We kick off our look ahead at the autumn's music with Glasgow rock deviants Mogwai. Brian Donaldson quizzes Barry Burns about sectarianism, silly song titles and when a hawk isn't a hawk
s it true that you were asked to be in
Mogwai because Stuart Braithwaite
thought you were ‘a good laugh?’ I hope I'm still a good laugh: I‘ve seen them smile at tne a few times. even today. I‘m quite an annoying person. really: I‘m just very enthusiastic and get excited about stul’l' that's completely inane and banal. I get far too excited all the time and it’s worse when I‘m drunk. [joined the band as a llute player. which is quite random but then they found out that I could play the guitar too. And I was brought tip to play the piano.
You were a student music teacher for a while weren’t you?
At the Academy of Music in (ilasgow at Jordanhill. I wouldn’t say it was a waste of three years because I did learn a lot about music at the time. but I also learned a lot about teaching that I didn‘t like. I learned that I probably don't like being in a room of children when there's tnore than two of them. I could have taught piano privately in a house but this was like being a shepherd. it was horrible. And people take music as a laugh subject: I know I did.
As a band, you’ve never been especially afraid of hiding your allegiance to a certain football club. Let’s call them Celtic. Was there any concern that you might alienate people who would naturally warm to your music simply because of the team you so obviously have a passion for? If they don‘t like our music because of the football team we like then they fall into the bigot category.
20 THE LIST 18 80;)? Oct 2008
There’s a track on the new album called “Scotland’s Shame’ which refers to the nickname Celtic fans have given to their Rangers-supporting friends across the city. I probably shouldn‘t say it. bill I love telling people these stories. That one was originally called 'Robocop versus the ()range Walk‘. After some debate. it was suggested that we change it to something else.
Would you say that the band have matured musically? Someone will do something in a studio and you
just think ‘oh my god. that‘s a teenage moment'.
But we do things to stop us from being completely and utterly bored and try not to repeat ourselves though we are guilty of that sometimes. By the time we get to making the next album. we‘re so sick of playing the last songs that there's little chance of us just copying them. The thing I enjoy is that we never have a plan. we just go and make music. It‘s quite a