Lewis Gale meets highland rock band Sign Red before their recent gig at Glasgow's nice'n'sleazy's - a venue the band sold out on their previous and debut visit..............

Stornoway band Sign Red have recently completed their second tour of mainland Scotland, following in the footsteps of more established acts like Astrid and Poor Old Ben who hail from the remote island of Lewis and have achieved a degree of success in the mainland music scene. Sign Red are set to join these two bands as an up and coming band from the island gaining credibility and a fanbase on the more fickle stage that cities like Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh provide.

The band, Collin, Derek, Donald and Simon have been together for less than a year but already they have completed two Scottish tours and played their biggest gig to date supporting the Procliamers on part of their "Five Islands" tour.

The band began by playing a mixture of cover versions and original material around local pubs to build up a bit of a following, Colin - "we just used covers to keep local crowds happy, and get better attendances for showcasing our own stuff". Not long into their time together Sign Red were spotted by local promoters and music fans - Jori and Innes of Honcho Productions.

The band were given the opportunity to record some tracks for a honcho recordings compilation which in turn led to Sign Red taking Jori and Innes on as management. Collin - "At this point things started to more quickly and everything became a lot more focused".

Keen to develop the band Jori and Innes booked a tour of the mainland. In October of last year the band and their management embarked on a tour of mainland Scotland, a mixtue of support and headline slots which took them from Stornoway to Ullapool, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Innes "The first tour was a really good experience, we sold out nice'n'sleazy's and that was a great night.