Duo bounce back with latest tune
A pair of songwriters fighting an ongoing copyright dispute with The Weeknd say it’s time they bounced back with the launch of their new single.
Brian Clover and Billy Smith, now known as Chains of Gold, have told how the infringement case robbed them of four years of their lives.
The duo who produce their music in Billy’s home studio in Hamilton, only wanted their names to be added to the credits of the Grammy Award winning star’s song A Lonely Night.
They claim it was plagiarised from their track I Need To love, written almost two decades ago.
Brian told the Advertiser this week that his “fight for justice” was such a horrendous experience that it drove him to depression and an attempt to take his own life.
But it’s brighter times ahead now for the songwriters, who will release two tracks on May 13.
The pair are excited for what’s to come when the singles Loved Up Generation and VIP become available.
Brian said: “The music case literally robbed us of four years of our lives, I had the most horrendous experience with lowest depression and a suicidal attempt. It sounds bleak, however that’s what it did to me.”
He added: “Myself and Billy have bounced back and decided to make the music we want to make and we have had already had lots of music in industry interest in what we are doing.”
Last year we told how the Hamilton songwriters’ alleged copyright battle could be worth half a million dollars to them. However, a US court later threw the case out without a hearing which the pair, and another Hamilton songwriter, Scott Mcculloch, appealed.
With still no sign of hope over the dispute against what they called “the music mafia”, they have all moved on to new projects but still plan on pursuing the case further in future.
Brian explained: “The court case was particularly bad for my health. So this is something positive and having a crack at doing what we do.
“The American case got dismissed and so did the appeal so that was quite disheartening, but what’s giving us a lift now is the music we’re making is getting good industry feedback. It seemed very dark when that happened and I hit a very low point.
“We used up life savings, time and emotional energy, it was a proper rollercoaster.
“But you can either have self pity about it or move forward with something that we’re really excited about.”
Looking ahead to the upcoming releases, Brian added: “It’s like a new start for us. It’s a complete new era in our lives. We’re putting our heads above the parapet and putting music out there that is different.
“We’ve had a lot of positive feedback, and some negative feedback, but it’s just great being creative again because we stopped being creative, and we feel again the fact that we can be creative again.”
Get the new singles at distrokid.com/hyperfollow/ chainsofgold/loved-upgeneration-radio-edit