The Hour

Simon Cowell may have felt that Scots duo The MacDonald Brothers didn’t merit a place on series three of The X Factor but three years on, the brothers are planning the release of their fifth album and couldn’t be happier with life.

The sibling duo burst into the public eye in 2006 when reaching the final four on the TV show The X Factor. Despite the negative criticism from Simon, the brothers have no regrets about their reality TV experience.

“We had a great opportunity to be on Simon Cowell’s show and we will always be grateful to him for having that, but I think on the show, we didn’t get to show a lot about ourselves, about what we can play and as writers,” Craig said.

Since the reality TV show, the double act have been a hit with the Scottish crowds, with their first two albums in 2007, produced by former Bay City Roller Stuart “Woody” Wood, rocketing into the charts at number one.

“We never get any time off because once we get finished something, we get battered into something else,” Brian said. “It is just the way we are in general.”

The pace did anything but slow for these Ayrshire boys and in 2008, they went on to release another two albums as well as headling two tours around Scotland and supporting Westlife.

The brothers go get it attitude is what sealed them the deal with childhood hero Elton John.

“I’m a big fan of Elton John,” Craig said. “We just basically thought ‘do you think Elton John would ever write a song for our album.’ If you don’t ask, you don’t get!

“A few weeks later, this track came through and it was Elton John on the piano doing a demo. We just built it up our own way and did our own thing with it and it ended up on our album.”

The boys are now working on a Christmas album and find it a strange to be singing festive songs at this time of year.

“It is a fun album for us to do. We are in the studio in August, September time with all the decorations up, standing there with the Christmas tree up.”

To keep up to date with The MacDonald Brothers, visit www.themacdonaldbros.com