Richard is a 55-year-old IT manager from England. He spent years working behind the scenes of the pop industry — building websites for Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, NSYNC and Steps, that whole glossy world of the 2000s that he kept running while staying invisible. Then came a long pause, and then a return to music on his own terms, under the name Rodeo Terrorists.

He fell in love with Scotland during his student years and has considered it a second home ever since. When World Cup fever started building around him, he sat down during a work break and wrote Saltire (Tartan Army) in thirty minutes — a track about the Tartan Army, Scottish pride and the football humour that anyone who has ever stood on a terrace instantly recognises. Celtic melodies, electronic pop-rock, terrace-ready hooks — and underneath all of it, the genuine affection of a man who supports another country’s team more passionately than many of its own citizens. The release carries another dimension too. Richard is raising funds for MND Scotland in memory of a close friend who died from Motor Neurone Disease. We spoke with him about Scotland, about his years inside the pop machine, and about what drives a person to write an anthem for a country where he grew up an outsider. Read on below.

Richard, it’s wonderful to speak with you, and thank you for taking the time. Saltire (Tartan Army) was written in thirty minutes during a work break — and that speed is audible. The track has this urgency to it, like it came out fully formed before your brain could second-guess anything. But thirty minutes also means very little time to self-edit. Is there a moment on the track that survived purely because of the speed — something you might have cut if you’d spent a week on it? 

As you’ll understand though I wrote the song lyrics, basic melody and arrangement, I recorded it using AI and then engineered the output back in my home studio. But I like to work at pace and none of my songs are ever over produced and prefer it is there’s mistakes in it and a few rough edges. However there were a couple of obvious AI glitches in the recording that I feel if I had given it a bit more love and attention I could have produced the vocal part with a little more dynamic range and breathing space. 

Football anthems live or die by the hook. The chorus has to be something a drunk stranger can sing back to you after hearing it once in a packed pub. That’s an incredibly specific engineering challenge — simplicity that still feels musical. How many versions of the chorus did you go through before you landed on the one that’s on the record?

The chorus in a way was the most difficult to write and it was re-written a couple of times, the actual ryme itself was quite easy by using the closing ‘n’ sounds of again & glen, delight & sight and then the open sounds of lair & hair, do & you etc. But I really struggled with the line ‘with our saltire rising from a dragons lair, you’ll quake yer boots at their ginger hair’. As a bit of a nonsense, because as everyone knows its actually the Welsh that have dragons, the Scots have eagles and highland coos!

The track leans heavily into humour and banter. Scottish football culture thrives on self-deprecation — the Tartan Army is famous for celebrating glorious failure as loudly as victory. Where did you draw that line lyrically, and was there anything you wrote that you pulled back from because it crossed over?

Similarly in the chorus the early initial draft was more ‘English-centric’ with the line ‘you’ll hear a Jocks delight’ , but as soon as I wrote it I knew it would be the wrong sentiment being a derogitory English slang and actually it was far funnier to be in the the first person of  ‘you’ll hear our Scot’s delight’

Working completely alone, how do you know when a track is finished? What’s your signal to stop tinkering?

I sort of don’t, but to behonest if the time ticks past 2am and I’m still mixing then I generally say no go to bed and sleep on it! But I very rairly spend more than a day on a recording, honestly the quicker the better. I’m terrible at making notes on what I want to adjust or fix, so most often as soon as I get a track listenable all the way through, I just click master and save it down.

The title itself is a statement — Saltire. The Scottish national flag. You could have called it Tartan Army and left it there, kept it purely about football. By putting Saltire first, you elevated it into something that touches on national identity beyond the pitch. Was that a conscious decision to give the track a bigger meaning, or did the word just sound right?

I’m not really sure, I do quite like short non descript song titles (as well as stupidly long ones), but if there’s a single image that would spring to mind as a Scottish football fan, it would be the waving of the Saltire, and in a way the single word itself encappsulates the whole meaning of the song.

What was the specific trigger — was there a single moment where you decided Rodeo Terrorists had to exist? 

Well they sort of don’t exist even now! They are my imaginary musicical friends, who get to play about and not be to serious. But if I were to release my music just as ‘Richard Barclay’ it wouldn’t be the same as I’m far to normal and sensible to be a pop star.

You’re fifty-five. The music industry is obsessed with youth — young faces, young voices, debut artists in their twenties. You came back to making music at an age when most people in the industry are already behind desks permanently. What does being fifty-five give you as a songwriter that you genuinely believe you wouldn’t have had at twenty-five?

Experience, I can still write as if I were far younger but I can also be reckless with ideas, to me it doesn’t matter a great deal if people don’t take to it (obviously its a bonus) but I’ve climbed a lot of hills in my life! But I still think I’ve got a pretty good head of hair for a 55 year old!

Scotland and England have one of the oldest football rivalries on the planet. Centuries of history packed into ninety minutes. You’re English, releasing a Scottish anthem, and presumably you still have English mates who watch football. Have any of them given you grief for this — and what’s the best insult you’ve received? 

Not yet… I think if they realise its me, moreover they’ll cringe and ask what on earth is Richard upto now!

You’re dedicating proceeds to MND Scotland in memory of a close friend. That puts real weight behind a release that on the surface sounds like a party. When you decided to attach the charity element to this specific track, did it feel like the right pairing immediately, or was there hesitation? 

There was deffinatly hesitation and I checked with MND Scotland that they would be Ok with the association, I do hope it can be of benefit even if just in a small way.  

If someone discovers you through Saltire (Tartan Army) and clicks on the rest of your catalogue, what are they going to find — is this track representative of who Rodeo Terrorists is, or is it a complete departure?

I think they’re going to find a really mad eclectic mix of tunes, typically we’re quite a techno’y disco dance electronic kind of band, but because I had quite a few lyric song ideas kicking around we’ve been able to re-record them as more complete records. There’s hopefully something for all the family.

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