Songwriter-chef David Laing writes letters to people who helped take record to No. 1

When David Laing cooked up the idea to write letters to fans of his new album, he wasn’t expecting to develop writer’s cramp.

But when the singer songwriter’s latest LP cracked the charts, he proved as good as his word – by sending handwritten epistles all over the country.

His new record We, Then Me, landed at No. 1 on the UK Amazon folk chart last month, meaning Laing – who works as a chef and performs under the moniker I am David Laing – had to get his writing pad out.

He said: “ I didn’t just want to go on the beg asking for people to buy my record. In the past I’ve done stupid things like telling people I’d give them a Twix if they came to a gig.

“So I figured I’d write a thank you letter to people for buying an album, because the act of writing a letter really has become a dying art. I didn’t think it was going to have an impact, but people started to pre-order the album so they could get a handwritten letter, which I couldn’t believe.”

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Laing has now sent letters to fans as far away as Spain, and up and own the UK.

“I didn’t realise how much it cost to send letters,” said the Inverclyde songwriter, who lives in the seaside town of Gourock. “So I’ve been writing a batch and actually going out and hand-delivering them as far as possible, chapping people’s doors or popping them through the letterbox. Every letter has been different.”

And he joked: “At times it reminds me of sitting outside the classroom writing a punishment exercise in third- year French. It’s been so time consuming, but I’m loving it. I’ve written loads and still have some left to write. It’s hilarious how it’s worked out.”

Getting his thoughts down on the page is something that comes naturally to 33-year-old Laing, who has been writing songs since he was a teenager and who honed his craft with pals rehearsing in the garage of the late sculptor and musician George Wyllie, one of the most significant Scottish artists of the last 50 years.

His self-run label, Lonesome Boat, is inspired by Wyllie’s famous Paper Boat, which he launched to pose a question about de-industrialisation on the Clyde.

The singer, who studied music with Deacon Blue’s keyboard player Jim Prime and Pearlfishers’ frontman Davie Scott at University of the West of Scotland, has had support slots with Emeli Sande, as well as top indie acts Admiral Fallow and King Creosote.

He’s due to back up Edinburgh favourite Withered Hand at a hometown gig in Greenock next month.

It’s a change of scene from the day job, working as a chef in Gourock’s riverside Cafe Continental.

He said: “All I wanted to do was to get this album into the lower reaches of some chart somewhere. So when it landed at number 68 in the UK official downloads chart, I couldn’t believe it. I was above Bryan Adams and Bruce Springsteen at one point, which was hilarious.”

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Laing celebrated by posting a photo of himself in the bath with his rubber duck and a bottle of Prosecco.

And he admitted he decided to have fun promoting the record, which tracks the aftermath of a break-up and contains songs he refers to as “sad bangers”.

He said: “The songs are so serious, and this album maybe sounds older than my last one. The songs speak for themselves, so why not have a bit of fun promoting it?

“I’ve tried to be cool before, trying to emulate bands like Frightened Rabbit, but my music’s not cool. Del Amitri are my favourite band, and my mates are constantly rinsing me for that because they’ve never been cool.”

The songwriter’s already working on new tunes, while basking in his unexpected success. He joked: “I’ve been No. 1-selling artist, even if I was only at the top of that folk chart for a day. Nobody can take that away from me now. I always wanted to get my music into the charts, and now I can say I’ve done it.”

I am David Laing supports Withered Hand on July 18 at the Beacon, Greenock. His album We, Then Me, is out now.