Norman Blake takes time out from ice cream chat with King Creosote (he is more of a frozen yoghurt kind-of-guy) to join ITM? for a quick gab at Ben and Jerry’s Sundae On The Common.
Japan-bound for the Summersonic festival, Teenage Fanclub are excited about the trip to the land of the rising sun.
Speaking before their set at Ben and Jerry’s Sundae Festival, Norman Blake told ITM: “We have played Japan seven or eight times before but it excites me each time we go there as it is a real culture shock. We don’t have much time to hang around this trip, but we get to see Tokyo which is amazing. It is really great to be able to play there.”
The band have been busy working on next album Shadows which will be released in January with a European and USA tour to follow. But first up is Motherwell.
“I think this is the first time we have ever played Motherwell,” says Norman. “They approached us and we are all from around that area so we thought it would be great to do it. Its kind of like a home town gig – our spiritual home. There are bound to be a few relatives there. People are already on the message boards giving us suggestions. Half the time the fans have posted the set lists before we even know what they are going to be.
“In terms of the new album, we thought the name Shadows just fitted and defined what we were working on. It is hard to come up with album titles, but there are references in the songs,” says Norman. “It was mastered about a month ago, so now we are going to record some b-sides and go back and look at it again in a few weeks.”
Always supporters of Scottish talent, the band has selected Glasgow artist Tony Paterson to create the artwork for the album. Norman added: “He is a great artist and was exhibiting recently so we thought he would be perfect. We have known him socially for a long time and we like his work a lot. We have tried to do our own artwork in the past but its nice to use someone that knows what he is doing.”
“We are a big fan of new talent and when it comes to up-and-coming bands I am currently a big fan of Jack Butler and Little Eskimos. I have done work with both of them and they are all great guys. Jack Butler have some great material and Little Eskimos are another one to watch. They are really very accomplished. I was meant to be showing them the ropes and mentoring them during sessions recently but there really was nothing I could show them, they are already there.”
And will the ‘Fannies’ be making an appearance at Scotland’s biggest festival any time soon?
“We haven’t played T in the Park in quite a while – looking back I think we did the first or second year. You never know, you might see us there next year. It would be cool to get a call from Geoff Ellis inviting us along to play.”
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