10 QUESTIONS - MOGWAI

Pulverising riffs, tender figures and howling dissonance, Mogwai have been doing it for me for nearly fifteen years now. One of two bands (SFA being the other one) that cause me to yearn for the laughs, closeness and camaraderie that come with being in a band. Funny, generous and fierce - check out ‘Batcat’. I caught up with Martin who, when his heart isn’t exploding or he’s not battering the shite out of Guitar Hero, plays the drums for the best Scottish band since The Jesus & Marychain.

1. Where are you? Describe your immediate surroundings.

We are playing a show in Denver CO tonight in a venue called the Bluebird. The gig is such a dirty, horrible, stinking hole that we have all decided to stay on the bus rather than spend any more time than needs be there. The venue also has a compressor on the PA system which they won’t turn off so the show tonight is going to sound fucking atrocious.

So, I’m sitting on our bus, the aircon isn’t cold enough, the tv doesn’t work and neither does the sound system. All in all it’s been quite an interesting day so far. Speed on the show!

2. I had a proper job once and I am highly offended by the suggestion that what
I do now isn’t considered as such. What’s your favourite thing about not having a proper job?

Well, before Mogwai started becoming our main source of income I used to work in a Cantonese restaurant. I worked there on average 70 hours a week, that included split shifts and weekends. It was pretty hard trying to combine shows and tours etc with that so I quit. Anyway, even although I get paid alot better being in the ‘Gwai, when you are on tour or in the studio the days can be just as long and tiring. I do think that most people back home think it’s all wild parties and snorting coke from bare breasted ladies but I’m sure you know very well that the Mogwai experience is one big sausage party.

3. How far is the moon from the earth? Don’t google it, I’ll know if you do. I will.

Stuart once told me it was “about 5miles” to the moon and he sincerely believed that. It must be mentioned that Stuart’s father, who is without doubt the cleverest person I have ever met, makes telescopes for a living.

4. ‘Does she go?’ You used to hear that question alot when I was younger, ‘Does she go?’ Meaning, obviously, ‘Does she go? I used to just say nothing. I thought they meant ‘does she urinate?’ and I would wonder why on earth anyone would want to know that. I also didn’t know that David Attenborough was Dickie Attenborough’s brother until last year. What hilarious misconceptions do you labour under?

My wife told me it’s thinking that I am going to be beheaded by Abu Siaf if I set foot in the Philippines. She has family there and keeps on at me to go over. I keep saying no.

5. Who is the funniest member of Mogwai? Please provide three examples of this.

This is a hard one. I think they are all funny in different ways. If you are talking about which member is always cracking jokes and making people/himself laugh then it would be Francis Barry Burns. Stuart is also extremely funny in that way and has very good patter. He’s really quick witted so can be a bit of a slayer when it comes to slanging matches. Dominic is usually very quiet but also very sarcastic. It’s actually hard to tell when he is being serious. He also has a tremendous knack of having a few whiskies and coming out with some of the best one-liners you’ll ever hear. We’ve got some great new potential song titles from him eg. “drunken horny rage” and “arrested in a bus full of friends” to name but a couple. I guess you had to be there though. And John, John is just funny.

6. People keep banging on about the complex and bewildering number of genres in music nowadays. Now you and I know that this is patent rubbish. There’s ‘Pop’, ‘Rock’ and ‘Electronic Folk Metal’. Now I’m not going tell you which one I think you are (no fear) but maybe you think you’re one of the other ones, ‘Pop’ say, or ‘Rock’. How would define what you do?

Avant hard with hard bits.

Shagging music.

7.New employment laws dictate that you must employ one more member. Who would it be?

Probably our old friend and collaborator Luke Sutherland although I’m sure he’d tell us to fuck off. Luke used to be in the amazing Long Fin Killie and now writes books for a living. He’s played violin and guitar on some of our records and is one of the best human beings I’ve met. He doesn’t drink but likes to stack the empty cans.

8. You can pass three laws that will make Britain a better place. What are they?

First one would be to make me dictator, I would in turn dissolve the Royal family. I would then split the UK into 3 countries, Wales, Scotland and England and give the 6 counties back to the Irish. You take charge of England, give Gruff his beloved Wales.

As dictator of Scotland all public services that were once State owned before that cunt Thatcher sold them off would once again be owned by the people, everyone would have a home. Scotland’s nuclear deterrent would be scrapped and I would give myself a nice country estate to run the country from in a Putin-esque style. Oh, and military service for neds. If they like fighting so much they can do it in the name of Scotland. Utopia, no?

9. What can you tell us about the genesis, writing and recording of the ‘The Precipice’?

We took 4 amps, a generator, a drumkit, several guitars and effects to the edge of a cliff. The very edge. Pressed play on the dictafone and that’s what came out. Sheer majestic majesty .

10. Dominic138 of Twitter writes.

What happened? Did you have a fight, a proper fight with big sticks and Glasgow kisses? Was anyone sacked? Should Dominick be now considered the true heart and ipso facto leader of Team Mogwai?

There was no violence whatsoever. We thought about it but Dom gave us one of his icy cold stares and we all ran like whimpering children. Since Mogwai’s inception in 1995, Dom has always been the cold and calculating evil genius pulling the strings. Stuart always comes across as being the public face of the ‘Gwai but in actual fact he is Dom’s bitch.