Mogwai Interview

Mogwai Interview

23 July, 2009
by: Gina Louise

Mogwai (who play Field Day in a matter of days before taking off on a global tour from New Jersey to Osaka) have earned their critical and commercial success the hard way. Formed in Scotland in 1991, the band's first record didn't emerge for four years and they've been consistently difficult to categorise, with a sound that falls between post-rock rock, dance-able festival exuberance and the more ambient tones of acts like Sigur Ros.

Fans, though, have never been a problem. It doesn't matter what you call it, Mogwai's music is gripping and uplifting – via headphones or the live stage. It may be mainly instrumental, but it moves you.
 
After a trawl through the back catalogue and their forthcoming album, I tracked down keyboard/guitar/vocalist Barry Burns for a chat about influences, hopes and dreams, finding that the famous Mogwai sense of humour was still alive despite a grueling promotion schedule.
 
 
 
You appear to be on a mission toward world domination: you've started your own record label, you were the first to curate ATP in the UK and you have mentioned wanting to do film soundtracks. What's the next step in your Mogwai Empire?
 
I suppose we've achieved quite a lot now that you list it and I think about it. We're going to release our next studio record ourselves so that's the next step to becoming the 23,006th biggest band in the world. Or it could mean a stint for us all in our nearest Lidl as trainee shelf stackers. Depends on the quality of it.
 

You've managed to work with some of your childhood favourites, such as The Cure and The Pixies; is there anyone else you would love to perform alongside?

I'd have to say (unrealistically) George Clinton and the P-Funk Allstars and I'm really not kidding. Maybe even the comedian Patton Oswalt, I'm not fussy if it's music or not.
 

A Mogwai/Clinton collaboration would certainly be an interesting progression in the Mogwai sound… You have supported some fantastic acts, is there anyone supporting you at the moment that you think will be big in the future?

I'd love to say the band Errors and the band Remember Remember, so long as the public's musical taste improves a wee bit. They are two tremendously talented bands that deserve to be really popular.
 

It has been said that you were invited into the group because you were a good laugh. Do you think it is important to have fun with the music, or to produce something of impeccable quality?
 
Wellllllll, this is me, Barry, so I'd rather say it was my charming good looks and my strange ability to write dangerously haunting melodies which make babies, children and adults cry uncontrollably; but they don't get into the music charts much and this has stopped me from purchasing a lovely Ferrari.

We do take the music very seriously but we enjoy it too. All the other stuff around the music should be good fun; we're really not overly serious about anything else.
 

Mogwai fans have been known to read too much into your music and attribute a back story to it where there is none. Do you ever find yourself wondering what your songs are about?
 
Not really, I just see them as pieces of music that we all wrote together and tried to make them enjoyable to play. That's hard work especially as we are quite hard to please anyway. It's up to the listener to make what they will of our tunes, they're not subject specific and for your sake that's a blessing. You should hear the crap we talk about.

 
I’m getting an idea already… What do you love most about making music: the stadium performances, the fans, the satisfaction of a job well done?

It's definitely the hour and a half onstage each night rather than the 14 hour flights and endless days in the studio. It's much better to play than write music I think; maybe that's just me though. I think people tend to forget that the recording business hasn't been around anywhere near as long as live music and that's the real motivation for becoming a musician to me.


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Gina Louise