‘The Kardashians used a song we wrote in a cupboard’ | UK News

It is a world away from the glamorous lifestyle of Kim, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian.

But an Edinburgh band managed to get one of their songs on the siblings’ famous reality show – having recorded it in a cupboard.

The Eves, made up of friends Caroline Gilmour and Marissa Keltie, saw their track Brand New Day appear on the second season of the Kardashians in 2022.

Now the unsigned duo are hoping to record an album, as they juggle musical ambitions with daytime jobs.

“An agent we were working with specialises in film and TV, and has access to our whole catalogue,” says Caroline, explaining how they ended up soundtracking a scene where the Kardashians were at the Met gala.

“We got an email one day saying the Kardashians show would like to use one minute of footage from Brand New Day, and we thought it was amazing – it went worldwide.

“I turned a cupboard into a recording booth during the pandemic so we could work on songs remotely, and we’d performed vocals in the cupboard – and that was the song that went on the Kardashians!”

However while the reality stars are famously wealthy, the Eves have had to scrap hard for any success.

The duo had were aware of each other through Edinburgh’s gigging scene, when Marissa suggested they get a coffee and discuss writing together.

Caroline admits she wasn’t exactly keen to shelve her solo plans, only to discover considerable chemistry in person, as they bonded over a shared love of the likes of Sheryl Crow and Lucie Silvas.

Their ambitions only grew when they landed their first gig, playing Glasgow’s massive OVO Hydro venue.

Sort of…

“It was for the Country to Country festival, and although they have the main stage there’s other stages there too,” explains Marissa.

“We were on the Record Store stage, but it was still our first gig and we’re pulling up outside the Hydro to load in!

“We’d literally only written our songs a few weeks before it, so it was one of our most terrifying gigs. It was a nice venue to start in…”

Although the Eves couldn’t have asked for a bigger start, the following years have seen a variety of ups and downs.

Two years into the band’s career, they were gigging regularly and picking up record company interest. Then the Covid pandemic brought everything to a screeching halt.

“The hardest part was that we had talks with Sony and with Universal,” recalls Caroline, who works in financial services as her day job.

“They were interested in working with us and it all faded away when the pandemic happened. We’d both been working up to this for years even before the Eves, and to be going down to London and having meetings… It was like we were so close to getting something.”

However the pair simply knuckled down and went back to work, with gigs and releasing music.

The duo have picked up other admirers of their melodic harmony-led pop over the years, opening for the likes of soul legends Sister Sledge (“they told us we sounded great” says Marissa proudly) and Heaven Is A Place On Earth singer Belinda Carlisle, who left the friends starstruck and disappeared into the night in a limousine after her gig ended.

It also led to the duo being approached by a scout for Britain’s Got Talent, a proposition the Eves were uninterested in.

“Everything is laid bare for the public to rip into rather than the talent being at the heart of it,” says Marissa, who works as a model and voiceover actress when she’s not gigging.

“It’s a bit pantomime and as much as it can make a career it can completely break any credibility you’ve built up.”

Instead the duo focused on other projects, releasing the EP Both Sides via the independent Last Night From Glasgow label last year.

They also have a non musical venture close to their hearts – the dog rescue team Pico’s Pack, a volunteer partnership between Serbia and the UK that tries to help abandoned and abused street dogs in Belgrade.

“Stray dogs don’t get treated well in a lot of Balkan countries and it’s really heart-breaking” say Marissa.

“Pico’s Pack tries to feed them and keep them alive. I was playing netball with a woman who was involved in them and mentioned it, and we paid to get a promo video. We built it up from there.

“Fundraising is always hard but we’ve raised around £250k since we started.”

However music remains the duo’s main priority.

They return to the stage at the Liquid Rooms in Edinburgh on Saturday, and Caroline believes it’s live music that still inspires the band to keep going.

“We’ve had gigs where people tell us our songs made them think of something specific – we did a show with Skerryvore and this woman came up to us sobbing afterwards.

“She’d lost her husband the day before but had still wanted to go to the show, and she said it made her think of him the whole way through.

“We were all crying and hugging, but that’s the human element of why it’s important to keep doing what you’re doing – because you’re touching people.”