I don’t think I’ve enjoyed a record as much as “This Day is a Good Enough Day” in quite a while. It is my constant drive home music and inevitably with each listen, I marvel at how well-crafted it really is. How long did it take to record and finish?
Well, ta very much. Bloody forever. That’s how long. Being possibly the worlds laziest band we don’t tend to rush into these things with the excitement and enthusiasm we should. More a slow crawl and a general feeling of discontent. I think all in it took us 5 years to get it released, but I’m not sure any of us would ever consider it finished. Problem is there’s always a new distraction to not get excited about.”
Since I first heard of you from Kowalskiy, I’m reasonably sure that you qualify as a ‘Scottish’ band. Where exactly is everyone from?
“I’m not sure what the official qualification is but there’s at least one of us puts on a half-decent Scottish accent. The others tend to vary theirs to suit the venue we’re playing / how much they’ve had to drink. Faye’s is a mix of geordie/cumbria/fyfe……the poor girl. And we have an aussie knocking about at the back.”
Hailing from Canada myself, I’m hoping that you would be so polite as to explain the origin of the band name.
“We get asked this more than anything else which is probably a good enough reason in itself. To be honest it was either PEI or Pocket Grandpa.”
I read the quip that the band’s inception came after the realization that admiring each other’s Chemikal Underground records was not enough. Other than Arab Strap, what other C.U. artists do you like?
“As a label I don’t think they’ve put a foot wrong yet and I’d happily listen to most of their roster. But a world without Arab Strap or The Delgados would be hard to stomach. They taught us everything we stole.”
While crossing the Golden Gate yet again today, I focused on your clever word play. It reminded me of a more subtle and literary Carter U.S.M. Do lyrics come easily for you?
“Bad sex, booze and failed relationships is a gift that keeps on giving. However, I refer you back to question 1..”
Beep Beep Beep. Whose idea was that? It is unbelievably effective.
“It was an ad-libbed studio joke that just hung on in there. Besides, Faye’s at her best when she works with words of two syllables or less.”
I bought the emusic version of your record (for the instant gratification) and stumbled across and downloaded the new John Mouse record at the same time. Other than his incredible backing band and label, is there a deeper connection?
“Nope, there’s nothing deep about the Mouse – you are aware he’s from Wales?
I think originally Faye stumbled across him on MySpace. This was in the days when people still used MySpace which should give you some idea how long we’ve known him. The truth is they share the same surname and that was the only real connection at the time – the friendship just kind of grew from there. We do ‘band lies’ better than most and tried to develop this into a strange ‘Jack & Meg’-type back story but no one ever really bought into it. I think the incest turned them off. Except perhaps in Cumbria. Still we’ve had some great times out of it – you still can’t shut us up about The Radio 1 session at Maida Vale or Green Man. It’s funny where the seemingly most incidental of contacts can lead you.
To be honest, most of the time we just feel sorry for him.”
Lastly, we would love it if you asked us a question.
“Ahh, ok then……….Aidan Moffat or Malcolm Middleton?”
I’ve only had the pleasure of seeing them once. A brilliant show at the Cafe Du Nord. At the end taking cover requests from the audience, I couldn’t help wondering why the hell Moffat woudn’t let Middleton sing one of his. Something tells me it will be no different at Sleazys on Nov. 17th. I’m pretty sure Moffat will never beclown himself with us, so I can safely say Middleton. The tragedy was I didn’t go back the next night, rationalizing that I’d catch them on the next tour. You know how that ended.
T&P
A little Corner of Scotland 