list.co.uk/music Teenage Fanclub | MUSIC
Creation was the epicentre for Britpop after signing Oasis. How do you think TFC i t into the Britpop story? We played with Pulp quite a bit and did shows with Blur and Oasis. We knew all those guys but we never felt part of anything, it was just a phrase invented to sell the NME. 1998–2000
What do you remember about recording Howdy? I feel it’s a bit neglected. By that point, Creation had gone, Alan McGee called us midway through, saying ‘just to let you know we’re going to stop the label but keep recording and either Sony will put this out or you can just take the record and put it out yourself’. Sony decided to pick up the option. Unfortunately by the time it was released, we didn’t know many people there and they didn’t really know how to promote the band. It’s just one of those things, but we’re happy with the record, it’s got some great songs on it. Did it feel like the end of an era? It did. Creation were prepared to lose their homes to put albums out. It was a great little place, we’d go into the ofi ce after a show – Alan’s teetotal these days but around Bandwagonesque he’d be like ‘come round I’ll send for some beer’ – then seven hours later there’d be a total party going on, people popping ecstasy left, right and centre. It was a real motley crew but there were real characters working there.
Teenage Fanclub – The Creation Years, Barrowland, Glasgow, Mon 29–Wed 31 Oct.
1 Sep–31 Oct 2018 THE LIST 75