Last month saw another successful Rave Child night at Broadcast and half of what ended up a two-act bill was the enthralling Elgin four-piece Farewell Singapore.
I spoke to one half of the band, Jon Arbuthnott and Grant Donaldson, prior to the show to discuss their new single and their tour buddies, Penguins Kill Polar Bears, comments about them.
“We were playing Stereo in Glasgow supporting PKPB and sometimes my motor memory kicks in and I get a little wild; I threw my guitar off the stage not realising how high it was and it hit my very good friend Fiona McKinlay, a great photographer,” comments Arbuthnott recalling the incident that led to them being described as “Be Your Own Pet from Elgin but with more projectiles being thrown at tiny photographers” by PKPB in an earlier interview.
“Poor Fiona had a fifty pence sized bruise, I felt awful but I have calmed the throwing but we still go mental live.”
And on the comparisons to Be Your Own Pet the guys seem flattered too.
Arbuthnott comments: “Be Your Own Pet’s record is a favourite of mine and I’m sure in the future this comparison will become more solid and stick as a lot of the new material I’m writing is fast punk.
“They always had great lyrics and it’s a comparison we are honoured to have.”
Donaldson adds: “I like it! I know some of us get annoyed at the Paramore comparisons but if that makes us seem more likeable for someone, then that’s fine by me.”
Naturally after garnering comments about them from their co headliners I was eager to find out if there were any similarly baffling comments they have to throw back, unfortunately there’s not any such stories but they’re full of lovely compliments.
The FS guys are hesitant to throw in the obvious post-rock label at PBPK, but equally recognise it and are optimistic about their friends, as Arbuthnott comments: “yeah to individuals it is post-rock but to them it’s writing songs that they love; one day they’ll start a new genre and take over the world.
“PKPB are an interesting act, we are such good friends and I think I understand their writing process, I see all the influences they listen to come through.
“We are like minded in the sense we hardly ever listen to exclusively rock, I probably listen to rock the least, but it’s what made me love music and I always will love it.”
Donaldson is quick to add: “I couldn’t pin point their exact sound, they have some songs with that wall of sound thing, but they write some killer melodic songs as well.”
At the point of talking to the band they were eagerly anticipating the tour, which took in seven dates across Scotland with PKPB and a few others off on their own, and the PKPB guys were quick to point the finger squarely at Arbuthnott for the tour organisation.
“We have been wanting to do this tour for a long time; musically we are very different bands but attitude wise we are identical I love going to shows that show some variety and I think we are taking that on tour with us,” he comments.
“Penguins are just great guys and we got a lot of our friends to support us on tour and it’s going to be great to see everyone that has been a part of us growing as a band.”
Donaldson also directs attention to Arbuthnott, along with PBPK’s Ben Proudlock, for much of the tour organisation but is keen to note his efforts for the band’s future escapades.
“I said to Jon I wanted to tour, and after looking into it I initially suggested we should do a tour with another band – cuts costs, bigger shows and more fun.
“I’m over the moon with the way it’s all fell together – Jon and Ben done great.
“I’ve been booking some shows further south for the summer actually, but I’m still working it out before we announce.”
The tour also acts as a promotion tool for new double A-side ‘Liar Liar / Celebrate Your Mother’; ‘Liar Liar’ is a breakneck fuzzy pop ditty with charming harmonies while ‘Celebrate Your Mother’ is a pace switching blast that may well bring about more of those Paramore comparisons if only for singer Becky Addison’s addictive yelp.
Speaking about the single Arbuthnott is once again eager to point out his wide spread tastes, which includes an apparent Odd Future fetish that him and the Penguins guys seem to share, as well as the indie electronics of the likes of Wavves and Metric.
“The new singles have been a natural progression for me over the last year as a writer, my main influences just now are rnb and rap, but I’ve written a whole album of surfy summer tunes under the name Craws and the Farewell stuff just followed.
“I always wanted to record the madness we create live and write lyrics that follow a more grimey tone its made it differ from earlier Farewell records.
“We are always a rock band and all these styles will just naturally bleed into the records.”
Donaldson, whose tastes don’t seem so sporadic, or shall we say Pitchfork (looks over shoulder), as his colleagues, with tastes seemingly sticking to the traditional band structure of the Cold War Kids and Glasgow’s aggressive powerhouse United Fruit, however he agrees that the new tracks are a step in a different direction for the band, but that was always going to be the case as these were the first with a new member contributing, that new member being himself only being with the band six months or so.
He describes the band generally as “loud and energetic with guitar dance moves and the worst/funniest drum faces you’ve seen in a while,” that is spot on for the single, which he is clearly proud of despite his eagerness to direct praise elsewhere.
He comments: “a big part of the songs sounding as good as they do is down to Michael Butler at Bare Calf Studios; he did a great job at getting the sound we wanted out the songs.”
And with that taster out the way the FS guys are setting their sites on a new EP, Donaldson comments: “we’ve been writing a lot of stuff since I came on board, so there will hopefully be another release this year at some point,” while Arbuthnott confirms “there is defiantly a penciled plan for a six-track by October”.
Along with that he reveals: “we are planning doing a free four-track cover record and we have some B-sides to the single for anyone who purchases a physical copy.”
Arbuthnott clearly feels the single is a step in the right direction for the band and gives off a certain accomplished vibe as he talks of what to expect from their next release.
“It’s going to follow the same lines as ‘Liar Liar / Celebrate Your Mother’, it’s the most proud I’ve been of a record to date and I think we have found a zone where we can experiment and create something timeless for ourselves.”
Looking on back on his time with Farewell he is reminiscent of their humble beginnings growing up in the remote Elgin and the learning curve the band has gone through.
“The first four years of Farewell was becoming friends, back home there isn’t much in the way of things to do, so we just picked up our instruments and become friends via them.
“A lot of that time was spent learning the limits of each individual and using that to create a record we could be proud of.
“We have been finding our feet for years and the band has always been divided between Glasgow and Elgin, this distance slowed the process until now.”
But what of Elgin, the highland town that he calls home, that most would note just for their SPL football team and not much else, the tour is going there and as you would expect there is little it way of live music in the town, but Arbuthnott notes that when they do get a show the people do show up.
“Elgin gets nothing, but I put a show on at Christmas with the Xcerts, us and Hjearts and it was so busy.
“I’m really excited about putting more shows on in Elgin and I just want to inspire residents to start bands so I wont need to put shows on anymore because bands will do it and create there own scene.”
Donaldson seems to love the band’s jaunts up north and hopes his bandmates efforts up there will draw some fruit, commenting: “I love going to Elgin, and I like playing there more – the other guys think I’m crazy for it, but Jon’s booked a bunch of shows there in the last year, so there’s hope for it having a scene.”
Having started outside of Scotland’s big cities it’s difficult to build an audience when you get there, Donaldson feels they’re starting to make a dent and have been slowly building a fanbase, but from the looks of their Facebook page those fans seems to be expanding more healthily than he’d let on.
The turn out for the Rave Child event was healthy to say the least, with both bands bringing a stellar performance, which will surely have people waiting for their returning to stages of Scotland’s music city.
Before I let the guys go I was eager for them to shed light of what local acts has been catching their ears and they are more than happy to champion a few bands, whether they be friends or just something that’s caught their attention.
Donaldson lists off artists: “Young Philadelphia, Bianca, Billy Ray Orisis, Inuit and Good Grief records in general,” while Arbuthnott coins the term “Weezerique pop” while describing Be Like Pablo; Japanese obsessed power pop, grungy euphoria or clichéd bullshit such a range could that expression mean but yeah, check out Be Like Pablo, and the new records from pals Midnight Lion and Kitty the Lion have him excited too; I’ll second that excitement.
Farewell Singapore play at Flat 0/1 with The Clock on June 1
Words: Iain Dawson
