Sacred Paws makes strides
Scottish indie band blends pop, punk and African genres
Like any great relationship that is built to last, Eilidh Rodgers and Rachel Aggs’ friendship has its roots in swapping mix tapes. Rodgers and Aggs, the drummer/singer and guitarist/singer in Sacred Paws, both played (and still play) in other bands. But something special happened when they began passing tapes back and forth.
“We had just met and we were excited by the same music,” Aggs said from Sacred Paws’ homebase of Glasgow, Scotland. “There was a lot of African music and more obscure indie
stuff. I remember I made a mix that was solidly South African, sweat and soul and funk and stuff, and she made me a mix that had some Teenage Fanclub on it with the songs written out on this little piece of paper in smallest type I had ever seen.”
“I remember that,” added Rodgers with a laugh.
Sacred Paws, who play Somerville’s Once Ballroom on Wednesday and the Press Room in Portsmouth, N.H., on Thursday, pulled heavily from these mixes when building their sound for 2017 debut record “Strike A Match.” The hybrid of pop, punk, post-punk and African genres including highlife and mbaqanga hit big at home, with the LP winning the Scottish Album of the Year Award. Followup “Run Around the Sun,” released in the spring, keeps the indestructible blend of beats going.
Rodgers and Aggs say African popular music is still niche in the United Kingdom but a wave of reissues has helped give the sound a push into the wider culture. But the pair were digging the sound years ago.
“I was really obsessed with going on music blogs and downloading their music in the early 2000s,” Aggs said. “But I think what really got me into the music was learning guitar. What I was playing sounded African even though I didn’t know that at the time. Then when I heard all this music from Africa, I just become obsessed.”
At this point, the pair’s writing, the evolution of their aesthetic, happens naturally. Aggs says the genre labels people put on the band only come about once the music is finished.
“We are just trying to make pop songs that are really catchy and enjoyable but have soul to them,” she said. “The African sound just happens when I play guitar. It’s the way I play so I can’t escape it.”
While the duo are still very much an indie rock band (they are on U.S. super indie label Merge), momentum has been steadily building since “Strike a Match” and its Album of the Year win.
“In Glasgow, for maybe like a year after it was like it had just happened,” Rodgers said. “We’d meet someone on the street and they’d shout, ‘Congratulations,’ and it seemed to go on forever and that was really nice. But also people beyond Scotland came to know the band so that was pretty cool. Now we will see where it goes.”
Sacred Paws, at Once Ballroom, Somerville, on Wednesday and the Press Room, Portsmouth, N.H., on Thursday. Tickets: $12-$15, oncesomerville.com; and $10-$12, pressroomnh.com.