The Scotsman Sessions #203: DopeSickFly

Welcome to the award-winning Scotsman Sessions. With performing arts activity curtailed for the foreseeable future, we are commissioning a series of short video performances from artists all around the country and releasing them on scotsman.com, with introductions from our critics. Here, Glasgow funk quartet DopeSickFly perform their new track The Night Is Young

It is a marker of how constrained lives have been over the last year that a trip to Govan Dry Docks on the south bank of the Clyde could be considered a grand day out, but Glasgow funk quartet DopeSickFly’s atmospheric choice of location for their Scotsman Session version of their track The Night Is Young is wholly in keeping with its lyrical invocation to “live in the day.”

According to the band, fronted by onetime street musicians Ant Thomaz and Joe Djaelani, with Iona Chantel McGregor on bass and guest percussionist Alex Palmer, that might involve “a simple walk, spending time with loved ones, just breathing. It makes more sense than ever that we should appreciate the small things, especially now. It’s a song of hope!”

These former winners at Celtic Connections’ Danny Kyle Open Stage are known for the infectious positivity of their music, which draws on funk, jazz and global grooves, so it’s no surprise to discover they have been thoughtful and proactive throughout lockdown, signing up for weekly online writing and music groups, indulging their love of cycling and the outdoors, and brushing up their skills in the kitchen – “that has been a plus, as we all can make a great curry now!”

The group plan to release The Night is Young in a number of formats, firstly in an acoustic version to accompany their appearance at a livestream fundraiser on 30 April, which will benefit two crucial local charities, Refuweegee and Sunny Govan Community Radio.

“Music is our life and we know it is an important source of wellbeing,” they say, “so we kept that in the forefront of our minds and knew it was time to step up. Glasgow is our home and we must look out for each other.”

For more on DopeSickFly, visit https://dopesickfly.bandcamp.com/; for more on the Refuweegee fundraiser, see https://bit.ly/immersivetvsunnygandrefuweegeefundraiser

A message from the Editor

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription at https://www.scotsman.com/subscriptions