It was the 1st of April and the Warehouse was packed from its famously-sticky dance floor right back to the bar. Indian Red Lopez and Take A Worm For A Walk Week had both just won over the crowd, who were by now pumped and restless, awaiting their headliners with excited anticipation.Rewind about 5 hours and you would have seen the headliners in question, The Twilight Sad, minus lead singer James Graham sound-checking, producing the unholy noise they have become famous for. Graham, on the other hand, was to be found upstairs, lounging on a sofa is a small dressing room, explaining to us how he feels about playing in Aberdeen: “We’ve not played Aberdeen in about a year and a half. I come up all the time anyway because I support Aberdeen [Football Club] for my sins! I’m looking forward to it.”
The Twilight Sad undoubtedly enjoy making a racket, and their live shows expose a different, heavier side to the band than appears on record. The last time they were in Aberdeen, in 2008,The Twilight Sad played an acoustic in-store set in One Up Records, revealing yet another side to the talented four-piece: “The rest of the band don’t enjoy acoustic sets, they call them ‘snooze fests’, but I like them because it shows that we’re not just about full-on noise; when you strip everything back there’s a good song that can stand on its own, without all the production. We’re not just a one-dimensional band. I don’t like radio sessions though – they’re pish!”
And despite being consciously aware of The Twilight Sad’s penchant for noise, the band’s singer struggles to describe the music they make: “Basically noisy folk songs. I suppose that’s what they used to be, although I don’t know any more. I’ve been asked that question loads, and I just never know what to say. Folk funkadelica?!
“I think other people find it easier to categorise us. I don’t want to say we’re this thing or that thing; a lot of people find it hard to do that. The amount of bands we’ve been compared to is ridiculous: The Walkmen, Arab Strap, Mogwai… I suppose that’s a good thing; it means that we’re not just generic fucking indie-rock.”
Suddenly, the door burst open and a member of Take A Worm For A Walk Week (who was, coincidentally, bursting) hurriedly enquired if this was the toilet. Noticing the interview taking place, he left on his quest for relief, and we were able to continue on…
On top of all the noise, Graham sings with a strong Scottish accent, a trait which has led in the past to some bands not becoming as big as they deserved. (The Proclaimers spring to mind.) But with bands like Biffy Clyro and Idlewild representing the cutting edge of the Scottish, and indeed British music scenes, does Graham believe the stigma has been lifted?: “I think people probably got fed up of folk trying to sound American. Someone singing in their own accent means you can respect that they’re honest and true-to-life, instead of singing about going surfing in California! The Arctic Monkeys[ frontman Alex Turner] sings with a Sheffield accent and they’re one of the biggest bands in the world now. People just aren’t as fussy.”
Unlike a lot of bands whose albums sound like they’re written as a collection of singles, The Twilight Sad’s records gel together perfectly, a point that the band take very seriously: “All the songs are written separately but we want the albums to flow. I like listening to a record, not a singles collection. With a record you want to be taken into different places, so we arrange the songs in an order where we feel that you need to listen to it all as one, rather than just flicking from song to song. It’s a whole piece of work.
“I hate that some bands are thinking about not doing albums any more, and just doing singles. It defeats the whole purpose of going into a record shop to buy a record, sitting down with it and learning to love it. We’ll always make an album rather than a bunch of singles.”
Regardless of Graham’s feelings towards singles collections, though, he says that if given the choice, The Twilight Sad would continue to put them out, although in a limited format: “I think it’s still nice to have the 7”s, but that’s all we would do. I don’t see the point of downloads. The single’s been on the album for months and you could have just downloaded it then. For the last album, the lead single was I Became A Prostitute which is probably not the best thing to call a single if you want much radio play… but surprisingly we got some!
“Singles are a piece of pish, really; we don’t even know when they’re coming out! When they do, it usually means we’re going away playing which is what we like doing, but we don’t really pay much attention. I didn’t even know when our album was out! The thing is, once it’s done we’ve got 3 or 4 months to sit and listen to it before it comes out. By that time, we’re all fed up of it!
Throughout the interview Graham comes across as very humble, and grateful for the opportunities presented to his band over the years. But despite their success, being festival headliners isn’t a big goal for them: “I never thought we would get asked to do stuff like T in the Park and Glastonbury. When the Pigeon Detectives were on I was thinking, ‘Aw that’s pish! I never want to be like that… ever!’ We want to play as many festivals as possible, but put us on in a tent during the day. And if it’s a nice wee festival like ATP, that’s cool. That’s a pipedream there…”
And if he was offered the chance to curate the ATP festival? Graham looks thoughtful for a moment, before sighing loudly: “Oh fuck… Erm… Just all my pals like Errors, Remember Remember and the Phantom Band. They’re mainly Scottish bands. Portishead. And some obscure stuff; stuff that would piss folk off!”
Speaking of obscure music, The Twilight Sad have played with a diverse range of bands from Battles and Mogwai through to the likes of Snow Patrol. Although he obviously has his favourites, Graham maintained that they were all fantastic to tour with. Well, almost all…: “They’ve all been great apart from the Smashing Pumpkins who are dickheads! They’re not even the Smashing Pumpkins; they’re ‘Billy Corgan’s One Man Band’! But we did two tours with Mogwai and it was just amazing. We were friends with a couple of them after our [first] record was out, but I didn’t think they actually liked the band! They asked us to come away and they were all really enthusiastic. They’ve helped us a lot since, too.
“Touring with Beirut was quite good as well, but we only got to do 2 gigs. The thing about our support slots is that the bands have always asked us – our record company has never set up a deal – so it’s usually pretty good because they like our music and we like theirs.”
And understandably, the band are flattered by the mutual respect offered to them by bands they listened to when they were growing up: “It’s amazing. It’s the highest compliment you can be paid by people you respect. 5 years ago if somebody told me I would be playing with Mogwai, I would have told them to fuck off! I would rather have that than being on the front of magazines. Getting respect from the people we’ve grown up listening to is probably the coolest thing that’s happened to us.
Moving on to discuss touring, Graham denounces the old saying that ‘Scottish audiences rock harder than anywhere else’: "Obviously they have an advantage because they can understand what I’m saying, but Americans are fucking mental and they really go for it. Scottish fans are good, but we usually get 40-year-old sweaty men, so our gigs aren’t really jump-around-crowd-surfing gigs! Recently, though, I’ve noticed that people are really appreciative now. I’ve been waiting for this for four years!”
Graham also states that he doesn’t have a favourite song, rather it’s dependent on where the show is and what the crowd is like: “Cold Days From The Bird House is a weird one because I sing that on my own at the start, and if the crowd are really into it then they sing along. I never thought our band would be a sing-along band, but it’s really weird how fucking loud people get! And I like playing I Became A Prostitute: I wouldn’t say it’s fun but it’s good to play.”
Throughout the interview Graham is relaxed and friendly, lounging on a sofa and openly answering all our questions (and joking his way through most of them!). Only once did he seem slightly defensive, when we mentioned the rough spell that the band has just overcome, however he was soon back to his usual self: “Craig leaving was totally amicable; but we didn’t expect it to happen. And getting robbed in Italy was a fucking shite experience. In [the time since], though, me and Andy have been writing and the next album will be ready to record in the summer. It’s been really productive, but it’s been frustrating not being able to go out and play.
“It sounds stupid but getting Johnny to come and play with us makes us feel like a new band again. There’s this energy now; the band are making a living at it, and everything’s a million times better. When Craig left there was never a point where we were going to call it a day, but it’s given us the kick up the arse that we needed. We all look forward to playing every night!”
Graham alluded to the recording of the follow-up to their successful sophomore alum, Forget The Night Ahead, but is reluctant to share too much detail: “At the moment it’s just me and Andy; guitar and vocals. But even at that we’re going in a different direction, and it’s definitely not pop music! It’s going to be different, but obviously we can’t change how I sing. And we love being noisy as fuck… and swearing! But we get to play about with it as much as we want now and try out different instruments.”
Talk then, naturally, turned from albums to record labels, and The Twilight Sad’s experiences with Fat Cat Records: “They’ve been really good. The label has changed – Fat Cat is now part of One Little Indian – and we’ve definitely noticed that there’s more weight behind it. When the album came out we saw the advertising, even in the NME. We’ve never had that before, and we’ll be with them for a few more albums.
“Once the music’s done, it’s done as far as we’re concerned: we’re not too precious with it. If someone wants to use it in a McDonalds advert they can… no, I’m kidding!”
When we suggest that the world might be a better place if a Twilight Sad song was used in a McDonalds advert, Graham laughs and reminisces about seeing an Animal Collective song, from “before they were megastars”, on a Crayola advert. But on a serious note, advertising is a route, he thinks, that bands must seriously consider these days: “Because record sales are basically not happening, you’ve got to find other ways of surviving as a band. As long as your music is used in a tasteful way, then you’ve got to start thinking about it. I’m quite open to it, but nobody wants us! We’re maybe a bit too morose!
But despite talk of dominating the fast food and coloured pencil markets, The Twilight Sad are happy where they are right now. They even have fans dedicated enough to set up a fan site…: “Oh shit, that’s horrible! I looked at the lyrics, and they’re all wrong! I hope to fuck nobody thinks I’m writing about whatever that is!
“We thought they were mental! I still don’t even think about that. I clicked onto Last.fm and found a guy in Russia listening to us. That’s fucking mental! If you think about it too much your head’ll fry. It’s obviously a good thing, but I don’t know where the enthusiasm comes from – I’ve never liked a band so much that I would go away and start a website. I don’t even go to gigs any more, I’m just Mr Sit-At-Home! But it’s pretty cool that somebody’s gone to the effort. And if they read this interview I’ve just called them a dick!”
It was almost time for our interview to come to and end, but we still had time for one last question. What does Graham think of the current Scottish music scene?: “Shit! No, I’m kidding. There’re good bands and then there’re bad bands, it’s like any scene. All the stuff on Rock Action and Chemical Underground is great. But there’s obviously a lot of shite going about as well, and the shite usually wins through and becomes massive.
“We’re not one of those bands that people put in a scene. We like to be seen as standing on our own and not jumping on anybody’s coat tails, or even promoting the fact that we’re Scottish. People always call us a Glasgow band and we’re not even from Glasgow! We just try and distance ourselves, but once you know one person in Glasgow who’s in a band you know everybody! It’s like fucking incest or something!”
And that was James’ cue to leave, venturing downstairs to take his place in the sound-check. Despite his self-deprecating humour, James Graham comes across as a happy man. He loves his job with a passion that is clearly evident after spending just half an hour with him. Not only that, but he seems truly humbled by the dedication shown by his fans, and by our interest in his band.
Forget the Night Ahead is out now on Fat Cat Records, as is the single The Room. But it’s been on the album for ages anyway.
For more information visit www.myspace.com/twilightsad
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