24 February 2010

The sound of Leith is more commonly associated with seagulls and fog horns, but recently there's a different sound coming out of the docks: some of the best new talent in Scottish music. Leith Records is the latest project from The Leith Agency, and it aims to showcase and foster unsigned bands in the area, giving musicians a leg up in a difficult industry.

The agency, best known for its iconic advertising work for Tennents, Grolsch and IRN-BRU, has turned its experience and creativity to supporting new musical talent, putting on live shows on their barge on the Water of Leith, and offering bands artwork and marketing expertise. The rewards on offer for bands include album and poster design, music video production, album launch events, plus opportunities to be featured on the site and even in TV adverts created by Leith.

"The original purpose was to share good music that we've been enjoying at the agency, but it soon became more than that", says Kenny Nicholson, an account planner, who also manages bands in his spare time. "As well as getting good exposure, new bands will always need creative work for print and video, and we realised we had a lot of these skills we could offer."