January Sixteen are a 4-piece band from Glasgow, Linlithgow and East Kilbride. The guys have all been in bands in the past and three of them were in a band together about fifteen years ago. I liked this new track so much, I asked if they would tell me about themselves so that I could share it on The ‘Spill.
Most of them had stopped making music for about ten years, until 2022 when the singer, Dave Sloey, started writing new songs after making it a New Year’s resolution. He then asked the drummer Alan Duncan if he’d like to have a jam and see if any of the songs would work. Dave took a leap of faith after that first rehearsal and booked time in a recording studio for November 2022, and over the next few months Brian McNulty and Alan Wiseman came along to some rehearsals.
The four worked on a batch of new songs and picked two for the recording session, one of which, Rats, was the band’s first release in January 2023. Rats received a great response from bloggers and got a number of radio plays on Jim Gellatly’s show and BBC Radio Gaelic. Reviews have compared the band to The Pixies, early Foo Fighters and Nirvana, The Stone Roses and James (probably why I like them – Ed.). The band acknowledge all of those influences and others from U2 to My Bloody Valentine, The Beatles to The Clash, The Velvet Underground to The Jesus and Mary Chain.
Over the last year they’ve continued to write and record, putting out eight tracks including an EP, and they played their debut show to launch the EP in August 2023. The band agreed at the start that no style or genre would be off limits, that they wouldn’t limit themselves, and everyone is encouraged to bring songs and ideas to the table. Most songs now are joint written by Dave and Brian with both Alan’s contributing too.
Check out their debut EP on Bandcamp!
The 'Spill 