New adventures in
HI FI
2005 has been a watershed year for Glasgow indie rock legends TEENAGE FANCLUB — new music, new beginnings and new hangovers. Doug Johnstone shares a hair of the dog with them to find out why.
t‘s good to know that ‘l‘eenage l-‘ancluh can still act a little hit rock‘n‘roll. Glasgow‘s legendary indie guitar popsters were neyer
really graduates of the Motley ('rtie School of
Debauchery. so it‘s all the more impr'essiy'e that. for this interview. they are somewhat shamholic.
The List had arranged to meet the hand at (‘afe (iandolli for lunch. the day after they performed a showcase of new material at the Mitchell 'l‘heatre. Norman Blake turns up late. clearly the worse for wear. It turns out there was an alter show party until the early hours of the morning and he can hardly rememher getting home. (ierry l.oy'e turns tip a while later. equally under the weather. Raymond .\lc(iinley is apparently ‘off somewhere‘. No one eyen mentions drummer l-‘rancis Macdonald. It is all armrsingly S/n‘nn/ 'lt‘ipesque in its half-arsedness. and it‘s an indication that Teenage l“anc|uh are clearly enjoying life these days. if not necessarily this day in particular.
.-\s the intery'iew commences l.oy'e sits looking sheepish. quietly sipping a glass of water. Norman. hyper on his umpteenth coffee of the day'. prattles away arniahly. Both of them refuse any food when a waitress comes to take their order. So. gents. did you enjoy the gig last night'.’
‘lt was really good. actttally.~ says Blake. ‘lt was really good to he playing new songs. hecause with our last tour we were touring the compilation record. which was great. hut as a musician you always want to he doing something new. It‘s always weird playing new songs: there‘s the pressure of doing them for the first time. hut I think they went down pretty well.‘
They did indeed. despite a rather sedate Venue and an occasionally ropey sound mix. The new material Blake‘s talking ahout is the hands forthcoming sey‘cnth studio alhum. .llun-lludv. It marks the heginning of a new chapter for 'l‘eenage l“ancluh. After the demise of (‘reation » essentially the Fannies‘ lahel throughout the 90s — the remaining two alhums on their contract were taken oyer hy (‘rcation‘s parent company Sony. hut the relationship was far from heing a happy one.
The band‘s two records under Sony were the lacklustre Hmrdy'.’ and a compilation. snappin entitled l'inrr Thousand Seven Hundred and
Sr‘.t't,\'-S1‘.t‘ Seconds which. despite heing one of
the cheeriest collections of guitar pop ey'er released. was ohy'iously a contractual obligation.
‘We were glad to get out of the Sony thing. and l‘rn sure they‘re glad to be rid of its.‘ says Blake. ‘We ended tip on Sony by default. They were nice people. but I don‘t think that kind of lahel is
14 THE LIST .‘5 At‘t-‘L “slay
set up to work with groups like us. We were treading water. So I think it is a fresh start.‘
In a confident step. .lIun-llude is heing released on the hands own lahel. Pcha. in this country. The hand touted the new record around the industry. hut decided to do it themselycs.
‘When it came round to releasing a new record we spoke to a couple of people ahout it.‘ says Blake. ‘l)omino [home to l"rarv l~‘erdinand and
Sons and Daughters]. for example. are friends of
ours and we talked ahout doing something with them. htrt I rememher they said to us that we might as well do it oursely'es. w'e‘y‘e got a good fan hase and we might as well go it alone.‘
At this point l.oy‘e ohy iously feels well enough to contrihute to the cony'er'sation.
‘lt‘s funny hecause we‘re now more or less working with all the same people that we were working with at (‘r'eation.‘ he says. ‘\\‘e‘y'c jtrst ptrt together a learn of people that can work the husiness side of things for Us. which is great.‘
So .llun-lludt' is a fresh start in terms of the tnusic husiness. and it also sounds like a fresh
‘WE WERE GLAD TO GET OUT OF THE SONY THING AND I'M SURE THEY WERE GLAD TO GET RID OF US'
start when you slap it on the (‘l) player. Recorded with .lohn .\lclntire of 'l‘ot'toisc in his S().\l.-\ studio in Chicago. the alhum is undeniath the slickest sounding thing the hand haye ey'er recorded. After a few listens. the sparkly quality of the songwriting shines through as well. tracks like opener ‘lt‘s .-\II in My Mind‘ and forthcoming single 'l-‘allen l.eayes‘ gradually creeping into your suhconscious like all the hest pop tunes do. It seems that hoth the release from the Sony situation and the change of location to (‘hicago haye imhued the [armies with a newfound energy. So how did they come to work with Mclntire'.’
'l‘ye known him for years and we thought he might he a good person to work with.‘ says l.oy'e. ‘()riginally we wanted to haye him oy'er to (ilztsgow to record it. hut hecause he‘s got his own studio he preferred as to go oy‘er there. so he can make a hit more money. i suppose.‘
Did he haye much impact on how the songs turned out‘.’ '.\'ot really'.‘ says Blake. ‘He just let Us do our thing and tnade sure it was all recorded
rt ii i:
really well. They haye this thing in (‘hicago where they haye respect for the artist. It‘s your record. you‘re the hand. you‘ye got all the ideas. I think it‘s quite hi-li. it sounds really good on that ley'el. As for whether the songs are good or not. that‘s not really for Us to decide.‘
Rest assured the songs are good. Blake is heing typically self-deprecating. in keeping with a hand that. despite heing one of the hest respected indie guitar hands around the world. haye never felt the need to blow their own trumpet.
The Fannies featured high in The Li‘sr‘s 50 Best Smitty/r Bands u/‘xi/l 'Iimv (number seyen with a bullet. folks). and performed at the recent tsunami henelit concert at the SliC‘C alongside a