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ARAB STRAP
Cottier Theatre, Glasgow, Wed 2 b Jul
At the age of eight. Aidan Moffat was the first boy in his class to swear. When you consider the number of ‘cocks’. ‘cunts’, ‘bastards’ and ‘fucks’ which frequently crop up on Arab Strap records, this revelation comes as little surprise. ‘There was this girl I fancied most in the world, Vivian Gillies,’ recalls Moffat. ‘She had a birthday party but wasn‘t going to invite me because I swore but eventually I was allowed to go if I behaved myself. I was dancing with this girl Lee and people started singing, “Aidan's goin’ oot wi’ Lee,” so I turned round and told them to “fuck off”. Vivian never spoke to me again.’
It’s the kind of bittersweet love experience which dominates the canon created by Moffat and Malcolm Middleton, albeit with more mature men and women being portrayed. And maturity is something which they display profoundly on new album, Monday at the Hug 8 Pint. While Moffat states that 1996 debut The Week Never Starts Round Here is the only album of theirs he can still listen to, the difference, like the language, is stark.
And anyone who hasn’t kept up with their progress should join them on their ‘Highland tour’ and taste that difference. ‘Sometimes I think people used to come and see us for the car-crash element,’ reckons Moffat. Certainly, the old days weren’t necessarily good ones when you consider that Moffat has sought out hecklers, kicked one loon who grabbed his mic and witnessed ‘fans’ being frogmarched from venues. These days, there’s more chance of you being cut by a broken cello string flying through the air than a smashed pint glass.
So, what’s all this Highland tour stuff, which takes them to outposts such as Perth and Ullapool? ‘I don‘t
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think we’ve really done enough in Scotland. And we have an obviously very Scottish identity, not just in the way we sound but also in a storytelling sense.’
But despite the recent charming publicity shots, don’t expect to see the boys on stage, trussed up in tartan and kitted out in kilts. While Moffat feels perfectly comfortable in the national dress, there may be deeper, familial reasons behind him putting such garbs in the past.
‘There’s a picture of me as a boy when we were on holiday in Blackpool and I’ve got a wee kilt on and a Bionic Woman T-shirt. My dad had gone to get my name printed on it, which everyone did in the 705. But I think he was pished and spelled my name wrong, so it says Adian on it.’ A story he swears by.
(Brian Donaldson)
it
t's not often that I get teary eyed I thinking of my homeland. But
around about half past three in a pub in London a few weekends back. having barely t0uched Scots soil for over a month, while watching the televised sight of tens of thousands of red-faced Scots at Hampden singing ‘Flower of Scotland‘ and various other songs (mostly questioning Jimmy Hill's heterosexuality) I was struck by epic pangs of homesickness. What I wouldn't have given for a glass bottle of lrn (which my spell-check just tried to change to Iran!) Bru. a haggis supper and the chance to read an informative article on substance abuse in the Daily Record (spot the odd one out).
Perhaps it was the alien sight of a
Sunny Glasgow (it always seems hot
Braithwaite
Yanks, Yeahs and Yahs - its enough to make you (homelsick
when I'm not there) but I really was feeling a sense of Caledonian withdrawal. It didn't help that I was in London town, the town with no $0ul. I was there for one night to see the Yeah Yeah Yeahs before heading to America (via Canada) for a week of shows. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are a tremendous — if worryingly hip — band and their Forum show was their biggest show to date. The crowd was like a cross between a school disco and the episode of Absolutely Fabulous where they dress up like Marilyn Manson. And while it's good to see y0ung folks at rock shows as opposed to in superclubs the arch Cynic in me seemed to notice. on my way to the toilet. that all the Iook-a-Iikes were the ones gabbing at the back. I read an interview with the YYYs
recently, about when they were playing a show to 50 people in Portland so perhaps that '3 why they looked so gleeful playing to a few th0usand here. Karen 0 even made dribbling milk look kind of cool.
I've just read that last paragraph back to myself and am vaguely annoyed with myself. Not. as you are probably hoping. because I've realised that I can't write for shit but because I'm guilty (along With Just ab0ut everyone else) of using Americanisms. ‘Shows' in Scotland are where you go to the waltzers, not concerts. I‘ve had a lot of folk referring to Our new album as ‘the new Mogwai' as opposed to ‘the new Mogwai album'. Only Americans say this. not content with ‘liberating‘ half the planet. they‘re also subconsciously stopping us saying pavement, maths and trousers. Boo to America. I say. I'm going there now and am totally intent on paying for things in groats and using pointlessly colloqwal vernaCUIar and getting grumpy when I am faced with bewilderment and annoyance. Have fun in Scotland you shits.
46 THE LIST 19 Jun—.3 Jul 2003
musicGlist.co.uk
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FROM LOOKING TO THE past to looking to the future, another new website has been developed as a platform for the sharing of information and resources between musicians, promoters, management, engineers and other local music industry types. Visit www.eatthismusic.com for more info.
fires up
Free tickets and (:05!
Those in need of some troubadoric vocal relief need look no further as we have tickets and CDs by both I ond Cole and Kelly .Joe Phelps to give away. I loyd Cole plays the Queen's Hall, Edinburgh on ’/I June and Kelly Joe Phelps plays the same venue on Friday 4 July. We have two pairs of tickets and two Cl) albums for both men; all you have to do is email the line: 'I would like tickets and CBS for [insert name of chosen artist here] if you please'. to promotiorismist.coiik asap. Usual by rules apply.