Red nose day

In the first week of July just gone, a ramshackle bunch of Irish and Scottish musicians descended on Belfast to present the world premiere of an album aptly entitled Y’All Get Scared Now, Ya Hear!

This mysterious über-group are collectively known as The Reindeer Section and number an illustrious cast of contemporary luminaries in their ranks. The full line up includes... (take a deep breath) Gary Lightbody and Johnny Quinn (Snow Patrol), Aidan Moffat (Arab Strap), John Cummings (Mogwai), Mick Cooke and Richard Colburn (Belle and Sebastian), Colin Macintyre (Mull Historical Society), Willie Campbell, Charlie Clarke & Gareth Russell (Astrid), Bob Kildea (V-Twin), Jenny Reave (Eva), Andrew Meehan, Michael Bannister and Gill Mills.

“This all-star cast of mutual friends and drinking buddies convened in Glasgow’s Nice n’ Sleazys for a Lou Barlow gig late last year,” Gary Lightbody explains. “After a few drinks we all got talking and I said that we should all make a record together. Everyone thought it was a great idea, but I’m sure they were thinking ‘Aye right Gary whatever’ and that I’d forget about it when I’d sobered up. In fact the next day I wrote the complete album. “

In December 2000, Gary left Glasgow to go to Belfast for Christmas. While he was home for the festivities, he hooked up with Johnny Quinn who had just set up the Bright Star Records imprint to release records by Alan Kelly AKA the very wonderful The Last Post.

“I suppose some boys dream of growing up to be a train driver, well I dreamt of running my own label,” explains Johnny. “Gary was going through a rough time with Jeepster (Snow Patrol and the Scottish label have now officially parted company) but he had this incredible idea of doing this album. He called round with an acoustic guitar and a bottle of wine and the deal was made then. Straight after Christmas, he got everyone together and recorded the whole thing in ten days flat.”

“It must be the quickest turnaround for any album in recent times,” Gary muses. “From idea to complete album from December 2000 to January 2001. I didn’t sleep at night during it. When I went to bed all I could hear was my heart. In the studio it was a lot of fun, but I couldn’t switch off from it. There was no one take on this album that wasn’t finished in two takes. While it may be rushed, I think it adds to it. Some of the songs are sparse and others are lush so it complimented that process. I think it of it as a group of friends who made a record. The dedication of everyone was above and beyond just guesting on an album.”

Fast forward to July 3 2001 and there are three buses bringing an extended Reindeer Section of 85, including a Channel 4 film crew, to an acoustic performance in the Gardens of Mount Stewart House, a stately home that used to host orgies convened Lloyd George. The magical mystery tour continued with a few drinks in a boozer in the middle of nowhere, picking up a mixed bag of sweets in the Reindeer Section Gas Station and a fish and chips supper in the Reindeer Section chip shop. Then it was back to Belfast via a trip on the Strangford ferry in the drizzly Antrim rain.

“The original idea was because the fish and chips and the trip on the ferry is a strong childhood memory,” Gary explains. “When we were talking about doing a trip around Ireland, it was the first thing I thought of.”

After a bus trip that seemed to go from one end of Co. Antrim to the other, the extended Reindeer Section retired to Auntie Annies for the first public airing of Y’All Get Scared Now, Ya Hear! The album was peformed perfectly chronologically, revealing the intricate efforts of a large group and blissful vocal harmonies that accompany Gary’s consistently excellent tunes. Think of moments like ‘On Off’ from When It’s All Over We Still Have To Clear Up embellished by several musicians and you are getting there. After a raucous finale in the wall of guitars shape of ‘Tout Le Monde’ and the hilarious ‘The Day We All Died’, the premiere is over.

Y’All Get Scared Now, Ya Hear! is the second album that Gary Lightbody has written and released this year alone, but we can expect another two before 2001 is over! Gary intends to record another project with Bright Star label mate Alan Kelly, finish writing the already half completed third Snow Patrol album and do something else that even he isn’t sure of yet!

“I don’t believe in ever clinging on to material and leaving it unheard,” Lightbody concurs. “I mightn’t know what form they will ever take, but I just want to keep on writing albums forever.”

Y’All Get Scared Now, Ya Hear! is available on Bright Star Recordings from August 3. A Reindeer Section tour will take place in September with a Channel 4 documentary on the day trip and premiere for broadcast around the same time