My Latest Novel
After the Australian release of their stunning debut album “Wolves” in April this year, acclaimed Scottish five-piece, My Latest Novel, are about to pack their xylophones and violins and head to our shores. I chatted with guitarist/vocalist/xylophonist Paul McGeachy from his home in Scotland.
With the members of MLN ageing from 21 up to 25, you sound surprisingly well-developed musically. Is being in a band something you always wanted to do?
"I’m glad that comes across (being musically well-developed). Music’s always been a big part of our lives. When you’re growing up and your Mum’s playing the Beatles, you can’t help it. We’ve all been in bands since we were about 13. My big brother started playing guitar when I was 12. I looked up to him and copied him and then I started playing."
What was the album’s title, “Wolves”, inspired by?
"We do everything together – play together, hang out together - and we have a pack mentality, like wolves. We even lived together in a flat for six months about two years ago."
The album is overflowing with so many beautiful, spine tingling tracks. Each one sounds as if it’s been slaved over. What sort of process takes place to enable you to write songs of that quality?
"All five of us write together. I guess you have to be in a particular mood. It’s difficult to just sit down and write. To get a lot of emotion in it you have to be in a certain mood. It’s quite organic. We could be sitting down and one of us just thinks of something and we say 'why don’t we write a song about that?'."
Who have been your main influences?
"Musically I’ve been influenced by a lot of Glasgow bands like Mogwai, Arab Strap and the Jesus & Mary Chain."
Is the band at the stage yet where you’re successful enough not to need day jobs?
"No. We all have jobs. I have two jobs! I have a bar job at night and I work in an office during the day. I just got fired from my office job. I didn’t tell them I was going to Australia and they heard about it from someone else and they fired me! I don’t really care though."
What makes a gig work really well?
"A lot of the time it’s how the crowd responds. It helps you to put more emotion into it. The experience can be very reflective depending on the crowd. We haven’t had many bad crowds, just quieter ones. We’re used to big crowds in Scotland. When we play outside Scotland, the crowds tend to be quieter."
You’ve played support to some big names. Who has been your favourite artist to play alongside?
"Looking back on it, it’s been Joanna Newsom. Her new album is so grand and spectacular. We played three shows with her and every show she was amazing."
Playing with artists like that, you’d obviously be performing to some huge audiences.
"When we played with the Pixies we were playing to a crowd of 13,000 which was amazing."
Have you played shows alongside artists who you’ve admired for a long time?
"We’ve done a couple of shows with Smog (Bill Callahan) who I’ve always been a big fan of. I started listening to Arab Strap when I was 16 and we did our first tour with them and they nice were, but they’re splitting up. They’re doing their last show in Glasgow in December when we’re away in Canada."
You’re coming to Australia in early December – have you played here before?
"No – none of us have been to Australia before. Every single one of us is so excited about coming down."
Are you into any Australian bands?
"We played with Architecture in Helsinki in Germany. They were great. Nick Cave – Oh, I love Nick Cave. He’s been a really big influence on us as a band. When we started the band we were just getting into Nick Cave. Unfortunately I haven’t seen him live before. Garry & Ryan went to see him when we were living together in the flat, but I couldn’t afford it at the time."
Speaking of Australian bands, in some of your songs, because of the strings, you sound similar to The Dirty Three.
"Oh, our violinist Laura will be happy to hear that! We played a show with The Dirty Three in Glasgow. We watched them do their soundcheck and Warren Ellis asked me to tune his mandolin."
You’re currently writing songs for your second album. What do you hope for the band in five years’ time?
"Hopefully I won’t have to work in an office anymore. I hope we’re still continually writing and constantly challenging ourselves – it’s been a good time so far and I hope it continues."
How do you hope that Wolves is perceived?
"We want everyone to have their own connection with it and to feel a sense of energy and emotion."
Mission accomplished, I’d say. From the first listen, the energy and emotion from this album draws you in and demands your fullest attention.
My Latest Novel will be playing on Thursday 7th December at The Corner in Melbourne, Friday 8th December at The Globe in Brisbane and Sunday 10th December at The Basement in Sydney.
