Music Nation: Chvrches

Martin ‘Dok’ Doherty of Chvrches is pleasantly surprised at becoming this summer’s buzz band, notching up over a million online hits of their electro pop single ‘Recover’ before they even announced the release of their debut album.

“If I was a 21-year-old right now I’d probably not be able to handle half the stuff going on,” the former member of The Twilight Sad reflects. “When I was a youngster, I was a bit more reckless. I certainly drank more than I do right now. I wouldn’t be able to keep up with these kind of schedules. We’ve all made our mistakes in bands before and that’s helped a lot.
“It’s begun to get extremely hectic. Last weekend was our first proper run of darting about the continent and we crammed in three festivals in Norway, Amsterdam and the South of France. We were back in London last night for a radio session and there’s going be a lot more of that kind of stuff.”
Electric Picnic also looms on the horizon for the Glaswegian electro pop trio.
“I’m really looking forward to the Picnic,” Martin enthuses. “I love Dublin. I went there with the Blue Nile. I used to work with them as a rookie looking after computers and keyboards, which is a pretty hefty job, as all their music is computers and keyboards.”
After their Picnic appearance, Chvrches – who have the stylised ‘v’ in their name to facilitate easier internet searches – will gear up for the release of their debut album, The Bones Of What You Believe.
“It comes from a lyric in a track that was recorded in the body of work of songs which became this album,” Doherty reveals. “It was in contention for the album, but the song itself didn’t make the cut. It will be on the deluxe edition. We thought that the lyric itself was really strong and worked on a few levels. It’s ambiguous in terms of its meaning and we were really happy with that. We didn’t want to do the classic eponymous debut thing. We felt that it would be a wee bit of a cop out.
“I think the album might surprise people. We draw inspiration from bands like The Cure and Depeche Mode. The more accessible singles were a big part of their sound, but whenever they made a full-length record, they used the freedom to explore. When you look at Disintegration, you’ve got tracks like ‘Lovesong’ and ‘Plainsong’ on the same album, even though they’re so different. That’s the kind of thing we’re after.”
Chvrches’ Iain Cook used to be in a Glaswegian band called Aerogramme, who were signed to the Chemikal Underground stable that brought post-rock legends Mogwai and Arab Strap to the world’s attention and now have Adrian Crowley on their books.
Glasgow’s rich tradition of innovative alternative music means a lot to the trio. You could argue that it’s the city’s most under-rated export.
“All of those bands were a huge influence on us,” Doherty notes. “When I first started playing guitar, it was bands like The Jesus And Mary Chain that I was listening to. They were the biggest influence on my songwriting and guitar-playing. You naturally gravitate towards stuff that comes from your city.
“I’ll never forget being at school and going to the local record shop to order in the Chemikal Underground albums that ended up forming a massive part of my musical development, like Come On Die Young by Mogwai and Philophobia by Arab Strap. A Story in White by Aereogramme was a record I really liked too, so it’s really weird that I got to know Iain. I used to go and see them when I was a youngster. I remember sneaking into Nice ‘n’ Sleazy’s, which is a crazy bar in Glasgow, with a fake ID to see his band.”
Chvrches came to the world’s attention when they came fifth on the BBC Sound of 2013 poll. The accolade dramatically accelerated the band’s online profile. Hence, their debut is one of the most highly anticipated of the year.
“We owe a lot to the internet and blog culture,” Doherty agrees. “It’s the way that we arrived and it’s completely responsible for the speed that we were brought to a significant number of people’s attention. We were really grateful for it, things have felt organic in a very nice way.
“It seems to have got bigger and we’re delighted. At the same time, we’re careful not to get too carried away. You can only be a buzz band for so long. There comes a time when you need to produce the goods. We need to step up and release an album that people respond to. We want to be a real band in people’s eyes, rather than just an entity on the internet.”

The Bones Of What You Believe is out on September 24 and gets an airing when Chvrches play Electric Picnic.