Highland rockers discuss their rapid rise, local pride, and bringing high-energy hooks to Scotland’s biggest festival
Highland rock band Reliever are living proof that sometimes the best things come together quickly. Formed just over a year ago from a high school rock music week encounter, the four-piece have already graced stages in Glasgow and Edinburgh, building a reputation for high-energy performances and infectious melodies.
Now, as Belladrum Festival celebrates its 21st birthday, Reliever are set to make their debut on the Seedlings stage—a moment that represents the realisation of their first major goal as a band. With influences spanning Catfish and the Bottlemen to Foo Fighters, and a sound designed to stick in your head for weeks, they’re bringing authentic local energy to one of Scotland’s most beloved festivals.
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Formed just last year in the Highlands, Reliever has already hit stages in Glasgow and Edinburgh—what sparked the band’s formation, and how has the ride felt so far?
Relievers formation came about from a high school rock music week, in which I (Ewan) met Jamie and Flynn. In August of 2023 after a couple of months of rehearsal we brought Billy into the line-up, and from then we’ve kicked on. The journey from then to now has been special, playing some top gigs and meeting loads of great people along the way. It’s been a privilege to have experienced it.
You draw influence from artists like Catfish and the Bottlemen, Oasis, Foo Fighters, and The Stereophonics—how do those sounds shape your music, and what can Belladrum crowds expect from your set?
Not only these bands, but many others are sort of subtly present in different ways. We all take inspiration from various artists to form our own ways of playing, and these all come together to create our reliever sound in a way that wouldn’t be possible if tastes in the band weren’t so broad. Belladrum can expect high energy, hooks and Melodies that will be stuck in their head for weeks to follow, and a big in your face live sound.
Belladrum’s celebrating its 21st birthday, and you’re making your debut—how does it feel to bring a local energy to one of Scotland’s biggest festivals?
It’s a real privilege to be playing Belladrum this year. Growing up we’ve all attended and since we started this band we knew that our first big goal was to playing Belladrum. d Being a local band at Belladrum makes us proud of how far we’ve come, especially seeing our name on the posters alongside the headline names.
What song or moment from your Belladrum set are you most looking forward to, and why?
We’ll just look to enjoy the whole day, as for the majority of us it’s our first time playing Belladrum. The second song always seems to be where things start to settle in, as the nerves fade away and the crowd starts to really get going, that will be hopefully be the same in front of our debut Belladrum crowd.
If you could steal a song from any other act on the Belladrum lineup and claim it as your own, what would it be—and what draws you to it?
Decided to allocate this question to Flynn as he’s a big Supergrass fan and if we didn’t choose a Supergrass song he may have not spoken to us! He reckons he’d choose the song late in the day, as he likes the groove change into the chorus.
What’s coming up for Reliever after Belladrum? Are you working on new music, planning more gigs, or just soaking it all in before the next step?
After Belladrum, we play the main stage of thunder in the glens on the 23rd of August. There’s a few other dates yet to be announced, so keep an eye out for that! As for writing we’ll keep at it and hopefully be in to record more tunes post August!
There’s something genuinely moving about a band achieving their first major goal, and Reliever’s journey from high school rock week to the Seedlings stage captures that perfectly. Their commitment to creating hooks that stick and their pride in representing the Highlands at Belladrum 2025 suggests this debut performance will be just the beginning of their story.
Reliever play the Seedlings Stage at 320 pm on Saturday.
