Not everyone will get Arab Strap. Many will dismiss their music as bitter drunken monologues slapped over a bleak, sub-Joy Division template. However, if you are prepared to invest a little time for close listening, don t be surprised if you find yourself hopelessly addicted to the Strap s darkly compelling charms.
It is the last day of Liss Ard 99, and Aidan Moffet, chronicler of life between the sheets and his gifted guitarist sidekick are sitting in Liss Ard s Irish Sky Garden a man-made crater designed by James Turrell that offers a clear view of the West Cork skyscape.
It seems like we are playing on the last day of a ten-day festival when there s no one here, states Aidan matter of factly.
In exactly ten days time Elephant Shoe will hit the shops. Since this is the first work you ve released for a major label, how has the transition from indier-than-thou stable of Chemikal Underground to the massive corporation-affiliated Go Beat been?
Bumpy. It s like going out with a new girlfriend. It takes a bit of getting used to. You have get to know her different habits and how she keeps things in a different order.
Compared to Philophobia (i.e. the fear of falling in love and an album that sits besides Deserter s Songs in my reckoning for the albums of 1998), Elephant Shoe has a lot more instrumentation and lushness, but still manages not to sound like a polished album.
Aye, I think it s a case of the same structures with better tools, opines Middleton. We used the exact same studio as the last album. We ve learned how to communicate more. I listened to Philophobia last week and felt really proud of it because it sounds so raw.
You have a strong tradition of producing all your own work. Did the new record company try to intervene and encourage you to get the likes of Rick Rubin in?
Ha, ha, ha! No the label encouraged us to do it ourselves, answers Aidan.
Malcolm continues; Basically the reason they signed us was the way we record our songs and how they sound. So, the last thing they wanted to do was to sign us and get someone else in to fuck it up.
What have their previous Irish gigs been like?
All our shows in Ireland have been really weird, Malcolm replies. We did our first Irish show at the Dublin University Fresher s Ball and we were first on, and there was DJs and techno pumping everywhere, and thousands of drunken 17 and 18-year-olds falling around the place. Then our manager at the time thought it would be a wonderful idea to spend a ridiculous amount of money to drive all the way down to Kilkenny. We were on at one o clock in the morning and there was a mosh-pit as well. We had to play all these tunes twice because the crowd were all mentalists who wanted a two-and-half-hour stage show.
Mind you, it was worse when we played in Portugal two weeks ago, and for some totally bizarre reason, we were on the bill above Ocean Colour Scene. Not surprisingly, we were booed offstage cos obviously the crowd expected us to be really upbeat.
But it hasn t all been badly planned billings and unappreciative 17-year-olds. Arab Strap do have one bona fide celebrity fan to beat them all. Last January s issue of The Face carried a feature with the heavenly Helena Christensen interviewing Aidan and Malcolm.
She was so fucking sound, but the interview was so set up. We never had a chance to have a proper chat. There was a Face journalist sitting there all the time. They just thought it was hilarious that this young Scottish band were meeting this supermodel.
It was quite funny because she was quite genuinely awed to meet us, adds Aidan. John Peel is like that too. He s quite shy. Mind you, he probably just hates us.
Helena wrote in that piece that she wished that you could trade roles for a while. You lot would be strolling down catwalks while she would be off on tour singing; it was the biggest cock you d ever seen every night.
Aye. We would have loved to do that for a while. She had a book with her with our lyrics written in it with bits underlined. She thought that Afterwards was really romantic.
So after your brush with high fashion, would you turn Calvin Klein like Supergrass? No way. It s still only on the cards, but there is talk of a new male Wonderbra which Aidan will model, Malcolm jibes.
Before Aidan can respond, he remonstrates with drummer David Gow who has just climbed to the top of the crater. Hey Spiderman! Are you alright? You play the drums so just fucking come down! Wait until after you play then you can go and climb as many fucking hills as you fucking like!
Apparently, the Liss Ard Foundation spends thousands of pounds every year repairing the damage done from people climbing up these slopes. It s a good job we weren t here for ten days then. n
Elephant Shoe is out now on Go Beat.