The XCERTS

The Xcerts first assembled in 2001 inside the headmaster’s office at their school in Aberdeen, Scotland, with Murray MacLeod on lead vocals and guitar, Jordan Smith on bass, and Tom Heron on drums. Real momentum arrived only in 2006 once original drummer Ross McTaggart left; the group then moved to Brighton to focus on music, installing Exeter-born Heron behind the kit. Their sound, built from loud distorted riffs and soaring pop-edged choruses, immediately invited comparisons to fellow Scots Biffy Clyro and the ’90s post-grunge of Weezer. Two early singles appeared on the Glasgow independent label One Records, after which Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly frontman Sam Duckworth issued two more on his Mannequin Republic imprint. The first of those, “Do You Feel Safe,” earned substantial airplay on BBC Radio 1 and XFM. Throughout 2008 the Xcerts toured the U.K. nonstop alongside Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly and Fightstar, their high-energy shows attracting growing media notice. That groundwork led to a 2009 signing with the Xtra Mile label, home to Reuben and Frank Turner. Their debut album, In the Cold Wind We Smile, collected material honed across years of roadwork; early singles “Just Go Home” and “Do You Feel Safe” both featured on the record, which earned positive notices from the British press, Kerrang!, and Rocksound. Recorded in Wales and produced by Dave Eringa (Idlewild, Manic Street Preachers), the album benefited from Eringa’s direct style, lending urgency to the angst and melancholy conveyed by MacLeod’s vocals. Scatterbrain, the follow-up, surfaced in 2010 and signaled a clear evolution beyond the band’s self-described “distorted pop” approach. Cut in New York with American producer Mike Sapone (Brand New, Taking Back Sunday), the sessions revealed a fiercer, more aggressive dimension while retaining the group’s slower, melancholic leanings. That intensity showed when MacLeod screamed his throat hoarse during final takes, forcing the cancellation of shows after the band’s return. The record drew influence from Brand New’s The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me as well as ’90s-era rock such as Nirvana’s In Utero and Weezer’s Pinkerton, whose raw emotion and grunge feel surface throughout. Four years after the sophomore release, There Is Only You appeared in late 2014 following three-and-a-half years of touring with Brand New, Taking Back Sunday, and Manchester Orchestra. Following a comparatively quiet stretch, the Xcerts issued the single “Feels Like Falling in Love” in summer 2017; the song appeared on their fourth album, Hold on to Your Heart, which arrived that autumn and included the single “Daydream.”