We attended the Scottish Album of the Year award at Stirling’s Albert Halls where we spoke to the artists on the process of making music and what they like most about Glasgow.
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00:00 Okay, are you ready to go?
00:03 Yeah.
00:04 So would you like to introduce yourself?
00:05 My name is Fergus MacReady and I'm a jazz pianist.
00:08 Hey, how you doing?
00:09 My name's Benz and I'm here because my album Nova's Dad has been nominated for the Shortlist
00:14 of the Scottish Album of the Year award.
00:16 My name is Andrew Vasilik.
00:17 I'm Brita Heinbel.
00:18 Hi, I'm Becca Sacasa and I'm super excited to be shortlisted for the SAE award with my
00:23 debut record, 12 Wooden Boxes.
00:25 What's happening?
00:26 My name's Joseph.
00:27 I am Rachel.
00:28 I'm Paul and we play in a band called Cloth.
00:31 Aloysius Massakoy.
00:32 Why are you here today?
00:34 I'm here because last year I won this award, I was very lucky, so I'm here to perform at
00:41 the award and to see who the next winner is.
00:43 So give me an elevator pitch on this album and what it means to you, what it's about,
00:48 that kind of thing.
00:50 It's basically about a boy who became a man because he had a child, you know, and it was
00:55 just like all the feelings that I felt and everything that I felt during the period of
01:00 finding out I was going to be a dad to becoming a dad, you know.
01:03 And that's what the album embodies, you know, it goes through all the feelings from sadness
01:08 to anxiety to the depression to happiness to being grateful and just everything, you
01:13 know.
01:14 So yeah, I hope that's a good pitch.
01:15 So Permanent Damage, the album, it's about like, it's about a breakup.
01:21 It's like a breakup album and sort of how much you lose of yourself when you detach
01:27 from someone else and sort of like grieving for that version of yourself that you kind
01:32 of can't get back anymore.
01:33 But then becoming comfortable with that and realising you don't need them anymore and
01:37 I like this person that I am.
01:39 So the damage is kind of permanent but it doesn't always have to be a bad thing, it
01:43 can just change.
01:44 I think it was like an important album for us, it delved into a lot of stuff that I was
01:50 going through kind of post-Covid and around then and certainly feel better about now.
01:57 And I think the album was kind of part of that, helping me through some stuff.
02:00 And yeah, I'm just proud of the songs on it.
02:02 I think it's a good album.
02:03 It's our first album to come out on Rock Action, Mogwai's label as well.
02:07 So that was a pretty proud thing for us.
02:10 That record means everything to me, to be honest.
02:13 I think, especially when it's your first record, it's just all so exciting and it's such a
02:17 process and you doubt yourself so much along the way.
02:20 And this record is about 12 wooden boxes, it's about the house that I grew up in.
02:26 It's about my family, it's about my mum, it's just so many childhood memories that I connect
02:31 with that and just singing with my siblings.
02:34 An elevator pitch, I've never heard of that but I'll try my best.
02:37 It is a record that started work as a response to the work of photographer Thomas Joshua
02:44 Cooper, specifically the World's Edge exhibition that was on in the National Galleries in Edinburgh.
02:51 And that was the initial seeds.
02:54 I play the Scottish small pipes.
02:56 The album is mainly traditional material, but kind of trying to push the boundaries
03:01 of what that means and what the pipes are.
03:05 The main collaborator on the album was Colin Stetson, who is a saxophonist.
03:11 And from that grew this record.
03:15 And it's sort of like, I suppose it has elements of jazz and neo-classical, not that I would
03:22 ever consider myself anything like a jazz musician or a classical musician.
03:27 However, I kind of straddle these grey areas in between.
03:31 You had a really interesting journey in terms of, you sold out King Tut's without putting
03:36 basically any promo or any songs out, right?
03:39 So tell us a wee bit about how you done that from your perspective.
03:44 Basically I had no money and I just thought it would be hilarious if we sold out a gig
03:50 without putting any music out just to see if we could do it.
03:52 My managers, we had this master plan, just using Instagram and putting clips online.
03:58 I was working in a bar at the time and they worked in Lido and stuff like that, so we
04:01 just pooled all our money together and we were buying little posters in the city centre
04:05 with lyrics and stuff.
04:06 I feel like Glasgow is small enough that it's easy to create a bit of a buzz.
04:11 And it worked.
04:12 And we sold it out, which was f***ing terrifying because then we had to play the gig and nobody
04:16 had heard any of the music.
04:17 But it worked out.
04:18 I'm here, nominated for the Album Award.
04:19 Must have done something right.
04:20 So yeah, a bit of a weird start.
04:24 Coming up from last year then, what has come from the opportunities that this award has
04:28 brought you?
04:29 I think more than anything it's the chance to play a lot of gigs actually.
04:34 And to just play a lot, I think that's the main thing for me.
04:37 I think jazz and the music that we play in the trio is such a thing that develops in
04:43 the live scenarios.
04:44 And the more you can play live, the better I think.
04:46 And having that opportunity to really play live a lot and sort of explore a lot on these
04:50 gigs and stuff, I think it's been really good for us.
04:52 So yeah, I'd say that's the main thing.
04:53 So what is it like playing the Batterlands?
04:55 It's such an iconic venue.
04:56 It's one of the best places to play in the world, hands down.
05:00 Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.
05:02 It's one of those.
05:03 I think just the springy floors, the crowd, I think from the cultural aspect of it where
05:11 people go, they see a gig and then they go out after.
05:17 That's just, when you have a culture that does that, it just makes the shows better
05:22 because people are deciding to go to the show because they want to be there and it's part
05:26 of a cultural heritage.
05:30 It's great because you can feel the atmosphere, you can feel the vibe and everybody's just
05:33 like there.
05:34 And it makes you want to give more because they're giving you a lot back.
05:38 So yeah, it's amazing.
05:39 Fergus, tell me a bit more.
05:40 So if you're a jazz fan in Glasgow, where should you go?
05:44 Who should you listen to?
05:45 Well I think, again, it can be quite random, quite disparate where to go.
05:50 The Lay Low concerts at Rumshack is a really good one to check out.
05:55 Or Jazz at the Glad's Cafe is a really nice concert series as well.
05:57 But honestly I think just following the musicians, trying to get to know who, because everyone
06:02 plays with each other as well, so you check out one band and check out who plays in that
06:05 band and then check out who plays in that band.
06:07 Within five or six bands of research you'll know everyone basically.
06:10 So once you kind of know everyone and you're following them and seeing what's happening,
06:14 you'll kind of get a vibe for where the concerts are being.
06:17 Glasgow is Glasgow, isn't it?
06:19 It's a crazy place, do you know what I mean?
06:21 And everything that's happened in the last two years has been in Glasgow.
06:24 The mother of my child is from Glasgow, my daughter was born in Glasgow.
06:27 I live in Glasgow, so it's really now cemented itself as a big place for me, do you know
06:33 what I mean?
06:34 So how would you describe your music in a sense that it is inherently Scottish?
06:41 Well I think I'm obviously a jazz musician by trade, that's what I'm the most into, but
06:46 I've always loved Scottish traditional music so much as well.
06:49 I grew up with that, my mum was a big fan and I played pipes when I was younger so it's
06:53 kind of ingrained in my head and I kind of view it as, it's not like, I try to make it
06:58 as least amount possible of just smashing the two genres together because that doesn't
07:02 sound that natural I think when people do that.
07:04 It's just trying to write what kind of is coming from my head and that does tend to
07:08 be kind of that mix of the two things that I spend like 50 to 50% of my time listening
07:14 to I think so, yeah.
07:15 Would you have helped us to get a drink or eat in Glasgow?
07:17 I'd drink probably Max's bar and then you can go to La Cheetah after it, get a little
07:22 bit of boozy, yeah probably that.
07:24 Where do I like to eat and drink in Glasgow?
07:27 I love all the curry houses in Finistoun, like the Mother India, the Den, like the one
07:32 near the art gallery, I've probably been in there like triple digits.
07:36 Cottonrake Bakery, I'm very much a cafe person so I'm obsessed with cafes, usually in the
07:43 West End or the South Side, I'll probably have been there and I've had lots of coffee
07:47 there.
07:48 Eat and/or drink?
07:49 I was in Gloriosa's not so long ago on Argyle Street, is that right?
07:57 Not too far from Finistoun I believe, probably got that all wrong.
08:00 I really like the old toll bar for kind of like aesthetically it's like really dark and
08:06 dark wood and it feels like you're in an old wooden ship and the cocktails are great and
08:10 you can easily spend like 50 quid like in a few hours.
08:13 Yeah, that's the only down thing about the old toll.
08:16 Come on, we already know this innit?
08:18 I used to be, I'm such a South Sider in Glasgow, I've always been that kind of way and I used
08:22 to live on Skirving Street and I think that, I don't know if you know Piatto on Skirving
08:27 Street, that little pasta place, such an underrated little gem, it's just ridiculous.
08:32 When I lived there I lived like genuinely it was just across the street so the temptation
08:36 to go there every day was really, it's hard to resist that but I love going there and
08:43 I love, I mean there's just the musician haunts for a drink like Block, lots of people go
08:47 to Block or Slouch, a lot of people go there or the Ben Nevis when the folk session's on,
08:52 I love that for a drink as well.
08:54 For food it's got to be Sugo, for drink, I'm a fan of Maxi's, I can't lie, do you know
08:59 what I mean, just because you can like slide downstairs, little two-step and a cheater
09:03 in that, do you know what I mean, life's good that way.
09:05 So yeah, I guess probably it will be Sugo and Maxi's, yeah.
09:08 The Lauriston's good, no that's in the West End, but it's just been sold right?
09:11 Aye, Southside, it's a beautiful, beautiful bar, very 60s, amazing pint of Guinness.
09:17 I love the Glad Cafe as well, as a venue and restaurant and bar as well.
09:22 Potsdale, yeah, quite like the, you know, the old school vibes.
09:30 So if you tell us what's your favourite venue in Glasgow to play?
09:33 Oh man, I'm awful at favourites, too many but the Mac Church is very beautiful.
09:42 It's got to be SWG Free Warehouse, Poetry Club is also good too, small, intimate, sweaty,
09:47 you know what I mean.
09:49 I love the Macintosh Church actually, the Queen's Cross one, that's really, really great
09:54 actually, I love playing in there, I've played there three times I think and every time it's
09:58 like really great, super great vibe in the room, they've got a really nice piano which
10:02 makes a big difference.
10:03 I don't know, it's sort of like a real concert venue but there's no pretension or stuffiness
10:07 about it but it is beautiful, you know, it's like a really good mix of attributes I think.
10:12 I think it's got to be Macintosh Church, it's quite nice acoustic.
10:17 Yeah big up SWG Free man, King Tut's too, oh flip.
10:22 I mean I've been lucky enough to play the Barlands, that's a really holy venue for musicians,
10:32 yeah, I'll leave it at those two.
10:37 Can I just name every single one of them, do you know what I mean?
10:39 Like Stereo is good, nah, nah, nah, I'll leave it as that because we'll be here for a long
10:44 time you know, but yeah.
10:46 Last question, where is your favourite place in Glasgow, what's your favourite scheme in
10:49 Glasgow?
10:50 Scheme?
10:51 Gaffam, Jit, I'm from Jit so Gaffam at Young Team, Gaffam that's where I'm from, where
10:56 are you from, you from Glasgow?
10:57 Bushy mate.
10:58 Nah, I'm not that, nah I'm definitely Gaffam, like through and through, Gaffam I'm proud.
11:03 Wow we're going deep.
11:09 Oh it's got to be Govan Hill man, that's where it's at, that's where life is, when I first
11:14 moved to Glasgow I stayed in Pollock Shields innit, and I was always in G Hill, that's
11:20 culture right there.
11:23 Anderson, is that a huge fan?
11:26 Anderson yeah, that's a deep bill yeah, it's between the City Centre and the Festival,
11:31 what do you love about Anderson so much?
11:34 When I was first playing music in Glasgow I played a lot of shows in Bardrell, so that
11:42 was in my early days, cutting my teeth and all that.
11:46 The Southside.
11:47 I think the Southside as an entity is where we spend a lot of time, like Govan Hill or
11:53 Shawlands really nice, and we went to uni, the West End's good but I feel like I'd rather
11:59 hang about in Shawlands now, or maybe Govan Hill.
12:02 A lot more going on.