One of our favourite cliches round these here parts is “if you’ve not heard of them already, you will soon”. This applies nicely to Glasgow 5-piece Attic Lights, with the only caveat to this being that you will quite probably have heard of them already. Perhaps you heard them on the BMX Bandits’ most recent album My Chain. Or you spotted them on BBC2’s Culture show, or on BBC Scotland (The Music Show, and Rapal) or STV’s Nochd Gun Chadal’. And those are just the sightings, their stirring harmonies are well-kent on XFM London, Radio 2, and all the places that you’d expect to hear a band that, it seems, everyone is talking about.
All this is so 2007 of course, but expect the coming year to have fans ecstatic, and the cloth-eared few sick of the sight and sound of them - now being managed and produced by one Francis Macdonald (Camera Obscura manager, Shoeshine Records’ head honcho and Teenage Fanclub drummer), and now signed to a major label. itm? caught up with singer Kevin Sherry to explode a few myths and get his take on their rise from obscurity to household name…
itm?: So, a major label deal, we hear - what’s the story, there’s even a video - looks like you’re part of the rock firmament now!
KS: Yup, after signing to Scottish indie label X-Phonics early last year, we then got picked up by Island Records and have been shooting some vids to support the forthcoming singles. It’s all getting very exciting. First single, ‘Never Get Sick Of The Sea’ is released on 4th Feb.
itm?:I’d not realised this but you actually ‘formed’ in an attic? Ok, who was living in the attic and who had just popped round?
KS: Colin was living in his mum’s house and had turned the unused ‘Attic’ into a rehearsal and recording space. The band would come round to Colin’s house on Friday nights, get very drunk and sit and write songs into the wee small hours. As befitting Colin’s preference for ‘mood-lighting’ the Attic was illuminated by thousands of fairy lights and candles. Hence, Attic Lights.
itm?:You’ve independently released CD EPs before, but what’s the story with the major label deal? And is the 7” part of that? Will this make things easier for you (not copying CDs in your flat but having a team of lackeys to do it for you, for example). Do you have a particular love of old-style formats? Or indeed old-style rock? So many questions…
KS: The 7” came about because we had spent quite a long time recording and felt that we wanted to release something that let people knew where we were at. We did it through an independent company called Shellshock and to Island Records’ credit, they were happy to let us do so.
We’re not too fussed about what format our stuff comes out on, be it vinyl, CD or MP3. As long as the quality is good enough then we don’t really care about the format (although having a vinyl copy of your own stuff would be pretty cool, but that’s ‘cause we grew up listening to our parents’ vinyl collections.)
itm?:Yes, I’ve been reading your blog - Led Zeppelin? How does that tie in with your ‘sunny West Coast melodies’ stereotype? Any other skeletons in the (ahem) attic?
KS: As to old school rock… it is something we like, but no more so than any modern stuff. There is quite a diverse bunch of personalities in the band who all like different types of music. (Noel is our resident ‘Classic Rock’ expert.) We still see ourselves primarily as music fans rather than ‘musicians’ and are always on the lookout for for new artists to get excited about.
It’s kind of hard when people ask us about our influences, ‘cause, while we are certainly enamoured with harmony and melody - Beach Boys, Beatles - that influence really comes from our parents’ record collections. In our teenage years we all discovered the alternative American scene of bands like Pavement, Guided By Voices, Grandaddy etc… So I guess our sound is kind of a mixture of those two influences. If you are looking for skeletons in the closet I can certainly help you out. Guns and Roses, Pet Shop Boys, Hair metal… you name it, someone in the band has been into it at some point!
itm?:And my other research tells me you have friends in high (low?) places i.e. the Celtic DJ booth? Did the DJ not get sacked in the past for playing the wrong tunes… anyway, how did you swing that one?
KS: You know, we are still not sure if that actually happened? I keep meaning to phone up Celtic Park and ask if we got played. Someone who knows someone who was at the game said they heard us played at half-time but then I asked someone who knew someone else who was at the game if they heard us and he couldn’t remember hearing it. I’ll definitely have to get to the bottom of this mystery.
itm?:What’s next? An album I assume? Giving up the dayjobs to tour? Any plans to hit the US (and if so, just California, or some of the more chilly and ‘real’ outposts too?)
KS: Yup, first single is out on 4th February so we will be doing gigs around the UK. After that, it’s off to Texas in March for SXSW and then further touring on our return to the UK. The album will probably be out early/mid summer. Day jobs are now gone and full time musicianship beckons. Which is pretty cool to look forward to.
itm?:Yes, an album out in summer, but you can WIN a copy of their current 7″ single ‘God’ - simply email us with the answer to the question - what major label have the band signed to?
//Stuart McHugh