THERE’S a lot of history to be found in Alloa and another chapter is being written at this very moment.

Medicine Cabinet are recovering from their debut set at TRNSMT festival and the band have roots across Scotland, including in the Wee County.

Lead singer Anna Acquroff was born in Clacks and attended St John’s Primary School and Alloa Academy.

She told the Advertiser about how crucial support is in a young musician’s life, bumping into Franz Ferdinand at Paris Fashion Week and plans for the future.

Anna said: “We got there pretty early [on Saturday], our set was at 1.45pm so we loaded at like 11am and then stayed until The Strokes.

“It was great; Eilidh [O’Brien, synth and guitar] absolutely loves The Strokes, they’re one of her favourite bands. She cried for the whole set so, yeah, it was good, really good.

“It was really good fun. Obviously we’re all from Scotland, I’m from Alloa and we did all of our first gigs in Scotland, we did our first headline shows in Scotland.

“That was our first proper multi-day Scottish festival that we’ve done and it was just so lovely to go and be part of a festival that was such a big part of my teenage-hood and is a huge part of Scottish music culture, especially after seeing some of our friends’ bands playing there last year.”

Anna also had some advice for any budding musicians looking to make their mark.

She said: "For anyone who is starting out, build up your gig experience by supporting bands in small venues or anywhere near you that you’d love to play.

"Send the venue, headline band, or promoter an email or a message to get set up for those gigs.

"You could even put on your own shows in alternative venues if you wanted, we did that in The Wee Red Bar in Edinburgh for one of our first headline shows.

"When you feel comfy with gigs and have built up a bit of rapport with venues and promoters, contact them about playing festivals and build your way up."

The band put a lot of time into preparing for their shows, including picking their outfits one week beforehand.

For Anna, her musical journey began many years ago.

“Like many children I wanted to be a singer when I grew up,” she said. “I was very lucky to have family that was very encouraging and supportive of my little baby musical endeavours.

"I studied sociology and psychology of music and part of what we looked at was how musical identities are nurtured from childhood and those little experiments like my mum putting two-year-old me in front of family to sing songs. Like me at seven years old doing my first solos at St John’s and then at Alloa Academy doing [performances at] old folks’ homes.

“People reinforcing those musical experiences allows children’s musical identities to flourish and progress.

“My mum is very musical, she sings all the time. It was just me and her growing up in the house so we had a radio on in every room. We’d sing tunes [together like] The Clash and Blondie.”

Anna also cites the influence of two teachers who really made an impact on her life.

She said: “There’s two Alloa teachers in particular that were really, really important in how I got into music.

“One of them is Jonathan McLaughlin – Mr McLaughlin – who was at St John’s and then Ms Young in the music department at Alloa Academy.

“They’re both just amazing, life-changing teachers. People like them make a difference to young people’s lives.”

With TRNSMT over for another year, there is no letting up for Medicine Cabinet as they push forward.

They’re set to play Otherlands festival next month before supporting Franz Ferdinand in October.

Anna said: “[It’s] absolutely mind-blowing: it’s huge. I’m 21 so my whole adolescence was soundtracked by bands like Franz Ferdinand and Arctic Monkeys.

“It’s just something you never pictured yourself doing. It’ll be absolutely cracking.

“We met [Franz Ferdinand lead singer] Alex Kapranos at a Celine show in Paris Fashion Week.

“He was sitting front row, we were behind him and by some divine intervention our bench broke.”

The group were moved closer to the front where Alex heard their accents.

Anna continued: “Since then he’s kept in touch, sends an email every now and then.

“It’s so nice to see that someone you’ve admired for so long is so sound. He’s such a nice guy.

“[We’re] not only excited because it’s Franz Ferdinand but also because they seem like absolutely lovely people.”

Alongside those live shows, new music is on the way.

Anna continued: “We’ve just recorded songs just now. We can’t say much more but we’ve got the cover done and we’re gearing up to get that done.

“We’re also thinking of recording another project quite soon. We’re so excited.”

Visit facebook.com/MEDICINE.CAB.BAND for more information.