The Highland indie outfit discuss their rapid rise, recording at Lyth Arts Centre, and opening Friday’s festivities at Belladrum 2025

The Chosen Lonely’s ascent from Belladrum Seedlings to Garden Stage openers has been remarkable. Just over a year ago, their festival debut was only their fourth gig as a full band, yet now they’re preparing to kick off Friday’s festivities at Belladrum 2025. With their euphoric single “Big Blue Bus” still gaining streaming momentum since March, the Highland outfit have refined their sound through recording at Lyth Arts Centre and a successful May headline tour.

Opening the Garden Stage at Belladrum is a major step—how are you approaching it differently compared to last year’s Seedlings set?

Last year’s seedlings set was a huge step for us too, and was actually only our fourth gig as a full band! Seems quite crazy to think back on how that came about so quickly for us.

I think a year on, we’ve established much more about what kind of band we are, and the sound has developed greatly since then. We’ve compiled a half hour set of what we believe to be our most festival friendly and upbeat numbers, to kick-off everyone’s Friday with what we hope will be an exciting entry into the day.

You’ve called ‘Big Blue Bus’ euphoric and nostalgic—what makes that track endure for you, and how does it anchor your wider musical direction?

Right from our first show together, Big Blue Bus has been the set closer. I don’t think we’ve ever placed it anywhere else. When it was written, I’m not sure it necessarily stuck out as a single, but it seemed the obvious choice when we started playing it together in rehearsals last year. It definitely takes a lot of inspiration from the dreamier side of 90’s guitar pop, so I guess that’s where the nostalgia comes in. But it also feels incredibly uplifting. It’s probably the most simple love song I’ve ever written, and I believe we’ve found a way to inject the right dose of attitude into its live delivery too.

It’s great that it also still feels so fresh despite having been released initially in March. I think that’s maybe the summer tones it has within it, which do feel very festival friendly. And everyone at the shows has really gotten on board with continuing its streaming lifespan since then.

I’m not sure it necessarily represents the overall sound of the band, but it does feel like a great reflection of how we’ve started.

With bandmates now fully on board, how do you balance your solo instincts with collaborative arrangement—any happy accidents recently?

The solo instinct definitely still drives the Bus, so to speak. Ideas are usually fairly well fleshed out when they first reach rehearsal suites. However, I have definitely started to lean on the traits of certain members. We were hashing out a new track recently, and whilst it was still a situation of ‘play this on the bass; do a groove like this on the drums; the keys do this’, I was considering the styles of each player in the ideas that were being expressed, however, the song itself has been around for a while, so the main direction was already in mind long before then.

One of my favourite things continually about playing in bands are the moments when I try to communicate an idea, and it’s interpreted 80% correctly, yet the 20% mistake ends up sounding more interesting. That’s usually where we find augmented chords that we don’t know the name of and such like.

Recording up at Lyth Arts Centre seems to suit your sound—how does the Highland setting seep into what you create?

I think you’re right. We all seem to have gelled really well with the team we work with up there. Believe it or not, there is an accordion hiding in the mix of Big Blue Bus somewhere!

The experience up at Lyth had a real nice blend of DIY ethos, & artistic professionalism. We were using Grand Pianos whilst also having about a hundred cables running into a portable desk.

Our vocal booth was a couple of beach towels on coat hangers, set up in the corner of the theatre space by the stage curtain. Yet the mood in the studio was so on point that it’s probably ended up being the vocal take I’m most happy with of anything I’ve recorded.

We’ve had a few people say that we’ve managed to capture a Scottish edge to the sound, without necessarily sounding like Celtic Rock etc. Working in the unique space up there gave us a bit more freedom to try different things too, hence the accordion!

Looking back on your May headline tour, what evolved most about your live sound—and did any particular city leave its mark?

Most of our gigs up to that point had occurred in isolation, as single performances unlinked to a larger tour. Playing a run of shows like we did in May really helped us to capitalise on our own momentum as performers. A good friend of mine attended the opening night in Glasgow, as well as night 4 in Edinburgh, and he commented on how much more slick and impressive the presentation was. It’s been the perfect pre-season tour for the Garden Stage I think.

Beyond Belladrum, what’s next—are you plotting another single, fleshing out those demo albums, or shifting focus altogether?

We had initially planned to be back in the studio in July, but we wanted to work with the same team again, and one thing or another has pushed that back until September. But I think in a way, it’s all worked out well. Big Blue Bus has maintained its own lifespan, and we’ve kicked on quite a lot as a band. We know what the next single is going to be, and the album thoughts are still simmering away.

I imagine much of 2025 pt 2 shall be spent recording.

Opening the Garden Stage gives you a front-row view of the day’s energy—have any acts on the Belladrum line-up sparked musical or personal admiration this year?

I sat down to write out a list of all the acts I aim to see over the weekend. It’s always tough to catch everyone, and I’m a bit disappointed that The Marches will be on seedlings 30 minutes before we play. This probably means we won’t be able to catch any of them! Similar issue with mates in The Katanes who play the Bella Bar spot!

But I’ll definitely be there to catch our friend Dylan opening the Garden on Thursday. Dylan played with us at our Upstairs headline in May, and amazingly, that may have been one of the first times he and I had shared a lineup together! We’re returning the favour with an acoustic set of our own at his An Seomar date in September.

Other names that I’ve marked include: Katie-Gregson; Connor McGlave; Quiet Houses (who in fact work with the same mixing engineer as us, which incidentally, is exactly why we chose to work with him. Lovely dream-pop sounds from this group); Beluga Lagoon (the bassist of which played bass on, and mixed, the first ever TCL solo single); The Joy Hotel; Lewis McLaughlin (a hairier me appears in their video for ‘Getting Better’); and of course will be hoping to catch friends in Demographic; Collective; Reliever, along with the likes of more household names in Supergrass, CMAT, Tide Lines, Natasha Bedingfield, Example etc.

Only after attempting to compile a list did I realise how much there is going on this year. Always need to factor in time for accidentally stumbling across gems in the Verb Garden. The new addition of late night DJ sets are a must in seedlings too.

As a band rooted in thoughtful songwriting, how do you feel the Belladrum ethos—its mix of folk tradition, indie energy, and family focus—aligns with your own values?

I think Belladrum is a festival that does really well to find the balance across all those things. The earlier slots across all stages, and the more recent positioning of the Seedlings tent really build a grassroots feel, and there are a lot of new music enthusiasts that you run into throughout the whole weekend going back and forth all the spots around the back of the festival.

Last year was actually my first at the festival for quite a long time. But I reckon that’s me converted now into being a Bella head.

Where do we align? I like to think we’re an enjoyable band to be around, both when performing and off the stage. Maybe we’ve got a bit of a ‘something for everyone’ feel about us too. We’re definitely driven by an indie energy, and we’re also proud of our roots and traditions, but we don’t let them define us either. I think Belladrum this year is showing a progressive quality, and I hope people will see that from us too.

The band’s commitment to both artistic growth and genuine connection shines through their approach to the festival circuit. Their transformation from tentative newcomers to confident Garden Stage openers reflects the organic development that makes Belladrum 2025 such a compelling showcase for emerging talent. With recording plans mapped out for the latter half of 2025, The Chosen Lonely are clearly building something substantial from their Highland base.

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