The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
From Glasgow to the global stage
Ahead of taking to the Perth Concert Hall stage on March 23, Richard Coburn from Belle and Sebastian tells us about how he has The Fair City to thank for his musical roots
When Belle and Sebastian arrive in Perth for the first of two Scottish dates next week, it will be a homecoming affair for drummer Richard Colburn. The internationally-renowned indie group are synonymous with the city of Glasgow, but Colburn was born and bred in Perth, and his musical links with the city are strong.
“I’ve lived in Glasgow on and off for the last 20-odd years,” he says, speaking on the phone from Cambridge, where the band are in the midst of a national tour, “but I still make the odd appearance back in Perth. My parents and my sister are there, and various aunties and uncles.”
Colburn had a musical upbringing, and any musicians in Perth over a certain age will be all too aware of his family’s legacy.
“My grandfather owned a music shop in Perth calledwilkie’s Music House, he had it from around 1950 for about 50 years, but it closed down a few years ago.
“My mum and dad worked there, my uncles too. It was a proper family affair, and it was the biggest music shop in Scotland for many years,” he adds.
“My dad’s a drummer, my mum’s a jazz singer, my grandad who owned the shop was an accordionist. At every turn there was some kind of music going on.”
At first he “rebelled against” the family’s musical background. In his teens Colburn was serious about becoming a professional snooker player, until the old pro who coached him died and his interest waned.
“I thought, I don’t really want to get a job, I’ll just go to college,” he says. “I took the only course left – it could have been window cleaning, but it just so happened
it was sound engineering at Perth College.”
When Colburn moved to Glasgow to carry on studying he ended up sharing a flat with original B&S member Stuart David, who introduced him to the group’s singer Stuart Murdoch, and he began playing with the group in time to appear on their debut album Tigermilk.
Now, 22 years after Colburn joined B&S, there’s still plenty of music.
Although the band released the latest of their nine records back in 2015 (Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance), they’ve just launched a new album’s worth of material across winter.
While the last three albums were all recorded in America – an expensive and time-consuming choice, says Colburn – the new music was all made in Glasgow studios.
“We all still live in Glasgow,” he says. “None of us are actually from there, but we moved there for different reasons, and it’s good we’ve all stayed, because these days so many bands live apart.”
As with any band, though, the real pressure comes with touring.
“Already this year we’ve done a month in Europe,” says Colburn. “Now we’re doing a month in the UK, then we do Australia, the US, loads of summer festivals, then in the second half of the year we’ll probably do the Far East, South America, and then keep going on.
“The only downside is, it’s not so good missing my family, with my wife having to hold the fort while I’m away. Three of us in the band have families, but your bread and butter is touring these days. We all still enjoy it after 20-odd years, though, so we’re fortunate.”
This will be the fourth time Belle and Sebastian have played Perth, after a charity gig at Twa Tams in the late 90s, a date at the old City Halls and one of the opening shows at the Concert Hall in 2005.
“I keep asking to play Dundee, though,” says Colburn, who played with Snow Patrol in their earliest days and rejoined them a decade ago. “I’ve spent so much time there and I’ve had lots of friends there over the years. We’ll get to the Caird Hall at some point, I promise.”
I keep asking to play Dundee... we’ll get to the Caird Hall at some point, I promise