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Fans storm the barricades as (l-r) Roddy Woomble, Rod Jones, Bob Fairfoull and Colin Newton add
has gained more definition. their sharp sense of musical dynamics more honed than ever. They have. dare one say it. matured a little. Woomble agrees. 'lf we‘d have come back with another album like Hope Is Important we would have been panned.‘ he says. 'lt's just stale and redundant if you keep doing the same thing.‘
Woomble and Jones are hasty not to dismiss their full-length debut as a mere training exercise. ‘There’s only been a few bands that have made really great debut albums.‘ says Woomble. ‘The Smiths and Rl-iM made records that had something the rest of their work didn‘t. but for most bands. the first album is like the blueprint and it takes a few records to gain an understanding of what you want to do. [00 Broken ll’intlows is the start of that for us. It‘s not radically different. but markedly so from the last two.‘
One overriding feeling about [00 Broken Him/oil's is a sense of patience. ln attempts to capture the bluster of their live sets. kinetics have taken precedence over musicianship. llere. ideas are more skilfully explored. the result of a less frantic producing schedule. ‘For the first time we got to spend a lot of time on a record.‘ explains Woomble. 'Before. we‘d have a couple of weeks to write songs between
tours: this time. we've had time to develop things and concentrate a bit as we would only have a limited life span as a noise band. We‘ve improved as musicians from playing to no one in a pub to having cameras thrust in our faces and we were a bit rabbit in the headlights. It took a while to realise just how we should be
presented. The early stuff had a real sense of
naivete about it and this is somehow more performed.‘
The slog of touring is something that ldlewild truly believe in. the rewards of which are reflected in another Scottiin band they have played with who are quite popular at the moment. ‘We toured with Travis in ")8 before The Man Who and I wasn‘t so into it.‘ says Woomble. 'II was just happy go lucky indie. but 1 could understand why it's so popular. It‘s a bit of a phenomenon. They wanted to be massive in Hello! rather than .\'.Wl:° and they have. so good on them. They're unbelievably nice guys: the kind of guy liran is. you introduce him to someone and he's their friend for life.‘
Meanwhile. back in the main hall. Phil the promoter's brows are furrowed with tension once again. The plan is to put on ldlewild. their special guest for the evening liugene Kelly and two local outfits. :\s time drags. on
3
weight and depth to the ldlewild sound and (below)
i a t
If.
, s; /
the crowdsurfing begins
this big band showcase is starting to look a little shaky. By some fit of roadie magic. the doors are opened pretty much on time and the 3()()-su‘ong crowd. which is shoehorned in the peculiar hexagonal venue. make good use of the replacement crush barrier. The calm and polite applause to liugcne Kelly's country rockisms are replaced with crowdsurfing bedlam for ldlewild. though the young laddish crowd is not truly representative of their regular audiences. Nevertheless. Idlewild‘s set is a mix of both old and new. the audience lapping it up with fervour. The live line-up is augmented with Jeremy Mills on guitar and keyboards. The sound has more weight. but most importantly. more depth too.
One day. four bands and one extremely worthwhile crush barrier later. those assembled disperse. contented. Before walking off into the Stirling moonlight. Woomble reflects on their efforts to date. '()ur reputation was based on the live show and this record goes beyond that. Instead of having records to replicate the live show. our records can now stand on their own.‘
100 Broken Windows is released on Mon 10 Apr on Food Records.