COUNTLESS miles covered, hours spent writing songs, and now two former school friends are in Germany to record their debut album.

Logan’s Close – named after a narrow lane off the High Street in the founding members’ home town of Dunbar – have finished their UK tour and ventured to Hamburg to start work on Heart-Shaped Jacuzzi.

The band were formed in 2014 by Carl Marah and Scott Rough, and they are busy raising thousands of pounds to make their dream a reality.

A crowdfunder campaign is already under way, with the band, which now includes Sean Morrison, Stuart Neil and Gavin Lamont, offering various incentives for people to donate.

The money collected will go towards the task of producing the album, which is hoped will be released next year.

Carl, who plays electric guitar, said before their departure: “That moment where we are literally holding the album in our hands, it represents eight years of being in this band.

'A huge part of our lives'

“Having something like that to look at, and everything we have learned over these years and everything that has happened – it is a huge part of our lives.

“To see the real thing, a tangible thing, a culmination of that work on a disc, would be pretty special.”

Carl and Scott, who also plays guitar as well as lead vocals, formed “the rock-solid defence” of a Dunbar Colts team when they were younger and went on to bond over a love of 1960s music.

Since then, the pair have moved away from cover versions to writing their own material.

'As famous as Abbey Road'

As to the origins of the band’s name, Carl and Scott previously lived on the town’s Woodbush Court, with three-foot-wide Logan’s Close the quickest way to High Street.

Carl said: “When we were thinking of what to call the band, the idea of making that close one day as famous as Abbey Road was pretty amusing to us, so we went with that.”

The band had previously been looking forward to heading out to Germany but revealed they had run into an unexpected problem: the studio exploded.

A huge bang destroyed much of the building in the early hours of the morning at the end of May last year.

Carl, 28, said that the setback almost “scuppered” their plans but the studio equipment had now been moved to a new location.

Hamburg calling

He added: “We are going to Hamburg to record the album because before the pandemic we did a wee tour there.

“On our travels, we met a guy called Dennis Rux, who was saying he had got a studio with all the analogue vintage gear. My eyes lit up and I was already thinking that was cool.

“We stayed in touch and it got to the stage where we thought maybe we should pursue this. We hit him up and asked if he would be up for doing the album and we worked it out and are going over there to do it.

“We cannot wait.”

Crowdfunder

Logan’s Close, who headlined the Dunbar Music Festival last year, created the Crowdfunder page in a bid to raise thousands of pounds to cover the cost of the album.

People can make a donation of anywhere between £10 and £1,000 in exchange for a range of incentives, including a digital download of the finished album and a live concert.

The band are working alongside Creative Scotland’s Crowdmatch programme, where the national body match-funds initiatives as the band reach funding milestones.

Already, more than £10,000 has been raised.

Former Dunbar Grammar School pupil Carl described the sum raised as “unreal”.

He said: “We have not been up to much in such a long time [due to the pandemic].

“It is nice to think that after two years, people are still supporting us. It is great that solid rock foundation of support is still there and it is really reassuring.”

Go to crowdfunder.co.uk/p/logansclose to back the band.