well.
You played in London for the first time last year. How was that?
Yeah, the first place we played was in Camden, and then we were down again and played Jaguar Shoes. And then the third time, which was probably my favourite, was a Windmill Brixton gig. It’s such an iconic venue, the fact that we got the opportunity to play there was so fun and we had a great time. And then we’re lucky enough to be able to go down again this year, which we’re looking forward to. I think playing in Scotland is really good fun, especially in Glasgow and Edinburgh, but in terms of the opportunities that we’ve got from playing those three London gigs it’s been like night and day. For example, we played at Jaguar Shoes, and that’s how we got invited to play Truck Festival. It’s really hard to put into words how much is going on down there, I think really because of the size of the place and how much they’re into music. We’re looking forward to going back down there for sure.
That shows the impact of playing in London. That’s an incredible outcome to be playing Truck.
The person had just walked in, it was pure luck. I feel like that’s the sort of industry we’re in in terms of creative stuff. It just takes those little things the right person or maybe it’s social media, just getting that algorithm, or getting that viral thing. You can go through your whole career, be a brilliant musician, but don’t have that one little bit of luck that could help spread your voice. I think we’re definitely going to make the most of it and try and enjoy it as much as we can.
And before that you’ve got your own tour beginning in Edinburgh, and including Manchester, Sheffield, Newcastle, London and Glasgow. How is the planning for that going?
Really good. The venues are all booked, just currently getting our travel and accommodation sorted out. The band admin stuff can be quite difficult because everyone’s got their own jobs, everyone’s got their own lives, bills to pay, families, so it’s really difficult, especially with the five of us. We all work different jobs as well so it’s like herding cats sometimes! It’s no one’s fault, it’s just life and for every band at our level, it’s exactly the same. So it’s hard work, but it’ll be worth it. And yeah, just now we’re trying to get the merchandise, t shirt, posters, travel organised, making sure supports are okay. But you do all the hard work in the back end so then when you’re on the tour, it’s all covered and you just go on and play.
It’s quite a year for National Playboys with the singles, the tour and Truck Festival. Is there anything else we need to know about ?
For me personally, and I hope the guys can attest to this as well, once we’ve done our tour and Truck fest, and then taken some time, I’d really like to work on an EP, a body of work, towards the end of the year. Maybe four or five songs that have a similar vibe. We’ve got loads of songs, it’s just finding the time when we’re all free to do it, and then just finding the money. If we can find some extra pennies, then that’s definitely something I’d like to do.
To finish, you recently played House Guest fest, the festival put on in Glasgow by local promoters Scottish Music Collective and Crowded Flat. There is a strong scene of emerging artists in Scotland at the moment. How important are those promoters?
They are brilliant guys. I know them well from working with them a few times. They’ve always helped us with headline gigs in Glasgow. Obviously, being in Edinburgh the scene isn’t as big as it is in Glasgow. But the fact that they’ve been able to reach out to bands like Puppy Teeth, Comfort Girl, Cowboy Hunters as well, they’ve got their finger on the pulse. Maybe they’re not plagued by being a bigger promoter, they’re not in it for financial gain, they’re in it for the music, which is the whole point. The bigger you get the more you realise it’s like a business. But for those guys, they do want to make their money back, but the main thing is putting on a good night. And I think that’s really good for the community and the music scene in Scotland. The gig that we played there (House Guest fest) it ran really smoothly. And, yeah, I think those guys are going to be very important moving forward for bands in Scotland. And they’re great guys as well.
National Playboys Live Dates
May
25 – Edinburgh, The Caves
31 – Dundee, Church
June
3 – Manchester, Band On The Wall
12 – Newcastle, Little Buildings
13 – Sheffield, Record Junkee
15 – London, George Tavern
20 – Glasgow, Room 2
July
24-27 – Oxfordshire, Truck Festival
For more information on National Playboys please check their facebook and instagram.