Think Glasgow. Think Glasvegas, Franz Ferdinand, Belle & Sebastian and Frightened Rabbit. Yes indeed, many a great band have come from Glasgow throughout the years, and TWILIGHT SAD are one of G-Town’s finest. However, the band are quick to distance themselves from the scene, arguing that the bands have little in common. As the band release their second brilliant album ‘Forget The Night Ahead’ ANDREW TRENDELL caught up with singer James Graham and guitarist Andy Macfarlane to discuss the scene, their sound and Elton John…
AT: The Last Time I saw you guy was at Hop Farm. Did you head straight to America after that?
JAMES: Ah Hop Farm. That was a bit of a shit gig. The sound was awful and it was just badly organised. Apparently they were just giving tickets away by the end of it because there were that few people there. It was just shite. What did we do after that?
ANDY: We found a free bar and got absolutely wa…
J: No, I don’t mean what did we do that night, I mean what did we do after Hop Farm?
A: Oh, we played those London shows.
J: Yeah we played a few London shows and then we just went over to America for a while. I don’t remember much about that festival. Apart from Joy Formidable and Johnny Foreigner playing. Oh, and those cunts from Big Brother were kicking about.
The Twilight Sad @ Hop Farm, By Andrew Trendell
AT: Your debut ‘Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters’ was amazing. What’s changed since it’s release?
A: We’ve moved on in terms on sound and songwriting. We recorded our last album after only playing about 100 gigs or so. After touring for two years solid you just develop a bit more and become a bit better at what you’re doing. Sonically we’ve just moved on.
J: As a live band, we actually are a live band now, whereas before it was just rough and shambolic. We were just playing and drinking as much as we could.
AT: That’s the Scottish way though?
A: Aye, it’s true. The aim was be as f*cked and noisy as possible, now the aim is to be as f*cked and noisy as possible but quite good at the same time. Maybe we’ll pull it off.
AT: So you say your sound has evolved. How would you describe your sonic evolution?
J: We were noisy to begin with, and we’ve got noisier, but we know what we’re doing now. We’ve also got someone in the help out with extra guitar, keys and samples. We’ve just got a better idea of how to sound and where to go.
AT: On the last album the lyrics were quite intriguing and easy to get lost in. How would you describe the lyrical themes on the new album?
J: I’ve never let on too much to what the lyrics are about for my own reasons, but really that was just a dark record about a dark time in my life. The title basically explains it. Some nights I did forget, some nights I wanted to forget.
AT: So you say that the band has gone through quite a few changes in the last few years. Would you say that your approach to songwriting has changed?
A: Yeah, well, we still do in the same way. I’ll do the music then send it to him and he’ll send it back and I’ll slag it off for a while.
J: Oi, keep it claim.
A: “Utter Crap,” I’ll say. Obviously the more you do something the better you get at it. Not that the first album is bad or anything. That was a completely different record and we’ve moved it.
J: They are incredibly different records, but each day is a new step and we move in. It’s just a document of how we’ve moved on as a band. Who knows where we’ll end up? Probably in the ground somewhere.
The Twilight Sad @ Hop Farm, By Andrew Trendell
AT: It’s quite refreshing that you’ve got such an enigmatic sound that’s quite difficult to pin to a genre or scene, which makes life hell for lazy journalists.
J: Ha, yeah but people really do try hard to pin it down.
A: Because everybody feels like they need to say who sounds like what we just do what do, it’s not like we’re trying to sound like anything. There are elements of the band that we can’t change. We’re not like pure “F*cking Scotland, yay!” or SMP or anything like that. We are Scottish, we like making noisy music, we like writing proper songs. That’s how I would desribe us.
AT: So when you guys think of your own music, you don’t think of a genre in your head?
J: Nah, a tune is just a tune.
A: I don’t see us as pioneers of anything, and I wouldn’t say we have a specific genre.
J: There are a lot of lazy journalists that like to try and put us in certain places and I’ve seen some ridiculous examples. Someone once invented a genre called ‘Nu-Gaze’ for us. It just sounds rubbish and gay.
AT: The focus on Glasgow music scene has increased in the last few years, with Glasvegas, Frightened Rabbit etc. Has that added any pressure or do you not think about that at all?
A: Na, not at all. We’re friends with Frightened Rabbit, but other than that we don’t really think much of the Glasgow scene. We don’t actually go out in Glasgow and watch bands because they’re just sh*te.
J: I mean we’ve many friends in different bands in Glasgow but there’s no scene. People try to say there is, but no one really gives a f*ck. We’ve got friends in bands but we wouldn’t play gigs with them and you’re not passing around your CDs. We’re just pals. For every good Glasgow band there’s 50 sh*te ones.
AT: So it doesn’t mean anything extra to be a band from Glasgow?
J: When we started out to be mentioned in the same sentence as Arab Strap, Mogwai, The Delgados and stuff like that, it was obviously a compliment because they’re all great bands. That was cool but it doesn’t really mean anything to me. We’re not even from Glasgow. We should be in the ‘quite-near-Glasgow’ scene or the ‘burbs.
AT: Did you learn anything from touring with the likes of Mogwai and Idlewild?
A: I think overall we became a bit more professional.
J: Mogwai gave us a lot of advice and were really good to us. They said we reminded them of themselves when they just started out. It was amazing to just watch bands like that do what they do and do it with a bit of dignity and respect as well. We learned from that. We learned to just surround yourselves with good people who want to work with your band so it’s like a wee bubble. Then you’re just working as a team to go around the world to play your shows. I’m sure we learned something more maybe subconsciously but we were pretty drunk. It was good fun.
The Twilight Sad @ Hop Farm, By Andrew Trendell
AT: How did it feel to play the venues and territories that Mogwai and Idlewild are used to?
J: The Mogwai ones were great. With Idlewild we got to play the Barrowlands in Glasgow which was amazing.
A: Mogwai were saying that they’ve never had a support band that’s done so well and sold as much merch. Plus everybody was showing up early and before doors were open.
J: The Mogwai and early Idlewild fans were really into it. The best thing about those tours is that we were asked to do it. It wasn’t somebody with a wad of cash saying “put this band on your tour”. We were actually asked by the guys in the band who wanted to tour with us and watch us. You can’t really be payed a bigger compliment than that.
AT: What’s inspiring you guys at the moment and have your influences changed in the past couple of years?
A: We all like different stuff.
J: The lyrics are inspired just by people that I know and stories from home. I don’t listen to music to feel inspired, I listen to say whether I like it or if it’s sh*te. I watch a lot of films for inspiration.
A: I can’t really find anything that I like these days. Everything is sh*t. I listen to a lot of Kraut-rock and 80s sillyness. I like a lot of the Trojan Records catalogue too. I listen to a lot of electronic music too.
J: You listen to a lot of different stuff to me so I thinik that might help with the songwriting if we’re coming from different places. We’ll be doing a kraut-rock version of ‘Candle In The Wind’ soon. That would sound really good.
A: Maybe we’ll do a Nu-Gaze, near-Glasgow-music-scene version of Rocket Man. With a Kraut Rock bassline. You down with that?
J: No.
AT:What was the last film you went to see then?
J: I went to see ‘Up’. I’ve got a Cineworld card, so I’ll go see absolutely anything.
A: ‘Anti-Christ’ was one of the ones that I went to see. You should watch it. Go and watch it.
AT: I’m a massive lightweight when it comes to horror and gore.
A: Ah, you’ll hate it then. People were getting up and leaving in all of the general release cinemas because it was so heavy. Especially the girls, because there’s this bit in it where Charlotte Gainsbourg cuts off her clit with a pair of scissors and you see it all.
AT: What does she do that for?
J: Ha. I like that question.
A: I went to see District 9.
AT: I thought that was sh*t.
J: Ah I thought it was alright.
AT: It was impressive because it was made for about a fiver wasn’t it? Plus his South African accent sounded a bit geordie and you couldn’t take it seriously.
J: Aye, the effects were a bit sh*te. I fookin’ hate these prawns. I went to see something really good. Mezzrine was really good. I missed the second one because we were away, but the first one was amazing.
Interview and Photos by Andrew Trendell
Tags: fat cat records, forget the night ahead, glasgow, stealth, twilight sad
