Music, Style & Culture

Glasvegas: ‘Who Knows If We’ll Even Do A Third Album?’

Harriet Jennings talks to Rab & Paul about drugs, drink and rabid dogs.

Glasvegas frontman James Allan was initially said to be suffering from exhaustion and dehydration when the band pulled out of their Coachella appearance in 2009, and it's only recently reports of what really happened have surfaced.

In the wake of their second album's release last week, Harriet Jennings talks to the Glaswegians about drugs, drink and rabid dogs to get the story behind James' overdose and discover truths behind some rather tall tales.

Your new album 'EUPHORIC /// HEARTBREAK \\\' was a difficult second album for you for different reasons to most. Did you feel any of the conventional pressures whilst making it too?
Rab: I think we put the pressure on ourselves because of how good we wanted it to be, and how good we knew it could be. It was a great time, but hard work as well. All in it was about a year from the day we started writing it to the demos.

It was released last Monday. How's it been received so far?
R: Most of the reviews have been pretty positive. It's probably going to be a slow build up and it'll just keep building and building, which is nice. I remember with our first record, it sold so much in the first week and then it just disappeared. I think now the biggest thing is just to keep it in people's consciousness. For us we're just happy with how good the record is. We think it's better than the first.

The album was produced by Flood. How was working with such a prestigious producer?
Paul: He was called a 'heritage' producer and he hates it. He's been around for, or it feels like he's been around for, decades. People think he's like 70 but he's very young. He was only 29 when he made [Depeche Mode's] 'Violater' and that's a seminal album, one of the best of all time.
R: Honestly, he's had a facelift. He says he hasn't but he's 50 and he looks as though he's 35. He's a great guy, a great inspiration. He's not just a guy who goes to work; he loves that thing! He wouldn't sleep at night, he'd be having dreams about us and the record because he's 100% on what he's doing. It's not just a job.

Was he strict with you?
R: Not at all. We worked 12-hour days, Monday to Friday. He would turn up to the studio steaming, smelling of booze and we would be totally sober like, "This is the wrong way around."

You've had a great amount of success off the back of the first record. Have you got any aims or targets for this one?
R: People probably say this all the time and don't really mean it, but I don't care about awards. What matters to us most is when people turn up to the gigs and have a good time because that's really the only point of doing it; for the fans. Awards are great and it's nice to get a little bit of recognition, but it is what it is.

Obviously reports of James' exploits are all over the press at the moment. It must be quite difficult for you as a band. How are you coping with It?
R: To be honest, it's not really that difficult. It happened two years ago.
P: We've kind've come through it. When people are talking about it now, we're always looking back on it, as opposed to for other people who read it, they're reading about it just now. For us it was two years ago.
R: Things were mad then. With Coachella, he was in the room and the paramedics were in and me and Paul went in to try and get booze. He's laying over James to get a bottle and paramedic's like, "Can you give him a bit of space, I need to give him an injection." Paul's like, "I'm just getting the vodka and the beers and then I'll be out of here."
P: He was in the way of the drink, I mean fuck's sake. It was my day off in LA in the sunshine.
R: At the time, not that it was normal that it was happening, but that was just another day in the life of Glasvegas. Now, looking back, I remember getting back to the hotel and taking tonnes more drugs and he was still unconscious... it's a hard thing to explain but things have changed in a big way. We're still arseholes.
P: We're straight arseholes now.
R: I think we're all really happy. I guess before it was just that things were thrown upon us in terms of the success we were just left like, "How do you deal with this?"

It was around that time you started working on the new album. Was there ever a point during that period that you thought there might not be another record?
R: No, I knew James was quite focussed on getting another one out. People think that most of it was written in LA but most of it was written in Glasgow, some of it in Germany. A lot in Europe. I'd say maybe three or four of the songs were written in Santa Monica, but he had most of the ideas before we went over.

You recorded the first album in Glasgow, and the EP in Transylvania?
P: There were a million rabid dogs in the street in Transylvania. I was up a lamppost one night, waiting on James outside a bar at six in the morning.
R: It was a brothel, right, it was a brothel.
P: And these two dogs came up the street and I was like, "oh no." They started baring their teeth and growling and I bolted up a lamppost.

On that note, do you know where you'd like to work on the next album?
R: Do you know what? I think that's the funny thing. People make the assumption that this album was written in America. The Christmas album was written in Glasgow, this album was written in Glasgow and the first album was written in Glasgow - it's just that we've recorded in different places! I know with this one people are saying that we've lost our roots because we went to Santa Monica.
P: I still live in Glasgow, so I've been living there for 27 years, and suddenly after four months in Santa Monica I've lost my roots. It's like when someone goes to Tenerife for a fortnight saying, "Oh, they've changed. They came back with a hammock and siestas. What a nightmare." We're adults now, we're not going to change too drastically, I don't think.

Apparently you've already started thinking about the next record. Is that right?
R: That was a flippant comment. To be honest, we've made jokes about where we're gonna do it but you know where James is going to go with something because of what he's listening to. He's been listening to a lot of classical music so I know he's going to want me to sounds like five guitarists next instead of just three. But who knows if we'll even do a third album? I know I said that before the first time, but Caroline left the band, she wasn't enjoying playing the drums. That could be me, it could be James, it could be Paul. Who knows?

You mentioned there about Caroline leaving. You brought in Jonna to replace her - how's she settling in?
R: She's settling in very comfortably.
P: A bit too well.
R: Aye. She's phenomenal. She's a better bass player than he is; she's a better guitarist than I am; she's an amazing drummer; she can sing better than James. And she's easy on the eye.

How did she get involved?
R: I made a joke that I wanted a Swedish drummer, and two days later she turned up in London at the studio. We were like, "Who's this?" "Oh, this is the Swedish drummer you asked for."
P: You make it sound like mail order. We had a to tick a box for overnight delivery - standard class.
P: I think it took her two months to figure out that she was actually in the band. She couldn't understand what we were saying. I think she was just like, "Oh, I've been hijacked by these Scottish guys. What do they want me for?" Eventually we gave her a drum kit and she was so happy.
R: That was the thing though. Not only was she joining a band that was established with three best friends, she couldn't really speak English, so she's done well.

'EUPHORIC /// HEARTBREAK \\\' is out now.