Haiver – Lookin’ Out My Backdoor Single Review

Review By Graeme Wright

I was a huge fan of the Scottish band Frightened Rabbit and was devastated when singer Scott Hutchison succumbed to his demons and took his own life in 2018. It took guitarist Billy Kennedy five years before he could step back onto a stage with his new band Haiver, indeed he had retrained as a well-being practitioner during his hiatus. I was thrilled when the new project appeared under the name of Haiver, my excitement increasing when I realised that the rest of the band is a veritable who’s who of respected musicians from bands and projects such as Community Swimming Pool and Julia Thirteen (a band that should have been huge but somehow slipped under the radar, check out some of their music on Soundcloud.)

So after the first single, ‘So Slow’ which is a beautiful, heartfelt record, what can we expect from the second song, a cover version of the Creedence Clearwater Revival classic, ‘Lookin’ Out My Backdoor’? Well for me it’s everything you could want from a cover version. It’s not just a slavish copy of the original, but a daring reconstruction of the song that puts a Scottish spin on the proceedings and is different from the Creedence version. The pace is slower, the vocal is more melancholy and for me there is an almost homely feel about this version. Beautifully played, and beautifully sung, I love this record as much as I’ve loved the previous projects from some of these guys and I can’t wait for an album and some live shows in 2024.

Haiver:

Billy Kennedy – Lead Vocals, Guitar, Keys

Brett McCann – Guitar, Keys, Backing Vocals

Craig Brownlie – Guitar, Keys, Bass

John Bonnar – Bass, Keys, Backing Vocals

Findlay Brown – Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals

Track Listing:

Lookin’ Out My Backdoor