Glasser @ The Captain’s Rest 20/2/11 + interview

Cameron Mesirow aka Glasser has been getting nothing but praise since her debut LP, Ring, came out in September. From before the album’s release she had been getting comparisons with a whole range of enviously talented female artists and since being thrown in at the deep end, supporting The xx on their UK tour as her first tour outside of California, she has done nothing but thrive.

Tonight she visits Glasgow for the first time on her own headline European tour and the prospect of a hot and sweaty Rest tonight has most people appetites wet.

The somewhat bizarre image of Glasser’s three-piece band emerging on stage in matching boiler suits is only topped when Mesirow takes the stage herself in rather kooky stage attire complete with helmet like headwear and garnished with pompoms.

The dress is eye catching to say the least but it is what has brought the crowd along tonight, it is the material from Ring, which gets full airing tonight. The almost tribal sounding, double drummer attack on album standout ‘Apply’ gets the set going and from then on Mesirow and co. look set to cruise.

Mesirow’s quirky almost trance driven dances fluctuate between instrumental sections only for her to regain focus from nowhere to fill the room with her angelic voice. Mesirow bobs, ducks and sways around the stage, amid glitchy synth croaks giving the occasional yelp drawing attention but it’s always a pleasant surprise when she draws back into her mesmorising vocals.

There is a touch of nerves kicking about this evening, the delicate beauty of the songs seems to have the crowd pushed a step away from the stage, almost as if they fear they might break it. This doesn’t seem to worry Mesirow as she banters about her grandfather being from Glasgow adding, “everybody thinks I’m Irish” before going into the delightful ode to her best friend, ‘T’.

Tracks like ‘Home’, ‘Glad’, ‘Tremel’ and ‘Mirrorage’ finish off the rest of the set each emphasising the talent Merisow has in putting together mystical elctropop gems.

As Merisow shyly reemerges, minus headwear, she explains she never intended to do an encores on this tour, stating they’ve played the whole album which receives a heckle of “play it again” that she giggles off before gaining composure.

She explains she is going to do an a’cappella performance of a folk song called ‘Let No Man Steal You Time’, which receives another shout of “can I steal you time?” which receives a blunt “no”. The song itself goes some way to justify that “no”, as the haunting splendor of her vocals silences the whole room, leaving everyone expects Mesirow herself breathless.

Before the show tonight we had caught up with the genius behind Glasser, Cameron Mesirow, to talk about the tour and what she thinks about all the comparisons and praise she has been getting.

Q: This is your first headline tour in Europe, how has it been so far?
A: The shows so far have been ok, I’m not going to rave about them but it’s been a pretty good tour in terms of how we’re all feeling. Hopefully Glasgow will show up those down in England, it seems like a good crowd down there already.

Q: This is your first time in Glasgow, have you had a chance to see much of Glasgow while you’ve been here?
A: Not really, we took a little walk to Òran Mór and tried a few different whiskeys’, we were told that is what they are famous for, that’s all we’ve seen just the walk from here to there. I’m kind of excited to be here anyway, my grandfather came from here, he wasn’t a performer like my parents but his name was Cameron like me.

Q: Could you give us a description of your sound for anyone unfamiliar with it?
A: It sounds just like The Rolling Stones basically! (laughs) No it’s really hard to know how to classify, it’s electronic music that doesn’t sound like electronic music.

Q: There have been a lot of comparisons being banded about with a lot of varying different female artists, what do you make of this?
A: I think what stands out the most is that the comparisons are female, I doesn’t seem to matter what the music is like as long as there’s a female vocalist

Q: How have you reacted about the across the board positive reviews Ring has been getting?
A: I have barely seen a review myself I try not to read too much about it.

Q: How did you enjoy making the album?
A: I think with anything you’ve wanted to do for a long time and feel intimidated about doing there’s a lot of brow beating and questioning, if you’re doing a good thing or not. I can’t say it was the happiest experience that I just skipped though but I do feel good about it.

Q: You’re playing Primavera in the May, the line up looks amazing, anyone you fancy seeing while you’re there?
A: I’m really curious to see Pulp, is Suicide playing? I think Suicide are playing and I’m really excited to see Echo and the Bunnymen, I think they’re playing Ocean Rain, which is my favourite.

Q: What sort of stuff do you listen to while you’re on tour?
A: We listen to all kinds of things in the van, today we listened to Micachu and the Shapes who I’d never heard before, Sam Cooke, Lil Wayne, some techno from Berlin, D’Angelo so lots of different stuff.

Q: Finally, are you going to get out in Glasgow after the show?
A: I can’t go out because I’ll loose my voice, I have to go home all the time after the shows, I’m trying to be a professional.

Photo: Stewart Fullerton

Interview: The Yummy Fur

The Yummy Fur were somewhat of a cult band when you were originally about, were you surprised by the reception the reformation shows have been receiving?

The Yummy Fur is a cult band now but we weren't when we were active, pre-social network sites we were operating in a vacuum. If we were cult we didn't know it. No one ever championed the Yummy Fur so people who liked us had made their own decision about that which often made it a bit special. It's been great to see who the Yummy Fur fans are and the reception in America has been surprising. Who'd have thought any of it had filtered through? The records are even scarcer over there so it's great that the best of compilation will be making the material available again to cult band completists, ganger conspiratists and anoraks worldwide.

What was it that brought about the reformation? How long did it take from the idea of reformation to it actually happening?

As I understand it, Paul Guided Missile wanted something special for the label 15th anniversary show and contacted John about a 1990s show. This wasn't possible so he upped the ante and asked for a Yummy Fur re-union instead. For some reason John gave this request serious consideration and Paul made inquiries as to the other members. I was obviously in but Paul Thomson was routinely unavailable. With a few schedule tweaks the gig was on with a Glasgow gig added to give our pals a fun night and nostalgic wallow. Then the US dates were all organised by Kevin Pederson from What's Your Rupture. I think it was about 10-12 weeks from idea to inception.

Obviously members of the band have toured in America before, but how do you feel about this first tour over the water with The Yummy Fur?

Now that it's all over I feel dazed, privileged and a wee bit melancholic.

The Yummy Fur is quintessentially a Glasgow band, what does it mean to you guys to be playing these songs in Glasgow again?

The Glasgow show was a brilliant night, we'd had one rehearsal but we were determined to elevate having a good time above all else. I don't know how good the performance was but the whole event was essentially a party for us and all our pals.

The show at Sleazy’s was being treated in some circles as a huge event in the Glasgow music scene, what do you feel the reformation and The Yummy Fur in general mean to the Glasgow scene?

I've no idea what the Yummy Fur mean to other people and had even less idea before these shows. To me the Sleazy's show had everyone I would have expected to be there; the same people who would be at my wedding or would have been there ten years ago, just that some of them now inspire delirium in others who haven't spent hours in the back of a crappy transit van with them.

The Sleazy’s show pretty much read as a who’s who of Scottish indie music, was there anyone you were surprised to see there or were honoured to have there?

See above. It was nice to see Philippa, Claire and Danny, Jane, Maureen, Stuart, you know, pals.

How does playing a show at home in Glasgow now compare to playing in say London or America?

As above, Glasgow was a party. As was the Buffalo bar in London. America was a tour proper, with all the stuff that goes with it so it could be tiring and feel alien. In New York we were literally trapped on stage, with no refuge or bolt-hole. You become a little gang on tour and have a shared experience. The audiences weren't that different, except for Beth Ditto. She commanded the room.

How is the band enjoying being back together and playing shows again?

Everyone is still on speaking terms. I think John and Paul T found the scale refreshing. Me and Paul GM (the civilians) were just happy to be there. To me, the songs sounded better than ever before.

There have been murmurs about a compilation to be released featuring the best of the band’s material. Is this correct? What is it likely to be entitled?

The compilation is due out in March on the ‘What's Your Rupture’ label. It looks like it's called 'Piggywings' and will feature our 'greatest hits'. The last track list I saw had 23 tracks, so it may be shortened a bit.

Are we ever likely to see The Yummy Fur release any new material and/or playing in Glasgow again?

No new material, we promise. You wouldn't thank us for it. I'm always up for playing again and the Yummy Fur door is now a wee bit more ajar than it was before. When Japan, Canada and the boutique festival bookers come knocking we'll be listening. I think I can say we are open to any interesting offers and we'll always need a Glasgow show to round things off, circle of life.

Interview: Crystal Antlers

Chimney sweeping wont even enter your mind when you think of California; the states sun baked roofs surely don’t need fires and if they do chimneys are near extinct. Still this is what you could find one of the states best up-and-coming bands doing, now is not the time to find them though as the much-hyped DIY act Crystal Antlers are kicking into their first European tour.

Excitement is high as for the majority of the band this is a first trip to Europe, Scotland seems to hold some significance as like so many American’s they believe they have a distant Scottish heritage. Evidence of this heritage is pretty well hidden, drummer Kevin Stuart’s shocked reaction to gulping from a can of Tennents provides evidence of this. The band arrived in Glasgow for the first time on the back of four nights in London where I am assured there was no Dick Van Dyke-esque rooftop dancing, but playing to near sold out shows every night.

The Long Beach act find tonight’s gig just as highly anticipated as the London shows with the venue having to stop selling tickets early in fear of an overflow. Appearing an unorthodox mix with appearances as varied as their part time job is rare but the band are linked together through their fussy, funk enthused punk sound. After the sound check I caught up with frontman Jonny Bell to chat about the new album, Bad Brains, Pitchfork, and ‘the dying trade’ of chimney sweeping.

This is your first European tour and for the majority of the band a first visit to Europe. Is there anywhere you are particularly excited about visiting or playing in while you’re here?

We were all really excited to come to Glasgow as some of us have Scottish heritage, at least we think. Kevin (Stuart, drummer) defiantly does. Our manager Phil and our friend Michael, who’s making a movie with us, have been to Europe hundreds of times but have never been to Glasgow.

Have you managed to see much of Glasgow?

We’ve only been here about four hours, (laughs) all we’ve really managed to see is the hotel and the rain. We went into a shopping centre; it wasn’t much different from ones in America. We generally don’t get to see much more than the venue when we are on tour; we’ll get the occasional night off but not tonight, hopefully we’ll get to see more when we come back after the album is released.

On the subject of the new album Tentacles is due out in shortly. It has been said to ‘detail the fragmentation of nature and its destruction from humankind’, is this a theme behind the record?

I think that was just something in a press release, I don’t really know where they got that from. The album has a lot of the same elements that were on our EP. It has a kind of loose feeling, but with a lot of parts that are more concise, and we have a lot of ‘noise’ sections that were worked out is specific ways to sound like noise, but they’re not. It’s a progression from the EP overall, there are more vocals and the writing process was a lot more collaborative.

Everyone seems to be struggling to nail down an accurate description of your sound. You’ve been described as various crossovers of styles, or random genres that seem to have been thrown together. How would you describe your sound and influence?

I try not to describe our sound; I’m not really going for something specific. As for our influences, all of us were in punk bands; we come from a real punk background. Damian (Edwards aka Sexual Chocolate, percussion) and Andrew (King, guitar) played with H.R. from Bad Brains so there is a lot of punk influence. We tried to expand on that. Myself, I was really into old soul music, Miami ‘60's type stuff.

I wanted to touch on the promotion the band has been receiving from Pitchfork. What is your perspective on the promotion they give to bands like yourselves, and what affect it has?

It’s pretty amazing how much affect and power they have over the music industry. It’s particularly interesting to us, as none of us had ever heard of Pitchfork when they reviewed the EP, it was up in their best new music section, we had no idea what that meant. At that point we didn’t have a label or distribution, it was all done through mail order with my house as the return mailing address, all the CDs were hand made. Then we were reviewed on Pitchfork and I had to spend pretty much the next week making CDs and shipping them out. So, yes it was good for us as it all expanded from there, but it does seem kind of unrealistic and unfair to a lot of bands. Also, a lot of the bands they champion I don’t necessarily agree with.

Finally just to clear something up, I read that three of you met while you were chimney sweeps, is this true or a complete myth?

Well, we didn’t meet as chimney sweeps but we did all work as chimney sweeps. I suppose it is a pretty rare thing to do, especially in California, it’s a dying trade in a way. I actually still work as a chimney sweep when I’m not touring.

You’ll have heard all the Mary Poppins jokes then?

(laughs) well the company we worked for was actually called Chim Chimney. So, (laughs) yes!