Copy Haho are one of the hottest bands in Aberdeen at the moment, and the release of their new, self-titled, album was eagerly anticipated. We caught up with bassist Richard Scott to talk gigs, the local music scene, and guilty pleasures.
How does your new album differ from your last EP, Bred for Skills and Magic, if at all?
It does quite a lot actually. On a basic level, everyone seems to be better at playing and writing songs, and I think lyrically it has improved. It’s more of a cohesive whole; the EP was just songs we recorded in a room together, but the album was written as an album. Thematically it has some things that run through it, and it sounds a lot fuller. It also has strings, and keyboard.
You played in the Tunnels on the 4th of June, which was a great gig, and that was the first time you played in Aberdeen since last autumn. Was it nice to be back?
Yeah! No disrespect to Aberdeen, but I don’t enjoy playing here as much as other places because it’s really stressful. Loads of my friends and sometimes family come, and I only get nervous when I’m playing in front of friends and family. I don’t care about playing in front of loads of people I’ve never met before, but as soon as there’s one person I know it gets stressful. It was sort of good to play in Aberdeen but I didn’t enjoy it at the time. I knew it was a good show but I didn’t have that much fun. People seemed to enjoy it, and we as a band had a good time.
Do you find that a home audience is more appreciative than an audience from elsewhere?
No, it’s the opposite I think. Not slighting Aberdeen again, but I think audiences are more appreciative when bands tour and come through their town. When there are friends and family in the crowd I don’t think they want to appear too enthusiastic, which would seem a bit quasi-patronising.
Do you have a favourite song to play live?
I really like a song called A Winter on the Run, because it’s a little slower, and the string parts on that song are really incredible. Michael [Marshall, violinist] did a really great job; we pretty much just put him in one of the rooms in the recording studio and gave him really basic instructions like “can you make it sound like The Dirty Three?” or “can you try and play it louder?” and he managed to play the parts exactly how we imagined. He also plays those parts live which is fun.
Factory Floor, which is the first song on the album, is great to play live because it’s the only song we’ve ever written where we just wrote it in the studio. We made, wrote and recorded that song while we were in the recording studio, so to play the song live we had to listen to the recording to figure out what we were actually playing, which is a bit strange.
Factory Floor, which is the first song on the album, is great to play live because it’s the only song we’ve ever written where we just wrote it in the studio. We made, wrote and recorded that song while we were in the recording studio, so to play the song live we had to listen to the recording to figure out what we were actually playing, which is a bit strange.
What’s the best gig you’ve ever played? Tell us about it.
There are two that stick out. We played at a venue called the Barrowlands in Glasgow, which is one of my favourite music venues in Scotland. It sold out which made it quite a big show. We were supporting Two Door Cinema Club, it was pretty incredible. It was full of lots of young people, who are generally more appreciative than older, more apathetic people.
The other one would probably be Brussels, last March. It was the last show of a European tour, and last shows of tours generally feel a lot more special. The venue was incredible; it was in the middle of Brussels and had a glass dome. I think it used to be a botanical garden. It had a maze outside and fish ponds and things indoors. It was a bit like Duthie Park, actually, if the gardens in Duthie Park were a music venue. It’s probably the best we’ve ever played, the sound and lights were perfect. It was a lot of fun, we were playing with a friend’s band, and we all got quite drunk. I got to see my friend from here while we were in Brussels, and I guess that’s probably the best bit about touring – being able to catch up with friends.
A band called Life Without Buildings, but that’s not going to happen any time soon as they broke up. I got into them maybe about two years after they split up. They made this one album called Any Other City, and it’s my favourite ever album. So hypothetically, them. Realistically, I don’t know! If you’re playing with bands you like it could be stressful because you might not get to see them. I think I’d rather just play our own show and then go and see a band I liked. I prefer playing with friends’ bands as it’s a lot more fun than playing with strangers.
Do you keep up to date with the Aberdeen music scene?
I try to, but I’m really lazy and I don’t really like going to gigs that much. I know people who play in bands, and there are a few bands I really like. I try to go to shows when I can; I think the last thing I went to see was The Xcerts. I live in Stonehaven so sometimes I can’t be bothered getting a train or bus in to see bands I’ve never heard of. I do think the music scene in Aberdeen is good though, it punches above its weight. There are some great venues and people are doing great things. I am also going to make the effort to see The Deportees. Basically, I’ve been very lazy for about two years and now I’m trying to be a little more proactive. I realised that I’ve seen more gigs in Cardiff and London in the past year than I have in Aberdeen, which seems a little ridiculous, so I’m trying to remedy that.
How do you all manage to stay very closely knit as a band when you all live in different cities?
We went to school together, and played music for fun because we were friends. It’s a lot easier than it seems; the band these days is based in Glasgow I guess, because that’s where our equipment is and it’s where we rehearse.
So is that where you recorded the album?
Yeah, just outside of Glasgow, in Hamilton. I guess it takes a little more planning, you can’t really rehearse the next day or whatever.
Does that mean there’s a lot of commuting involved?
Yes but that’s fine because Joe and I are the only ones who get trains, with Rikki and Minni based in Glasgow, but we both really like trains so it’s fine!
What made you decide to add a violin player to your line-up?
Michael used to play in a band called Findo Gask, who we had played some shows with in the past. He played violin on some demos for the album, and then he ended up playing violin again on the actual album recording, and when it came to us playing shows we just asked him if he wanted to play with us.
How long ago was that?
We recorded the album in September, so then. I guess we asked him to play shows because we started to get used to the album version of songs, so it would have been weird to play without the violin parts. He plays acoustic guitar live as well to make some bits a little less ‘full on’. He’s only played three or four shows with us so far, but it hasn’t felt as much of a big deal as it might have done. Because of the fact that we’re really close knit, adding someone might have been a little awkward, but it’s not been. He’s got a similar sense of humour and things, so it’s been remarkably easy!
You probably get asked this all the time, but what’s with the band name?
I don’t know! I think it was originally a misspelt text message that was sent to Joe, or something to do with something in Japan? It literally doesn’t mean anything. Since naming the band we’ve found out that Haho is a skydiving or paragliding abbreviation but it has nothing to do with the name. I guess when you have a short word with that number of consonants and vowels it’s inevitably going to be some sort of abbreviation.
So you’re not all adrenaline junkies?
No. I’m quite the opposite; I hate that sort of stuff. Anything involving ‘fun’ I don’t seem to like.
Who or what inspires you to be in a band and play music?
Joe, Rikki and I all played music when we were kids, and I guess when you play music from that early age, and you go into secondary school and you’re listening to Blink 182 or Nirvana or whatever, it’s a very natural progression to then start playing in bedrooms with your friends. I wouldn’t say there was any particular band or person or artist or writer or whatever that has influenced us. We grew up listening to American indie-rock, but I can’t think of anything that we all listened to collectively that we have consciously decided has influenced us. I think the closest we maybe get to talking about influences is when we’re recording and we might reference a certain song or a certain album in terms of how we want something to sound or be mixed, but I think everyone does that.
Do you all have different personal musical influences? For example, do you all have different favourite bands?
Yeah, Stuart really likes Roy Orbison, and ‘classic’ sort of song-writing for want of a better word. Joe’s really into Lou Reed, who I can’t stand in the slightest apart from this one song that’s on The Squid and the Whale soundtrack, it’s the only song by Lou Reed that I can listen to without wanting to kill myself! I guess we do all like similar things too. Actually, I don’t think Rikki and Minni like Adele, but I really like her. She’s kind of amazing. I haven’t spoken to them about it but I don’t think they’d like her.
I think she’s everyone’s guilty pleasure, though.
I don’t have any guilty pleasures!
Really? Not even something like Aqua?
You say that... I was in Cardiff a couple of weeks ago visiting some friends and that was on the ‘party playlist’. I think every sort of music has a purpose and an audience, so you shouldn’t feel guilty about liking something.
Copy Haho’s self-titled new release is out now on Slow Learner. To find out more about the band click here.
SH
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