Mogwai Interview

We caught up with Stuart Braithwaite of Mogwai just before their gig at Glasgow’s Grand Ole Opry on Sunday, who gave us an insight into touring the world and having their own label…

How does it feel playing to a home crowd?

I think you maybe get a little bit more nervous as you’re playing to people you know.

Where’s your favourite place to play?

I really like playing in Japan actually, it’s a nice place to visit and also the crowds are really good, they’re always really quiet.

At the start bands like My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth were big influences, are your influences constantly changing?

I think you just add to them, you learn of new music and get interested in different types of music, I think it more expands rather than changes. I don’t think there’s any music that I’ve liked and then decided I didn’t like anymore.

So what sort of bands are you into at the minute?

I’m into a lot of things really, I like a lot of old style country blues music and I quite like electronic records as well.

Was it always the plan to be an instrumental band?

Not really, when we first started we had quite a few songs with singing but they weren’t very good so we just veered towards instrumental.

What are your thoughts on the modern music scene?

I think it’s the same as it’s always been, there’s always good and bad stuff you’ve just got to get through the bad stuff to find the good bits.

What are your thoughts on bands that have followed in your footsteps like And So I Watch You From Afar or Explosions In The Sky? Is it flattering or annoying?

It’s pretty flattering, I don’t really know And So I Watch You From Afar but Explosions In The Sky are friends of ours so we’re happy for them.

How is it having your own label (Rock Action), does it give you more freedom?

It’s just different really, the thing is it’s a lot more work on the sort of boring side but I think the rewards are probably better, but we always made sure we kinda had control over everything anyway, we never had one of these record deals where they tell you what’s going to go on your record or anything like that. But it’s definitely more work, more boring meetings.

What’s your personal favourite record of yours, or the one you had most fun making?

I think the one we had most fun making was Come On Die Young, that was great fun to make. Even though it’s quite a miserable record, we had a really good laugh making it. That was when we were getting quite well known and we recorded it in America and just had a bit of a holiday.

You’ve got a very long tour ahead, is that a highlight for you or do you prefer being in the studio?

I think some of it will be good fun, it’ll be quite tiring I’m sure, but I prefer playing concerts to being in the studio, it’s quite boring in the studio, but they’re both different. Also it’s nice in the studio, (as we record here), to be able to go home to your own house but they both have good things and not so good things.

So is it Japan you’re most looking forward to playing?

Yeah, we’re going there next week, in fact I think we leave tomorrow.

What’s the new record going to sound like?

It’s probably a bit more upbeat, there’s quite a bit of electronic sounds on there as well.

What’s the funniest/most embarrassing story that’s happened to you on tour?

One time, a long time ago, we had a really long drive and I got really drunk and managed to throw up in every state between Chicago and Boston, so aye, that was embarrassing!

Mogwai’s new album ‘Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will’ will be released on 14th February 2011 on Rock Action Records.

Sophie McGraw