Belle And Sebastian on Irvine Welsh, Scotland & communism

In summer 2001, Belle and Sebastian graduated to selling out the Royal Albert Hall, which was the first time I got to see the band live. Being very aware of their live ‘reputation’ from friends who witnessed the Olympia gig, I wasn’t expecting much, but they were mesmerising. It was like watching a Glaswegian version of Arthur Lee’s Love swelling into a full orchestral pop band performing in one of the most stunning concert halls on earth. 
In the meantime, Murdoch had grown into the finest Scottish songwriter of his generation. Barry Burns from Mogwai once said The Jesus And Mary Chain greatly inspired them, but so did another Scotsman, who plies a very different creative trade.
 “Outside music, it would have been people like Irvine Welsh,” Burns said. “He remains quite a large cultural figure. He was one of the first people to reflect the type of Scotland that was a bit closer to everyday existence for a lot of people, rather than Take The High Road.” 
“That’s very interesting and there is definitely something quite similar going on with us,” keyboardist Chris Geddes says. ”The writer Alasdair Gray said in a few interviews that Glasgow is a city that doesn’t exist in people’s imaginations, so what he was trying to do was to make it exist in his writing in a way that New York or Paris does in others. It is something Stuart is trying to do as well, both in the music we make, and the God Help The Girl film.”
On the opening track on their recently released ninth studio album, Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance, Murdoch unveils the most personal song of his career, ’Nobody’s Empire’. In it, he sings about a lifelong struggle with chronic fatigue syndrome, a condition that the band’s schedule has successfully negotiated. 
“‘Nobody’s Empire’ is an amazing piece of songwriting,” agrees drummer Richard Colburn. “I never really pay any attention to the lyrics until I’m comfortable with the song and know exactly what I’m doing and have memorised the arrangement. Melodically, it really stood out from the get go, especially with my own drum part, which is very different to what we usually do. I’m not actually using the full kit, but I’m using the bass drum more, so it’s a slightly different take on things. I always really like Stuart’s piano-based songs and that is one of them. 
“Once I got familiar with the song itself, I zoned in on the lyrics. Wow. He always says something, but even more so on that song. It is articulated really well. I think he tried it a few times over the years, but ‘Nobody’s Empire’ is the most concise and direct way he has expressed it yet.”
The biography on the band’s official website claims that Chris is a communist. Care to elaborate, Comrade?
“The band bio was written by our old manager and there is a lot of jokes left in there, but I am very left wing,” Geddes confirms. “I’d certainly be to the left of Labour, but I’ve never been a party member. Quite a few of us supported the Socialist Party when they were on a bit of a roll in the late ’90s and early 2000s. Tommy Sheridan was doing quite well and there were four members in the Scottish Parliament. Of course, it all went tits up. 
“I’m definitely a collectivist in terms of my views and how society has gone since the ’80s. I’m not a Stalinist or anything, but things have got worse. People go to the left or right during hard times. It would be better if they went to the left, rather than the nationalistic right. What is happening in Spain with Podemos is perhaps a little more encouraging than Greece. We certainly don’t want to end up in a situation where it is like the 1930s and it boils down to a choice between fascism and communism. You’d like to think that we have learned something. But there really should be someone from a mainstream political party coming from a similar place to where Russell Brand is coming from. Forty or fifty years ago, Brand’s views would’ve been very mainstream within the Labour Party, but to the average punter in this day and age, he seems to be a bit of a fruitcake.”
When B&S first toured the States, Geddes was asked by a security guard in an airport whether he was carrying anything that could be used as a weapon. The Celtic supporting keyboardist replied, “Only my bare hands”. 
“It was pre-9/11,” Geddes clarifies. “I was aiming for an Oscar Wilde-like quip. You certainly wouldn’t get away with that now! You have to be so careful. I’m reading Jon Ronson’s new book and there’s a chapter about public safety and the joke by Justine Sacco that went completely viral (she tweeted, ‘Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!’). We’ve crossed paths with Jon quite a few times in the last year. He’s a really nice guy.”
Belle And Sebastian play Electric Picnic on September 4. Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance is out now.
For more with the band, pick up the latest Hot Press (Electric Picnic special) out now.
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