In September 2011, in their second year studying Music at Perth College UHI, Steve McElroy and Shaun Lowrey formed an acoustic two-peice band as an extra-curricular project.  After learning a few covers and throwing together a couple of original songs, they began gigging at small gigs in their college, dubbed the 'Union Unplugged.'  The band, then, was only known as 'Shaun & Steve,' but was very well received by their peers and fellow student who made up the audience at this time.  With this initial boost of confidence the band then cracked on learning new original songs, which are a mixture of songs with music and lyrics written by Shaun, music written by Steve and lyrics written by Shaun, so it appears to be a good 50/50 split on royalties!  Through the 'Union Unplugged' the band was able to effectively promote and test new material on an audience and this was a definite benefit to the band as it helped with stagecraft and musical development.  By this time they had come up with their band name 'Mclowrus,' which is Steve and Shaun's last names spliced - if you take into account Shaun's nick-name in college at the time 'Lowrus,' interestingly enough, given by Steve.



By the end of college Mclowrus had taken the plunge and hit the towns with their new band and got their first gig in Dunkeld, Perthshire at the Royal Hotel; this gig became a fortnightly event, boasting an open mic night... at which Mclowrus ended up being the only act, bar one.  These gigs were performed free of charge, but gave them the confidence to go out for more gigs and soon they had played at most of the pubs in Dunkeld & Birnam and could now justify charging a fair amount, then to Perth and beyond... Mclowrus then started getting gigs in Perth and were making plenty of good contacts with studio owners and such-like, when they were asked to perform at a battle of the bands in Aviemore in the Highlands of Scotland.  It was in support of Joel Brand and Natalie Sangster from the village, who were two conservation volunteers and sponsored by SPB Events.  Mclowrus were the winners of this contest and this proved to be one of their most successful gigs as they won a support slot at 2013 MV Festival on the 1st - 3rd March.  Through this they met Stephen Barbour,  an events manager, who has been key in throwing gigs their way and supporting the band when he can.  

The band are hoping to continue gigging and promoting themselves to a point that their day job is no longer necessary.