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NME Headliners Glasvegas

By Tom Killingbeck, Music Editor (2009/10) Tuesday 10 March 2009

From Scotland to Japan: Tom Killingbeck interviews NME Headliners Glasvegas.

Glasvegas are not your typical NME hype band. For starters, they are not dressed in day-glo fluorescence, rejecting the Nathan Barley look for Johnny Cash style black. They also have very little in common with the other bands on the bill of this year’s NME tour – their shoegazing anthems clashing with the music of Florence and the Machine (Kate Bush crossed with Glam Rock) and Friendly Fires (Ass-wiggling white boy electro). When most people think of the band the words ‘depressing’, ‘morbid’ and ‘monochrome’ come to mind, but, walking aboard a tourbus strewn with the remains of last night’s party and Guitar Hero axes, it seems like they’re more fun than you’d expect.

Bassist Paul Donoghue does not seem surprised that his band, who just two years ago were unheard of, thrashing about with a drum machine in Glasgow’s East End, have been chosen to headline this sell-out tour. “Pretty much since we did the first seven inch we knew we had a chance of doing really well”, he admits. The band’s MySpace demos were a huge success, and having caught the attention of Creation Records boss Alan McGee, early versions of ‘Daddy’s Gone’ and ‘It’s My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry’, took the indie scene by storm. “We were always, in the back of our minds, prepared”, he says, and you get the impression that the band’s steely confidence and dedication is a result of their desire to escape from the tough background that their songs speak of. It’s the gritty realism and emotional charge of the band’s songs, combined with the angelic feedback-swathed guitar and 60’s girl-group rhythms, that really set them apart from the average indie band, but how did they arrive at such an original sound? “I’m not a big rock fan” Paul admits, and the band list their influences as “Late 50’s, early 60’s girl groups,” and even describe their early music as “rockabilly”. But that, combined with that classic Scottish indie noise, the squall of the Jesus and Mary Chain, makes for a sound that combines Scotland with America, much like the band’s name.

What’s also unusual about the band is that they’ve already gained some success in the U.S.A., as usually bands feted by the NME are flat out ignored by Americans. However the band have been “very, very lucky over there“, with endorsement from the King of Rock ‘noll’s daughter Lisa Marie Presley, and successful http://nouse.co.uk/2009/03/10/nme-headliners-glasvegas Archived 10 Dec 2018 21:28:11 Nouse Web Archives NME Headliners Glasvegas Page 2 of 3 shows in New York. They agree that success in America “means a lot, because of our influences”, but succeeding to the level they have in the UK will take “a lot of hard work and a lot of luck”.

The high profile the band has gained at home, with Morrissey, Oasis, and Dirty Pretty Things singing their praises has not only led to some big support slots but also meant the band have met many of their heroes. They’ve partied with indie God Ian McCulloch of Echo and the Bunnymen -“it’s always a mad night when you meet him”, Carl Bârat -“he’s a good mate of ours”, and similar-sounding-but-sleazier band The Raveonettes. “It’s weird when you meet people like that, because they’re just ordinary people”, says Paul with a smile.

When the band hit the stage the entire crowd chants along – there are grown men with tears in their eyes, arms around each other. There’s always a faithful of Scottish fans at the shows: ‘“Honestly, we went to Japan and there were Scots in the crowd,” they say, reminiscent. “There was a bunch of Scottish guys last night in Manchester that started singing this abysmal song, pushing to the front of the crowd through the fourteen year old girls!” However, being from the stable of classic Scottish indie is not without its issues for the band. “The one problem with the Scottish thing is that people see you as gallant losers. I’ve lost count of the amount of times we’ve come second place in things” grins Paul. ‘At some point somebody Scottish has to be a winner, and not in fucking darts or snooker!” As I leave their sumptuous bus and head outside into the falling snow (quite fitting since their last single was called ‘A Snowflake Fell and it Felt Like a Kiss’), James Allan, with his trademark shades and Joe Strummer quiff is spied by a trio of teenage girls, who, after posing with him for around fifty photographs, run down the street yelling “I just met James Allan!” It seems like somebody Scottish has been a winner after all, and it’s the four black swathed rock ‘n rollers in Glasvegas.

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