SOUNDS OF THE CITY
Our music review of the year
IT’S been a great year for live music in Glasgow, and the Evening Times has been there every step of the way to give our readers an insight into some of the biggest artists.
Here, we take a look back at just some of the people we caught up with over 2018.
MARCH
Lewis Capaldi
IN March, we were lucky enough to catch up with Lewis Capaldi ahead of his sold-out show at the O2 ABC.
Lewis has become one of the biggest stars to come out of Scotland this year.
In the past 12 months he has secured himself a BRIT Award nomination, sold out a show at Glasgow Barrowland, appeared on Radio 1 Live Lounge and been listed as one of the Sounds of 2018.
His success still seems to be a surprise to the singer-songwriter who has gained a large online following off the back of his hilarious social media posts.
Speaking backstage at the now defunct ABC, he said: “I definitely think there are people who have latched onto it.
“It’s amazing to see people screaming back lyrics about my ex-girlfriend from when I was 18.
“For some reason people have just taken into their arms and enjoyed it. And if I can give people a bit of respite which is great.
“I take influences from loads of people, it’s more like I see Kendrick and Kanye doing amazing things and I want to harness that.
“Some of my other songs are a lot faster but aren’t depressing. There’s definitely sounds that people haven’t heard.”
APRIL
Arcade Fire, We Are Scientists
APRIL was a busy year for music in Glasgow and we managed to catch up with a whole host of acts before they took to the stage.
Ahead of their headline show at the SSE Hydro, I spoke with Richard Reed Parry from Arcade Fire.
The multi-instrumentalist discussed his love of Glasgow and how performing at the Barrowlands was one of his favourite shows to date.
He explained: “We’ve always had incredible, incredible audiences here in Glasgow. The first time we played Barrowland was one of our most legendary shows and one of our favourite venues.”
During the month we also caught up with Keith Murray from We Are Scientists who said one of the band’s favourite show was in Glasgow venue Bloc.
“On the drive back to Edinburgh we discovered that our Glaswegian friends PAWS were playing a show at a tiny club called Bar Bloc and immediately rerouted our trip.
“We ended up not only going to the show but also playing an impromptu set of our own in this little, jam-packed club to a gang of rowdy kids. It was one of my favourite WAS shows, ever — more fun than our festival performance, earlier that day.”
Scott Hutchison tribute
MAY marked a difficult month for Scottish music and fans of Frightened Rabbit following the death of Scott Hutchison.
The founder and frontman of the band took his own life aged 36 after a long-running struggle with anxiety and depression.
Scott, from Selkirk, had been brutally honest about the reality of his mental health for the entirety of his career and used his own struggle to comfort and console listeners around the world who were going through similar emotions.
Although they were yet to achieve household name status, Frightened Rabbit toured at both home and abroad. Their last Glasgow show saw them sell out the O2 Academy for an anniversary show of their second album Midnight Organ Fight.
‘‘ We feel that we made a record that no one else is doing or trying to do
JUNE
You Me At Six
AS summer got into full swing, the new albums kept on coming. Next up was You Me At Six who were due to release their sixth album.
It came after the band felt like they had lost their way following the release of previous album Night People.
Frontman Josh Franceschi said the band had produced the closest thing to a ‘defining’ You Me At Six record.
He explained: “Whether or not fans, peers or critics agree remains to be seen, but we feel that we made a record that no one else is doing or trying to do.
“In a way we have sort of gone back to what we did in the last two records, which was not trying to make a cohesive body of work.”
In the months following, the band returned triumphantly to the Glasgow stage with an anniversary show of their debut album and a night dedicated to their new album.
JULY
Declan McKenna, Tom Grennan
AS the month of TRNSMT festival finally came around, we were given access to some of the best acts gracing the stage. First up was Declan McKenna and Tom Grennan. The solo artists were one of a few lucky acts who made the jump to the main stage within the space of a year.
Speaking on the festival, Declan said: “We were at TRNSMT last year, which is incredible because there’s not many festivals that you would do two years on the trot, so we’re excited for it being a highlight of our summer.
“This year is bigger and better and will still be really fun. It’s our first festival back from touring, so it’ll be great.”
Tom added: “The Glaswegians are always up for it. I’m still trying to work out how I’ve made the jump. It’s amazing people like my music and are excited there is an album coming that is going to be big.”
AUGUST
N*E*R*D, Albert Hammond Jnr
IN August we chatted to two massive stars from very different musical spectrums.
Chad from N.E.R.D opened up about his relationship with Pharrell and a possible collaboration with Kendrick Lamar at Glasgow Summer Sessions.
Albert Hammond Jnr, former guitarist for The Strokes, took us on a wild journey through his life which he has now begun again.
The solo artist performed his fourth solo album Francis Trouble to
a packed SWG3 audience.
Ahead of the show, he said: “You always learn on the road what’s missing from certain songs or what you want to do.
“My three records beforehand was me learning in front of people what kind of frontman I wanted to be and what I wanted to perform and what kind of songs it needed to be.”
SEPTEMBER
Scottish Album of the Year award
AHEAD of the annual Scottish Album of the Year award ceremony, we spoke to Stephen Allen who was part of the judging panel.
The music-buff is also the curator of Rip it Up: The Story of Scottish Pop and spoke at length on the work and dedication that went into creating the popular exhibition.
The winner of the award (which happened to be Young Fathers) was to have their record included in the ode to Scottish pop music.
“There has been a strong presence in pop music from Scottish bands and it’s always punched above its weight”, he explained.
“Pop music is a really important cultural art from.
“It’s been around for half a century, many of us grew up listening to it and it was our first encounter with art and culture and leads on to other things like an it interest in fashion and photography.”
OCTOBER Tom Odell
AWARD-winning Tom Odell, pictured below, stopped off in Glasgow before releasing his third album Jubilee Road.
The 27-year-old described the record as his most honest and personal outing so far and was looking forward to performing it live.
Unlike most performers, he had opted to tour before fans had heard the album, saying “I think the best way to hear my music is to hear it live.
“I’m quite excited for people to hear this music for the first time in this way.
“It’s quite 70s to tour while the music is coming out. I find it quite exciting.”
NOVEMBER
Paul Smith
MAXIMO Park frontman Paul Smith returned to the city on the smaller stage of the Hug and Pint.
Smith has been performing with the band for over ten years but has still managed to record four solo albums.
The politically-charged records have allowed the musician to explore different sounds and themes than those made popular by Maximo Park.
He explained: “I don’t play the guitar in Maximo Park so I can just enjoy that aspect of my musical self in my solo stuff.
“This one is a bit more refined heaving learned about more about recording and recording myself over the last few years.
“I’m always writing and I’m a music obsessive so I always feel there is much more to do.”
DECEMBER
Frank Turner
SINGER-songwriter Frank Turner suggested that Glasgow could be a location of his flagship festival.
We had a chat with the 36-yearold ahead of his return to the city in January.
His most recent album, Be More Kind, saw the musician return to his political routes after taking a step back in 2017.
He explained: “I think the word should doesn’t really make much sense when being used around art. What an artist should do is whatever the hell they want to do.”