The next Rave Child presents gig is just round the corner and this month features the talents of Welsh experimental pop six-piece Among Brothers making their first visit to Scotland.
Among Brothers have been garnering all sorts of praise in their relatively short existence and have already been tagged “ones to watch” by The Independent.
Rave Child caught up with the bands vocalist Alex Comana to discuss what they’re expecting from their first gig north of the border, their new single and why they don’t sleep in vans anymore.
For those who haven’t seen Among Brothers live before can you tell us what to expect?
A lot of people trying fit uncomfortably on a stage, mainly, our live band consists of seven people, we play a mixture of orchestral pop and electronic music so there are dramatic moments alongside calmer ones.
We really love playing live and try to make that come across as much as possible.
You’ve received a lot of praise for a band so relatively young, do you find that comes with a certain amount of pressure?
I think there used to be an element of perceived pressure that came with the praise; I suppose it was a case of wanting to live up to the flattery.
It’s something we don’t really think about anymore, our only concern is to improve our songwriting and live show for ourselves, if people enjoy the output that’s a bonus!
This is your first visit to Scotland, what are you expecting from the shows north of the border?
We’ve heard a lot of great things from friends who’ve played in Scotland before, so we’re really looking forward to it – I’m especially excited about deep fried Mars bars.
Although you have never been here before your website does seem to suggest that’d you’re no strangers to the road, do you have any tour stories (or other) that are worth telling?
One that sticks in my mind is from when we played a show in Coventry, we had failed to find a place to stay after the gig so all seven knew we were going to have to sleep in the van that night.
The venue turned into a night club that was open until 4am after we played, so we decided to stay there until close to improve our chances of being able to get off to sleep in the ridiculously cramped space.
This absolutely didn’t work, I don’t think any of us had more than 20 minutes sleep that night; we’ve never slept in the van again.
What do you make of the Scottish music scene just now, have you had a chance to check much out?
There are some great bands coming out of Scotland at the moment! Chvrches and Frightened Rabbit spring to mind.
Why have you chosen now to go on tour and make your first trip to Scotland?
We wanted to try and play more places that we hadn’t been to in the UK for this tour, and we’ve been wanting to come to Scotland for a while, so it made sense to include it in this tour.
You have a few friends from up here; have you guys visited Glasgow before? If so what do you think of the city?
I think some of the other guys in the band have been before, but I personally haven’t, I’ve been to Scotland on a family trip to Inverness when I was much younger which was great.
We’ve got some free time the day after the show so we’re going to do some exploring.
This tour you’re promoting a new single, tell us about that.
Our new single, ‘Jollica’, is part of a split 7″ record that we’re putting out with a band from Australia called Shady Lane.
It’s being released by four different record labels from around the world: Kissability in the UK, Rice Is Nice in Australia, Cardinal White in the USA and HOU Project in Japan.
The writing process for this song was actually quite different from all the other songs we’ve written, while our other songs have always been based around loops and drones, this was written in a more linear fashion and has a bit more a traditional pop song structure.
Can we expect a full length anytime soon and what should we expect from that?
That’s definitely the plan in the very near future, we’re currently writing new material, which we’re going to put together as a cohesive body of work, whether that’s going to be released in the form of an EP or LP, I’m not sure yet.
You’re touring with fellow Welshman Scriber; do you have any interesting stories regarding him? And how would you describe him musically?
Scriber plays incredibly well crafted ambient-folk music, it’s sombre and lyrically brilliant, he also has more knitted jumpers than anyone else I know.
Is there any other acts coming through that you would recommend checking out?
Our friends Winter Villains, who are also from Cardiff, have just released their debut album February, which is honestly incredible, they’re the kind of musicians that make you want to give up music forever because they achieve the sonic qualities that you break your back trying to achieve so effortlessly.
Rave Child presents Among Brothers, Scriber, Male Pattern Band at Broadcast, 12/6/13
Words: Iain Dawson
