Interview: The Rooks

Just a few miles over the Scottish Border, Glaswegian indie-rock thrillers The Rooks have stopped off in North Shields for a 4:30pm slot at Salt Market Social as part of the fourth edition of A Stone’s Throw Festival.

Adrenaline-soaked performances with brooding vocals and chiming guitars, the five piece – made up of Ross Gardiner (lead vocals), Cameron McKie (guitar), Matthew McFadyen (guitar), Kieran Luddy (bass) and Coll McKinnon (drums) – combine sounds of ‘90s indie-rock with modern, anthemic inflections.

“We’re glad to be here. We enjoyed Newcastle and it’s the closest city to us across the border, it’s been good to us,” affirms Gardiner.

They’ve been growing their momentum for some time now, but just in case you haven’t made it to one of their shows yet, the band reveal what to expect. “It’s rock. Rock music for stadiums,” says Luddy.“We pride ourselves on our live shows,” Gardiner adds, with McFadyen expanding on the other two with the sizeable declaration that theirs is “a high energy rock show.”

When pressed with the all-important question: what should we know about The Rooks?, they first have a little laugh between themselves – perhaps there’s some things they can’t say – and then Gardiner settles on “You should know that we’re here to take over. North Shields right now, stadiums next.” Not ones to put themselves down, McKie jokes: “Aye, after this we’re going to Wembley!” Ambitious, but after hearing them live it’s not so quixotic.

Their latest single, Nothing To Lose, is a fortifying number where Gardiner’s vocals ignite, McKie and McFadyen provide bold riffs and rhythms, a stunning bassline shines through from Luddy with drums from McKinnon building its inspiring zest. Recorded at the start of the year in London, with the intention of it being a summer song, it was made for festivals like the one they’re playing today. On the track’s message, McKie says: “There’s a lot going on in the world and people tend to feel like that’s on their shoulders but it’s not, so the song encourages people to share their struggles.” Its emboldening lyrics (“We’ve got nothing to lose / Let’s get out of our heads / Been wasting all this time”) also challenge listeners to push themselves and to get out there and do whatever it is they want to do with their lives.

Some band names are self-explanatory or clear in sentiment but what is the origin story behind The Rooks? “Oh, there’s a few of them,” admits Gardiner, before McFadyen chimes in with “depends which one you want?”. “Tell the cunty one,” the frontman replies.

Apparently, the inspiration was a poem by Aldous Huxley. Huxley’s 1954 autobiographical book, The Doors of Perception, which explores the wonders of human consciousness, also happened to inspire Jim Morrison to coin his now-renowned band, The Doors. “If he’s good enough for Jim Morrison, he’s good enough for us”, explains McFadyen, “so we landed on The Rooks through one of his poems.”

The poem in question is called Vision, published in 1916, and it features the verse: “I had been sitting alone with books / ‘Till doubt was a black disease / When I heard the cheerful shout of rooks / In the bare, prophetic trees.”

In the poem, the birdsongs of the rooks stand out as the cheery break from the bleak realisations that can come with being a little too knowledgable about the world around you.

For the rest of summer, The Rooks appear to be booked and busy: “We’ve got festival season obviously coming up. Back home, we’ve got TRNSMT Festival. It’s probably the second biggest in Scotland so it’s good to be playing there this year.”

Beyond that, fans will be pleased to know that band agree in unison that the remainder of 2026 and beyond will consist of new releases and live performing, including a new track, Open Wide, that Luddy says will “take them into a slightly different direction”.