Fifer-led rock trio Broken by Rock are set to release a new single inspired by frontman Alan Clarke’s childhood in 1980s Inverkeithing.
“Kingdom is really sort of a reflection of me growing up and dreaming about the future,” explains Alan.
He and bandmates Andrew Clarke and Derek McKee have full time jobs but in their spare time continue to enjoy making and producing music together.
Their latest song Kingdom is, Alan describes, “just very real, its very simple”.
‘I’m from the Kingdom, I just don’t live there anymore’
The lyrics to the song hold a lot of meaning for Alan.
“I lost my dad just over a year ago, my mum couldn’t stay in the family home anymore and so we had to sell,” he says.
“It was a tough process selling the home that had been in our family for over 40 years.”
This experience inspired Alan to write Kingdom. He explains the feeling of having, “a connection to a place as you grow up and eventually losing that bit of connection”.
It is not something specific to Inverkeithing but something he thinks, “that most people go through.”
Although Alan has moved away from Fife and his direct link to Inverkeithing has been lost, the lyrics, ‘I’m from the Kingdom’, encapsulate the permanent association he has with his hometown.
Alan still has a ‘real connection’ with Inverkeithing
Alan’s passion for music began when he was a young kid growing up in Fife. It is something that has stuck with him as he moved from Inverkeithing to Edinburgh to Glasgow.
When growing up he “we would spend time reading music magazines and taping music off the radio”.
He was also in a band in high school. They would record music in his parent’s basement.
“I think it (Fife) was a really fertile environment for learning to play and enjoy music,” he observes.
Cousins Alan and Andrew’s previous band East Coast Defectors inspired the band name Broken by Rock. Their band would play such loud music that Alan ultimately developed tinnitus.
Their new band name emerged when Alan joked that he “had been broken by rock”.
In it for the music, not the money
And making music is still a family affair for Broken by Rock.
The band’s last single Popstars (named BBC Radio Scotland’s single of the week) was accompanied by a music video featuring lots of family members and friends.
“That was a lot of fun,” says Alan, who reveals his son Ben and wife Rachel may even join the band on stage at their next gig.
“When we’d have house parties when the kids were younger, we’d call it T in the Kitchen.
“We’re not in it to get famous or make money – this is just purely for the music.
“One of our songs is about working in a video store in the 1980s, and one is even about David Hasselhoff!”
Kingdom will be released on August 30 by Last Night from Glasgow and be available to stream on all platforms. It is the band’s second song this year recorded at Post Electric Studios in Edinburgh.
Broken by Rock will perform Kingdom live for the first time on August 31 at Nice and Sleazy, Glasgow.
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