Great Article in Dundee Courier

Sometimes a slot on the T-Break stage at T in the Park can serve simply to shatter illusions.

The thrill of winning through via the T-Break competition can descend into mild depression when a peek through the backstage curtain reveals the reality that only 40 people have turned up to watch.

There was never any chance of that happening with The View’s show at Balado two weeks ago, but even seasoned campaigners were left with their jaws hanging open by the euphoric scenes in the 1000-capacity T-Break tent that day.

An estimated 1100 people bounced the tent sideways at easily one of the most electrifying sets ever staged in there and it hasn’t gone unnoticed.

Since then, the four demo tracks on their Myspace site have been listened to over 50,000 times and in the week their brilliantly-catchy debut single Wasted Little DJs was made available to download digitally, 500 people did so the first day.

The word is out and now everybody, it seems, wants a piece of the teenage Dundonian upstarts.

“There’s been lots of agents on wanting to book the band since T in the Park,” the band’s manager Grant Dickson said.

“There’s been so many amazing moments with local gigs, but I think that T-Break show is the one that will go down in history as their ‘I was there’ gig.

“There were around 1100 people in that tent but judging by the amount of people who are claiming to have been there it sounds more like 300,000.

“We’ve had over 50,000 plays on our Myspace since T in the Park, and they’d been on the front pages of AOL, Yahoo and Myspace websites.

“Things have just gone ballistic since then, everybody wants them to play their gig, festival or support slot.

“We’ve got support slots with The Vines lined up and The Zutons and Primal Scream have asked them to go on tour with them.

“Every uni in Scotland wants them for Freshers Week, and Reading and Leeds festivals are waiting for cancellations to give us a shout.

“We’ve also just been confirmed for the Tartan Heart Festival at Belladrum and the Loopallu one at Ullapool as well as the Paradiso in Amsterdam and we’re off to Italy at the end of this week, so it’s all go.”

“Wasted Little DJs comes out on CD on August 7, but it was made available to download on Monday.

“It’s already had over 500 downloads so far. You can pre-order the single as well and the first 500 people to buy both formats gets a free signed picture.

“The Clash Magazine showcase gig with Larrikin Love at the Luminere in London was amazing, as well, it was absolutely jam-packed. Not bad to see a Dundee band starring at a Dundee magazine’s bash in a top place in London.”

Unless you’ve been living on Mars for the past year, you’ll have noticed that The View have seemed omnipresent in Dundee, spreading happiness and chaos in equal measure across their home city.

Everywhere you turned there’s been listings for two, sometimes three or four View gigs a week as they completed their World Tour of Dundee, playing anywhere and everywhere to hundreds of delirious fans, from 150 people in the Bayview Bar in Menzieshill to near 600 at Fat Sam’s and The Cotton Club.

Then there’s been news of wild tours with Babyshambles, and with Primal Scream, and they were grabbed by A&R guru James Endeacott to be his first signing on new label 1965 records, an offshoot of Sony/Columbia, before starring at the Radio 1 Big Weekend at Camperdown Park.

Along the way they’ve played some of the UK’s most prestigious venues and have hung out with the likes of Liam Gallagher, Kasabian, Pete Doherty, Carl Barat, The Undertones, to name but a few.

Meanwhile Radio airplay from Jo Whiley, Zane Lowe, Jonathon Ross, Colin and Edith, Xfm and video slots on MTV and MTV2, The Box and Q have all helped raise their national profile.

And while they’ve indulged in some traditional rock’n’roll antics like rolling a Landrover at speed and drummer Steve (Crazy Mo) Morrison having to miss a gig after breaking a bone (metatarsal, a la Rooney) in his foot after jumping from an upstairs window a couple of weeks ago, they’re so down to earth and just love playing so much they’ve continued to gig in and around Dundee (including at their local pubs The Rock and The Bayview) in between hanging out with the stars.

Then came that T-Break “happening” and Grant says things have got so hectic now the planned September album release has been shelved for the moment while they take stock of just what kind of animal The View is.

Instead they’ll release a couple of singles and then tour the length and breadth of the country, headlining, of course, at two-to-three-hundred-sized venues, to cement their fanbase at every town in the land.

“We’ve decided to put the album launch back to January to give them time to tour the small venues first,” he said.

“That could all change, of course, if they take off big style with the singles, but we’ll just have to wait and see. The gigs can all be upsized if we need to.

“The gig at the Liquid Rooms in Edinburgh with The Law on September 1 should be an absolute cracker.”

The words, “They’re gonna be massive,” have been on everybody’s lips since they were spotted by Grant’s label Two Thumbs while playing only their second original gig at the Doghouse just over a year ago.

Now the time has come to find out if they’re just a big fish in a wee pond—no, we don’t think so either—once Wasted Little DJs hits the shops on August 7.

Until then, you can download the single from the websites, www.theviewareonfire.com www.myspace.com/dryburgh or from www.2thumbs.co.uk