The Cryptic Keys are an Inverness based three piece that started playing the local scene in late 2013.We spoke to The Cryptic Keys in January at which time the infectious aura of their enthusiasm was hard to ignore.
Since that point the band have gone on to build on their momentum including playing at goNORTH and are on the bill of the Seedlings stage at Belladrum 2014.

For the un-initiated, can you tell us about the sound of the band?
I guess the best way to describe our sound is ‘Acoustic-Pop’, taking advantage of the male and female vocals we sometimes tell the story from two perspectives.
Tunes like ‘Warrior’ and ‘Jumping Trains’ really stand out, how has the process of creating tunes developed with your time in the band?
The feedback we got from both ‘Jumping Trains’ and ‘Warrior’ blew us away as we just recently formed at the time they were written. Since then we have worked on the structure of our songs, studied the more up to date popular songs that are out there and what makes them click with the audience in terms of hooks/choruses etc. There’s absolutely no rules when writing songs but it certainly helps piece the music together when you look into it a little deeper.
Cryptic Keys have had a very busy year from Battle of the Bands at the Eagle to playing goNORTH and much more in between, what have been your highlights so far with the band?
It’s all been a fantastic experience but the highlight for us has to be GoNorth festival back in June. Was ace getting asked to play after our gig at the IronWorks. The best or most satisfying part of the GoNorth experience was attending seminars throughout the week, meeting people and getting a great response at the end of our set.

As your first festival, how are you preparing for the event?
Since Mike’s come back from offshore we’ve been working on our stage presence/words between songs to make it more of a show. We may or may not be trying something we haven’t done at our gigs yet also ;)
Tom Jones or Razorlight, which headliner do you prefer and why?
Razorlight are a great band but it has to be Tom Jones, he’s been in the game for years so we imagine we’re all going to be in for a show and half.
What other acts are you looking forward to seeing at Belladrum 2014?
Frightened Rabbit, they are one of our favourite bands, I am Kloot and Adrian Edmondson & The Bad Shepherds.
What’s are the current plans for recording material?
We’ve recently been recording 4 new tracks with producer ‘Andy Miller’ in Glasgow so once the finishing touches are put down on these tracks we should be good to go!
After Belladrum 2014, what’s next for Cryptic Keys?
Once Belladrum is finished we have a gig in the IronWorks supporting Sivu & Paul Thomas Saunders who are awesome – check them out along with us on 13th August. After that, providing everything goes to plan with our new tracks, hopefully start thinking about playing down in London to broaden our audiences.
Cryptic Keys will be playing the Seedlings Stage at Belladrum 2014 on the 9th of August in the meantime you can check the Cryptic Keys Facebook page out to keep up to date with what they are up to.
From interviews with the organiser and the the special guests to previews of the acts, you can keep up to date with our coverage on our our Belladrum site and to keep updated with all of the things going on in Inverness, sign up to our mailing list.