In today's social media era, it's common to discover everything about a band before they've even reached double figures in gigs.
Glasgow group White went for a different approach. There were blurred photographs on their Facebook page, and hardly any music available online.
"You don't want to give everyone everything from the start," says their singer, Leo Condie. "It's more intriguing and it's nice not to have all the cards out on the table. We only put one track online, and although there's lots of strings to the bow in terms of the sound, we thought only having one track up would be good.
"I think making everything available is the temptation, but it's more like a nice secret when you don't."
There is, perhaps, another reason. All of the band have prior experience in Glasgow bands, with Condie formerly fronting art-rockers the Low Miffs, drummer Kirsten Lynn a member of Garden of Elk and the final three members - Hamish Fingland, Chris Potter and Lewis Andrew - all part of acoustic pop group Kassidy, who had a big label deal and plenty of hype when they first appeared.
The music they're making as White is a radical departure from that. Both their first release, Living Fiction, and new single Future Pleasures are thrilling slices of pop music that owe clear debts to the likes of Talking Heads and Bowie in his 80s pomp, yet with a more modern sheen. For Condie, it's about creating pop tunes that retain an off the wall element.
"I had the Low Miffs who were influenced by Bowie, so I brought that element, but the guys had all been listening to music outside what they'd been listening to previously, so it was a chance for a clean slate and starting from scratch...
"I think we always want to get a mixture where you make people dance but scare them slightly as well. I like the music of the post-punk era where it challenges people but it's still danceable, like Talking Heads - they were one of the biggest pop bands on the planet but with so many interesting ideas."
Fingland first met Condie to chat about a side project he was working on, and it rapidly grew into becoming the day job, rather than just a song or two. Now they are on RCA Records, have received plenty of plaudits for Future Pleasures and will headline Stereo in Glasgow on July 17.
Appearances at the Wickerman Festival and the Gentlemen of the Road jamboree in Aviemore will then follow. Condie points to Living Fiction, as being the song where the group realised things were clicking.
"Living Fiction was the one we put online first, and even though I don't think all of our songs sound like it, it really set the groundwork for what we're about," he adds. "It's got the guitars but it's also got the synths, and they're fundamental to the song - when that came along it was like 'right, this is what we sound like now', and that was a jumping off point."
The singer is also adamant that there was no trouble in getting used to working with his bandmates, despite the fact three of them have already been in a band for years.
"I've played in enough bands to know how band politics go, but I found it pretty easy," he adds.
"We all want the same thing and we all want to work towards that - there's no-one lagging behind, saying they're not sure if they want to be in a band or anything like that. Ideally we all want to make a living out of this."
White play Stereo in Glasgow on July 17.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article