The Passing Sages
Photo Cred: Lewis Milne Photography
17 November 2020
‘The Passing Sages’, a 6-piece band from Dunfermline, Fife are releasing their debut E.P, Burnin' Up this November.
Formed in 2017, the group is made up of Carrie Forgan and Holly Clark on vocals; Nic Holson on guitar; Mr Clyne on bass; Daniel Keay on keys/synths and Sean Priestley on drums.
The group originated from previous musical projects including Sean, Nic and Mr Clyne’s alt-rock band, ‘State of Truth’ as well as Nic’s collaborations with songwriter, Glen Gates who continues to write music with ‘The Passing Sages’. After a year of “crafting their musical style”, Holly and Carrie joined the band and their first gig took place at PJ Molloys in Dunfermline, supporting ‘Moonlight Zoo’. In 2020, keys player, Daniel Keay became their latest “addition.”
Photo Cred: Lewis Milne Photography
The name, ‘The Passing Sages’ came from songwriter, Glen Gates. In the past, Glen tutored an Indian boy who showed him films about Indian traditions with ‘Sages’ often becoming a prominent theme within the stories.
“This is where Glen’s interest in ‘Sages’ began. Sages are deep thinkers, and after intense meditation, they realise supreme truth and eternal knowledge which they compose into hymns. It is believed they turned this knowledge into hymns so that the messages could be conveyed more easily to everyone. In essence, this is what songwriters do.”
The band continue revealing, “The term ‘a passing sage’ would quite often arise…and the phrase stuck in Glen’s head and later became the name of the band.”
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Each member have their own diverse music tastes however as a group, they love Chic, Grace Jones and Lady Gaga. I asked the band to describe their own musical style: “The vibrant music of The Passing Sages blends contemporary sounds with retro and nostalgic vibes. Our music is a flourish of disco, electronica and soul.”
Together they have played in a variety of local venues such as PJ Molloys, Monty’s Bar, The British legion, The Monarch, Life, Lorenzos and Legends Bar in Dunfermline; Anstruther Golf Club and Legends in Anstruther; Wheatsheaf Inn in Kirkcaldy; The Greenside in Leslie and, The Bruce Arms in Limekilns. As for the capital, they have played in Stramash and Sneaky Pete’s of Edinburgh’s Cowgate.
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“The vibrant music of The Passing Sages blends contemporary sounds with retro and nostalgic vibes"
‘The Passing Sages’ have also performed at a variety of respected music and arts festivals such as the Dunfermline Outwith Festival, Fife Pride and Aberdour Festival, playing alongside Scottish rock band, ‘Idlewild’ and Scottish indie musician, ‘Honeyblood’.
Their prior released tracks include (Your Love Makes Me) Happy’ and ‘I Was Wrong’ (2019) as well as ‘Destiny’ (2020) – a groovy pop song filled with strong harmonies. The band came together to discuss their creative process when writing and forming music: “We write with a songwriter called Glen Gates who quite often presents ideas to the band which we jam through, or sometimes Nic will start off with a groovy lick or Mr Clyne will create a funky bass line which we can build on.”
Preview Video of 2019 Track: ('You're Love Makes Me) Happy'
They continue revealing, “Holly likes to create songs and arrangements on her Mac which the rest of the band then learn and jam out. It’s always very much a collaborative effort and always very exciting hearing songs come together!”
Next on their agenda is their upcoming debut EP Burnin’ Up. The 4 track album includes songs: ‘Wonderful Person’, ‘Kindest Boy’, ‘Octave Higher’ and their title track, ‘Burnin' Up’, a dynamic pop song featuring 80s style synths and funky guitars, packed with a catchy chorus.
“The EP is super vibrant, fun and energetic with lots of positive tracks. The EP was interesting to create as a lot of the recording was done remotely over lockdown which certainly presented its own challenges.”
I asked how, ‘The Passing Sages’ have overcome these setbacks: “…luckily we’ve managed to adapt and make sure we’re still managing to stay productive. Lockdown meant that we could no longer continue with our band practices, however, we focused our efforts on recording and planning for our EP release instead.”
Despite the challenges faced by COVID-19, the band remained optimistic, learning, “new skills along the way such as video editing and live streams! It’s definitely been a learning curve.”
Burnin' Up will be released on November 30th, streaming on platforms Spotify, Apple Music and Deezer. Alongside their E.P, ‘The Passing Sages’ launched their Burnin' Up music video yesterday on YouTube, directed by Cal Nicol and Lucid Shade.
‘The Passing Sages’ end by revealing why this project is so important: “..we feel like it’s our first opportunity to showcase and present the musical style we have developed over the past few years since the band formed…We all really enjoyed working on the EP and are looking forward to sharing our music with everyone.”
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Check back here on November 30th for links to Burnin' Up!
Author: Karina Caulfield
