We didn't kidnap Paolo

IT seems The View are sobering up. Last year, frontman Kyle Falconer claimed he had kidnapped Paolo Nutini and made him sing on their new album.

At the time, Kyle frothed: "I've never seen someone look so scared. I was shouting at Paolo, telling him what to do. Call me Adolf Falconer."

But it seems the singer is growing out of his laddish ways and has admitted it was all made up.

Speaking exclusively to the Razz, Kyle stressed that The View didn't kidnap Paolo and force him into duetting on the track Covers.

He said: "He was in another studio and I knocked on his door and said, 'D'you want to come down and have a wee party?' "The track was already recorded with me singing on it, but I said it'd be good if he had a shot singing it."

The two Scots were at Monnow Valley Studios in Wales last summer. Paolo was recording and producing his own album, out later this year, and the Dundee rockers were making their second album, Which Bitch?, out on February 2.

The View - Kyle, bass player Kieron Webster, drummer Steve Morrison and guitarist Pete Reilly - will surprise many who thought they were just Libertines soundalikes.

We were the first paper to listen to Which Bitch? and did a track-by-track review in December. It's a fantastic record as the boys move away from their dirty busking and turn into a proper rock band, with songs such as ballad Unexpected, Eighties-style Glass Smash and folk punk Realisation.

The success of last year's single 5 Rebeccas in American college radio also means the band are hoping they can do a US tour.

Their previous sellout tour there was cancelled when Kyle's visa was rejected because he had been fined for cocaine possession.

But Steve said: "They've just started the process again of applying, so we have to wait and see."

By Rick Fulton, Daily Record, 19th January 2009