The Xcerts

The Xcerts
The Xcerts at The Ironworks, Inverness
Background information
Origin	Aberdeen, Scotland, UK
Genres	Alternative rock, power pop, indie rock, post-hardcore
Years active	2001–present
Labels	Raygun Music, Xtra Mile, One, Mannequin Republic
Website	[http://www.thexcertsband.com/ Official Website
Members	Murray Macleod Jordan Smith Tom Heron
Past members	Ross McTaggart

The Xcerts are a three piece rock band originally formed in Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom in 2001. They have released three studio albums, with their latest, There Is Only You (2014), peaking at #96 on the UK Albums Chart.

The Xcerts were originally formed by 13-year-olds Murray Macleod and Jordan Smith after meeting in the headmasters room at their school in Aberdeen. When school friend Ross McTaggart joined on drums, The Xcerts went on to record two EPs at the local recording studio Captain Tom's.

In order to progress, the band moved to Brighton in 2006, where Macleod went to college with future Architects vocalist, Sam Carter, and would later become roommates with Architects bassist Alex Dean.

Shortly afterwards, The Xcerts parted ways with their old drummer McTaggart. A replacement was found in Tom Heron, originally from Exeter, who was living in Brighton with a mutual friend and had also become close friends with Murray and Jordan. With the newly formed trio created, the band began writing the songs that would start to spread the word of The Xcerts nationally.

The Xcerts then went on to release two singles through One Records in Glasgow. 'Breathtaking Fight', which was recorded at Ridge Farm with Ben Watkins, was then followed shortly after by 'My Book Laughs'. After the success of these two singles, the band were headhunted by Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly frontman, Sam Duckworth, via MySpace who subsequently released two further singles – 'Just Go Home' and 'Do You Feel Safe?' – through his label, Mannequin Republic.

Recorded at The Dog House by Adam Whittaker, 'Just Go Home' received regular airplay on MTV2, and the band recorded three acoustic tracks for MTV's 'Spanking New Sessions' series. The band have also recorded sessions for Tiscali, BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio Scotland, XFM Scotland and XFM London. Cover versions of Radiohead's 'All I Need' and The Pixies' 'Gigantic' featured in the XFM Scotland and XFM London sessions respectively.