- Not a folk band
Did you notice that Chemikal Underground signed Loch Lomond? They went all the way to Portland, Oregon to sign a band named after a Loch. Maybe they could have shopped locally?
“Ha! I think, objectively, that Loch Lomond are far better than we are. Even though they’re named after one of the more mainstream lochs…”
I’ve developed a Glasgow and Edinburgh bandcamp tag habit. It is where I found your first record. I like the idea of money going directly to the artist and there you go and offer it for free. Not pay what you like maybe you’ll get something for it free, but FREE. Whose self-interest are you promoting?
“We liked the idea of giving our music away free, because it didn’t cost us anything to make. However, as of last week, we’ve made it Pay What You Like. This is so we can hopefully raise a bit of money to pay for the recording of the second album. So, if anybody really, really likes us and wants to give us a wee bit of money, that’d be lovely. If not we still 100% support – and, indeed, encourage – people taking the record for free. We just want you to listen to it, really.”
The page also mentions that you are not really a folk band anymore. I also have a copy of ‘Bookmarkesque’ from ‘The Inside Track’ and it is such a lovely song. Is that song the direction you are moving toward or away from?
“Bookmarkesque was the first song written for the new record that we were 100% happy with. Basically the whole theme of the album is centred on the lyrics of that track. I don’t like to tell people what to take away from what we write, though, so maybe listeners will disagree. As for the sound of the record, some of it sounds like that, and some of it is a bit louder.
Here’s a link to a new demo we just finished: http://soundcloud.com/we-the-plural/i-will-drift-into-10-000
As a middle school math teacher by day, I’m more than a little impressed with your facebook ‘likes’ running commentary providing some mathematical fact for each successive new number. Is anyone a math-s major?
“Yes indeed! I’m in my third year of a maths degree, and hoping to study for a PhD when I graduate. On top of that Jack (our bassist) is a computer scientist, Oliver (our drummer) is an engineer and Brian (our guitarist) studied geophysics. We’re all scientists except Joy, who studies English Language and Linguistics. But we don’t talk about Joy.”
When can we contemplate buying your second record? Is there anything you can tell us about your plans for it?
” Certainly – we can tell you that the album’s written. We can tell you that we’re going to be spending three days in Chem19 (where albums like Mogwai Young Team and Arab Strap’s Philophobia were recorded) in December to hopefully get down most of the LOUD bits of the album, and then, hopefully sometime in January, we’ll be heading into another studio (we’re not entirely certain which, yet) to record the rest of it. Finally, we can also tell you that you won’t have to contemplate buying it, as we’ll be putting it out as a Pay What You Like download.”
Have you ever gotten the chance to see Kenny Anderson? I saw that he made it as far as SXSW last year. I’m thinking that’s as far west as he’ll ever travel. Are there any Scottish bands you think highly of? Maybe you could point out something we’ve yet to discover.
“We have indeed. We actually played a show with him (backed by Kid Canaveral, like he was at SXSW) and The Last Battle in July this year. That was a damn good show. You seem to be pretty clued up on the local scene, but here’s a list of bands and artists I really like, maybe you’ll find something new:
Adam Stafford, Andrew Lindsay, Beerjacket, Conquering Animal Sound, Edinburgh School for the Deaf, The Leg, Meursault, PAWS, Reverieme, Rob St. John, Shambles Miller & Withered Hand.
There are more, but those are the names that come to mind right now.”
Lastly, we’d love it if you asked glasGOwest a question, as long as it isn’t about crisps.
“Hm. I obviously really want to ask something about crisps now. Maybe ask about your dislike of questions about crisps. But I won’t. Instead, a maths-related question: what’s your favourite number? I’m a big fan of palindromic numbers, so I’d have to go with 101, which is not only palindromic, but prime too. Yay!
Thanks, Matthew”
Ironically, it is 101 as well, but that had everything to do with a house number, the first high school love, and a broken heart. Incidentally, I’ve never heard of The Leg and one of the bands in that list is our next post.
T&P
A little Corner of Scotland 