Home town gig after German jaunt for Fife's Shambolics

Kirkcaldy band The Shambolics have started what could be a defining year for the four-piece with one of their most ambitious tours to date.
The Shambolics onstage at The Lido in BerlinThe Shambolics onstage at The Lido in Berlin
The Shambolics onstage at The Lido in Berlin

The up and coming four-piece – Lewis McDonald on lead vocals/guitar, Darren Forbes on guitar/backing vocals, Jordan McHatton on bass and Andrew Findlay on drums – have just returned from a tour of Germany where, much like in the UK, they are making a stir.

Speaking to the FFP, Darren said: “We’ve been gigging away over the last six months or so, but the big highlight for us was Germany. I’m still blown away by it,

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“We got to number 20 in the German charts a while back – I still don’t know how that happened! – and we’ve got a couple of fans over there who keep pushing our name out. We got offered a couple of tours over there.

“We were a bit wary of taking something like that on so we decided to do a smaller three date headline tour and it turned out to be better than anything we could have expected.”

The Shams played gigs in Berlin, Hamburg and Kiel and Darren says they were amazed by the response.

“About 200 people came to see us in Berlin, we were playing a 120-capacity club in Hamburg which sold out and then we had 60 people in Kiel on a Monday night. It was madness!”

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Now the band are bringing it all back home with a gig at the Windsor Hotel in Kirkcaldy on Friday, February 16 – a venue that they know well – which has been put on in conjunction with Fife-based Rubber Stamp Promotions.

“We’ve sold it out twice in the past and hopefully we will again,” Darren said. “There’s things happening for us behind the scenes so it’s going to be our last Fife gig for a while but we are planning to play another nearer the end of the year.

“If it all comes off it’ll be the biggest headline gig we’ve ever played.”

Looking ahead the band are planning further gigs and hope to release a single in May.

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“We’re writing and recording all the time,” Darren said. “There will be an album definitely but I think it will probably be in about another year.”

Joining The Shambolics on the bill at the Windsor are Glasgow band The Dunts as well as Between The Lines and Plastic Mac who both hail from Fife.

Darren added: “We’re also going to be collecting for Kirkcaldy Foodbank, so if you’re coming along please bring a donation with you.”

Tickets at £6 are available from The Windsor or via www.ticketweb.co.uk.

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