Glasvegas

May 2011

My weekend: Rab Allan

I’m a self-confessed arsehole.

I LIVE with my mother in Glasgow because my ex-girlfriend kicked me out. Why? Because I’m a self-confessed arsehole. I was born that way.

The main reason I’m living with her is that we’re in Glasgow maybe two days a month, so it doesn’t make sense to rent a place.

We’ve been everywhere in the world, except Australia, China and Russia, so it’s been pretty full-on. People think if you’re not touring Britain you’re not doing anything but we toured America six times in the space of a year.

After this tour of Britain we’re going to Europe, then North America. We come back to do some festivals for a couple of weeks then we go to Japan, Europe and America again.

We’re not millionaires like people think. I’m just back from @Gran Canaria. @I was there with James (Allan, singer) for five days. We did a package holiday and everybody’s like “you’re millionaires, why did you go on this flight?”

We did get a lot of money but I spent the lot and had a great time doing it. I probably will buy a place at the end of this album cycle but for now it makes sense to stay with my mum.

Besides, your mum does your washing, she feeds you, she’s really nice to you... it’s perfect.

She never saw the music as just a hobby because she could see how passionate I was about it.

We’ve taken our mums to gigs in LA, Italy, France and all over the world, just so they can get a snapshot of what our lives are like.

I know it’s not very rock’n’roll taking your mum on tour.

It’s not very rock ‘n’ roll going to bed before your mum does, either. I’m 28 and she’s 57. If people think me, James and Paul (Donoghue, bassist) are mad, well we get it from our parents.

My dad’s not around any more but in Glasgow it’s quite a surprise if you find a family that is still together. I’ve not spoken to him in something like 20 years. It’s not something that I miss. I don’t really need him.

When I’m at home I try not to tell people that I’m there because they want to see you. That’s natural because they’re friends but it’s hard because you just don’t really have time.

I like to chill out. I’ll maybe see a couple of girls but then it’s time to go again.

I watch silly things like @Friends. @Anything that makes me laugh. @Curb Your Enthusiasm@ (starring Larry David, left) is absolute genius. And @the US version of The Office, @that’s the sort of stuff I’ll watch at home and when we’re on tour. The tour bus has a hard drive with around 1,000 TV shows and 1,000 songs. And it’s got computers on it, so that’s quite good. We used to have to take DVDs with us everywhere.

I’ve got a @Nintendo Wii@ at home but on tour we just tend to play@ Pro Evolution Soccer @on the Xbox. That gets quite heated when me, Paul and James play.

After Caroline (McKay) left the band, we got a new drummer, Jonna (Löfgren) from Sweden. That was down to me. I said I wanted a woman and I wanted her to be Swedish. It’s true. We were struggling in Britain to find one, so I said “Why don’t we check Scandinavia?” We’re quite big in Sweden and someone at the record company over there knew of Jonna and suggested her. She’s great. She fits in really well.

I watch a lot of movies on the bus or online because I don’t have a lot of time to go to the cinema.

I’d much rather go to the cinema but the last thing I saw at one was @Tron: Legacy@ in December.

I like to read books about music, like biographies of bands but other than that, @Harry Potter@ is as far as my literary skills go. I’m more of a visual person, I like to watch things.

The best gigs I’ve seen were when we supported bands like@ U2 @and @Oasis@ (below). I mean, Oasis were the reason I wanted to be in a band.

But the last gig I saw was @a Lady Gaga tribute @when I was in Gran Canaria. That was scary because it was a man.

Keeping fit? Have you seen a photograph of me? The closest I get to keeping fit is lifting food into my mouth. I must admit when I was in LA I did go jogging but I only did that to look at the girls.

A perfect weekend would be lying in the sun, I’d have some cocktails and I’d have some sex.

Glasvegas play Rock City on Sunday, supported by Foe. Doors at 7.30pm. Tickets are £15, call 0845 413 4444. Their second album, Euphoric///Heartbreak, is out now.

Glasvegas

Glasvegas
Rescue Rooms
September 25 2008



NOT since the “78 World Cup have so many in the city pretended they were Scottish, singing along in mock Glaswegian to James Allan's songs of stabbings, infidelity, social workers, absent fathers and bullies.
Some trickier than others.
"Liar, liar, liar, liar, liar, pants on fi-re" during It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry was easy, as was the forlorn close to Flowers & Football
Tops: “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are grey.”
Easiest of all is the terrace chant of Go Square Go: "here we, here we, here we
(effing) go…".
Hard to think that Allan is being pitched as an adept lyricist, based on these samples.
“Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are,” he moans on S.A.D.
Lite. But not everything he scribes is lifted.
Geraldine for instance, appears to be a love song: “When you’re standing on the window ledge, I’ll pull you back, back from the edge,” but is then revealed that Geraldine is “your social worker.”
The accent is trickier during set closer and clear favourite Daddy’s Gone: "AlI I wanned was a kackaboot in tha pairk" required a degree of pronunciated effort .
“Fair yu ta ress me haim when it was nelly gettin' dairk,” he continues as the abandoned son.
Whatever the quality of his lyrics it’s Allan’s tunes that have made Glasvegas the best new band of 2008. Epic, passionate and uber:cool, The Jesus & Mary Chain meets Phil Spector.
Guitars build in to a squall, then crunch into the chorus, like on the set closer Daddy’s Gone, with all the impact of a Glasgow kiss.
With just one ten track album to their name it was never going to be a mammoth set -- the narrated Stabbed was omitted -- but at £8 a go, only those who'd paid over the odds to get in to this sold-out show (£30 on eBay this week), would have cause for complaint that they were on stage for just
45 minutes.
Tubby tub thumper Caroline McKay was barely visible at the rear of a foggy, darkly lit stage. All are in the black uniform so reminiscent of the JMC. What we can see of her is a novice, concentrating hard on punching the right beats on her three piece kit. Bassist Paul Donoghue is similarly studious while Rab Allan weaves around with his guitar threatening to take someone's eye out.
James Allen, shades in place -- though he succumbs for a second when the crowd chant for him to “show us your eyes” -- looks like a young Joe Strummer and says little. There’s a ‘hello, Nottingham’ and the occasional ‘thanks’. At one point he says something that excites the yoof to my right who, wide-eyed, passes on the garbled message to his mates: “Wow, he bigged us up!”. It’s too easy to impress kids these days.
Then, all too soon, it was over.
Even when the crowd sparked up a chant of: “He’s gone, he’s gone, he’s gone, he’s gone... ooh hor hor horrrrr...” they’re not coming back. They've gone.
Glasvegas have bigger fish to fry -- next week they’re off to have a crack at the States. But they’ll be back in the Winter, including the Trent Uni S.U. on December 3supported by White Lies.
Catch them if you can. Because it’ll soon be the Arena.

Set list:
Flowers And Football Tops
Lonesome Swan
It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry
S.A.D. Lite
Polmont On My Mind
Geraldine
Go Square Go
Ice Cream Van
Daddy's Gone

Glasvegas

September 2008


IT has been building all year. At the beginning they were among the top tips for success. Alan McGee, the man who discovered Oasis (and Primal Cream, Jesus & Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, Super Furry Animals, Teenage Fanclub...) called them Scotland's best band in 20 years.
And now the debut album, called simply Glasvegas, is here, released this week and heading to the top of Sunday's chart, if midweek sales figures are anything to go by.
"In some ways you are always ready for this moment but you're never ready as well," says bassist Paul Donoghue.
"Because if someone had given us a record deal two years ago when we were starting out, we wouldn't be the band we are now."
The way they did get together is a traditional rock'n'roll story. Paul and guitarist Rab Allan went to school together. Singer, songwriter and guitarist James Allan is Rab's cousin. Three kids from a dreary Glasgow suburb called Dalmarnock, all tower blocks and derelict housing -- though there's hope of a revival of the area, as it's the proposed location for the athletes' village when Glasgow hosts the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
The fourth member of Glasvegas, drummer Caroline McKay, is the wild card, chosen because the other three "liked the look of her". She couldn't play drums, so they taught her from scratch.
(EG was scheduled to talk to Caroline but she's "off getting food", he says).
"When I first joined I could play the bass a little, Oasis tunes and that but Rab and James had to teach me all the notes. But what we do is more about songs and emotion rather than playing ability, bass solos and all that."
And the production, of course, a reverbing Phil Spector Wall Of Sound treatment of Jesus & Mary Chain guitars and James's distinctive Glaswegian vocals.
After gigging around the city for all of 2006 a friend of the band who knew Alan McGee asked him to check them out.
His seal of approval meant a lot as Oasis were their collective heroes.
"The reason I got in to Oasis was because my mum and dad used to smoke Benson & Hedges. They used to get these cards in the packs where you could pick free stuff out of a catalogue. So they got me Definitely Maybe.
"Although the first record I ever bought was East 17, when I was at school. The first band I ever saw live was Ocean Colour Scene with some school mates at the ICC in Glasgow. I'd be about 13 or 14. It was amazing – because we got drunk."
He adds: "I wasn't really in to music until I was 16. Even though my brother was in a band. He and my sister are about ten years older than me so their record collections weren't much of an influence.
"My mum was into country and western. She'd play Johnny Cash's A Boy Named Sue and I thought 'that's sh*t!'. Then you grow up and listen to it and 'what a tune, man'.
While Oasis were a big influence, his Desert Island Disc is White Man In Hammersmith Palais by The Clash.
"I've got an original 7" of it in the house and if the house burnt down that would be the thing, aside my girlfriend, that I'd risk my life to get."
Their first single was a 7" vinyl, released in late 2006. The track, the sweary terrace chant Go Square Go! appears on their debut album. As does follow-up Daddy's Gone. That was voted the second best single of 2007 by the NME and prompted a record company bidding war.
Since signing to Columbia, they've had two Top 20 singles: Geraldine and a re-recorded Daddy's Gone – and been on a relentless round of gigs and promotion.
"A day off for us is doing interviews," says Donoghue. He's in Stoke, pre-sound check. The tour comes to the Rescue Rooms on September 25 and like the rest of the dates it's been sold out for weeks.
An additional show has been booked for Trent University but its 1,000 capacity is still not big enough. The 1,700-holding Rock City would make more sense.
"We don't want to jump too much," he says.
"The last time we did venues of 200-300, this time it's between 500-900. If it's a bigger capacity we feel we need to put on a bigger show. That'll take us a while to sort out, get more lights and a longer set."
They first played Nottingham at The Social last year, then in May had a half past midnight slot at the Rescue Rooms as part of the Dot-To-Dot Festival.
"We were all getting ready to go to bed before it," he quips.
"They had to get us out of our nightgowns and our night caps for it."
The December tour will follow the band's Christmas album.
"Or EP, whatever it's going to be," he admits.
"We're going to Transylvania to do it. James is getting the songs together now."
Is it going to be Merry Christmas Everybody and Jingle Bells, Glasvegas-style?
"Nah. We're talking about doing maybe one cover but the rest will be original material."

Glasvegas play the Rescue Rooms on September 25

Glasvegas

THEIR mix of Proclaimers, Jesus & Mary Chain and Phil Spector, had them among the top tips for greatness this year -- and Alan McGee calling them the best Scottish band in 20 years -- but five months in and they're barely out of the traps.
The album, one of the most anticipated by this writer in years, is finished but won't hit shelves until September, says guitarist Rab Allan.
"We finished recording it about two weeks ago and we're just getting some mixes through and it's sounding amazing."
"The only people that don't seem to like that we sing with a Scottish accent are from Glasgow. Which is a bit strange. It's probably something to do with The Proclaimers."
On their MySpace site they cite Elvis Presley, Spectorism, 62 Lily Street and Creation Records as influences. Phil Spector and Alan McGee's record label - once home to the Jesus & Mary Chain - are self-explanatory but what's the address?
"It's where James (Allan, singer) and Denise (Allan, manager) grew up."
James and Denise are siblings, Rab is their cousin
And Elvis?
"He's just the greatest rock n roll star ever. When me and James (Allan, singer and guitarist) started playing guitar it was Oasis. And obviously you find out who their influences are. It just keeps going back. And Elvis was the first superstar."
Better that he self-destructed at 42?
"It's sad that he died but I always think it's better to do that. James is going to disappear when we do this album. I've not decided yet if we're going to kill him or if he's going of his own will."
Who is the most likely to do an Elvis and burn out first? Maybe drummer Caroline McKay according to their MySpace blog, throwing up out of a cab window in New York.
"She is sick everywhere," says Rab.
"She's got a steady diet of alcohol that she maintains every day. If anyone was to do an Elvis it would definitely be Caroline."
Rab and James knew bassist Paul Donoghue so he was a natural to draft in to the band nearly three years ago but Caroline Mckay was recruited to play drums just because of the way she looked.
"We thought she looked pretty good so we taught her how to play the drums."
The album was co-produced by James Allan and James Allan and Rich Costey, the Franz Ferdinand, Interpol and Muse producer who discovered Glasvegas via their MySpace page.
"He was there before everyone. He got in touch and said when we do an album he wants to work on it with us. I didn't know who he was until I looked him up on the internet. When it came round to doing the album they asked who we wanted to work with. And Phil Spector's in jail anyway."
Alan McGee saw them with Carl Barat at King Tut's in Glasgow, the very venue he discovered Oasis.
"He just loved it and has been a fan of the band. It's funny because Oasis were the first band we loved, the reason we started a band. So at the time it was just surreal. Now he's just Uncle Alan. His enthusiasm is pretty close to what my mum's is. Which is a lot."
Are they concerned about the hype that surrounded them this year?
"For us nothing has changed, we don't feel any pressure," he says, simply.
Or having to tour these songs for what may well be the next two years?
"I've wanted to do this since I was 13. And I'm 25 now. And it's the best thing in the world. Last week two days in a row we had an hour and half's sleep but no-one's moaning. I've worked in a call centre. I've worked in a warehouse lifting meat from one box in to another, so you could say we're pretty grateful for the position we're in now."

A new single Geraldine, which follows the limited edition releases It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry and Daddy's Gone, is due out June 23 and will feature a cover of The Korgis Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime.
Glasvegas appear at the Rescue Rooms on Sunday at 12.30am as part of the Dot to Dot Festival 2008.