Pub Quiz with The View

The View take on fellow Dundonians The Law at a Pub quiz.

Listen here.

The Law's debut album ‘A Measure of Wealth’ is released 28th September and can be pre ordered here.

Loopallu Photos

Photos from Friday nights set at Loopallu. See all here.

The View get tough

THE songs remain the same for The View's album three – songs inspired by the band's own lives and life in hometown Dundee.

But this week, it was in Liverpool you'd find frontman Kyle Falconer as the four-piece starts recording tracks for the next album – and begin to take up the reins co-producing their own tracks.

It might seem a brave move for a band just as well known for their grade A ability to party as for their music and live energy. But, so far, Kyle is pleased with the way things are going.

"We've started recording some tracks for the new album in Liverpool, doing some demos for it. Jim was the engineer on the last album, so this time we are going to do a lot of the production ourselves with Jim."

They've set up camp at Motor Museum Studio with Jim Anderson, who engineered Which Bitch? – but no producer attached to the project. Or planned to be.

The band – Kyle, Kieran Webster, Pete Reilly and Steve Morrison – will co-produce the next album with Jim. And Kyle seemed excited about it when he spoke earlier this week before the band head up to headline the Loopallu Festival in Ullapool on Friday night.

And though things are going well, a change of location could bring new inspiration for album three's songs too.

"We're here another week and then me, Jim and Kieran fly off to Mexico – just because we need a holiday. We've been working our a*ses off for a year."

It might seem a dodgy move, what with Mexico being the place swine flu first struck. But Kyle's not worried.

"Everyone in Dundee has got it anyway!" he said. "My niece has had it and friends. And Pete had flu though I'm not sure if it was swine flu."

Asking if they're not afraid of burnout – the pace for the last few years has been mental for the band – Kyle said: "We've just been working hard on all of it and there is a lot of pressure, but we're always chilling out too."

The plans for the Mexico holiday include work, but realistically, Kyle admits there may be the odd crazy moment.

"It probably will be wild too, yes. But we are there to work as well."

The album hasn't got any particular theme or inspiration – it's business as usual for The View.

"The songs are just about whatever. We're inspired by what we want. But we've got a few different tracks and a couple of different categories will be on there – soft and hard and pop."

But with a full-on year just returning The View from their European tour with Mando Daio, the chance to see some more of the world probably doesn't do any harm.

"We were doing festivals in front of 12,000 people every night. We've toured Europe ourselves before, but we were in huge arenas for this one. Mando Daio get treated like The Beatles in Europe."

Now, it's back to Scotland for Loopallu before more work on the album and next date up, the Homecoming Scotland Final Fling at the SECC on November 28.

First there's the long journey on the tour bus to the Highlands.

"Ullapool's the furthest north we've been this year, we did the festival a few years ago. But this time I think we're flying up, so we maybe won't be on the tour bus. It's pretty good on the bus, you can just sleep or watch films."

Current music likely to be on the soundtrack, would be Oasis or the latest Arctic Monkeys album... or The View.

The View?

Kyle laughed: "Yeah, maybe our own one, so we can get back into it!"

By Margaret Chrystall, Highland News, 17th September 2009

It’s time to rock at Loopallu

It’s almost time for festival goers to pack away their tents and wellie boots for another year, but before they do, there’s Loopallu, the ‘best little fest in the west’ to attend, writes Susan Welsh

Dundee rockers The View will headline the opening night of the intimate two-day festival

SUMMERTIME is officially over when the clocks go back, but for festival goers, the summer of 2009 will draw to a close this weekend when the Loopallu festival gets under way.

Loopallu — that’s Ullapool spelled backwards – takes place in the pretty little fishing village of Ullapool on the shores of Loch Broom, where tomorrow and Saturday, the population will more than double as it prepares to welcome around 2,500 music fans.

Dundee rockers The View will headline the opening night of the intimate two-day festival tomorrow, on a wonderfully picturesque site adjacent to the loch.

Promoter Dougie Brown said: “Loopallu has activities for all ages and music for all ears and has been described as the sort of family gathering you’d actually like to go to.”

Although it’s considered by some to be a small festival in a remote location, the event, which is now in its fifth year, manages to attract some big names, giving more established and larger festivals a run for their money.

The likes of Echo and the Bunnymen, Franz Ferdinand, The Levellers and The Bees have all performed here, and this year’s programme is equally impressive with a line-up that includes The View, Mumford and Sons, The Dykeenies and the Lightning Seeds.

Event organiser Rob Hicks said: “We can’t quite believe this is year number five — where has the time gone?

“Time has literally flown by which I’m taking to be a good sign.

“Loopallu has become a bit of a family reunion for many who see it as the end of the festival season, as after this weekend they’ll be hanging up their wellies until next summer.

“This year, one of my personal highlights will be seeing Mumford and Sons as I’ve probably seen them a dozen times in the last year and think they are the best new band I’ve come across in the last few years.

“Every time I hear them they get better — it’s only a matter of time until they are huge stars.

“The View’s set will be another fantastic gig.

“I saw them a few weeks ago at the Reading Festival and thought they were the best I’d seen them in years.

“They seemed reinvigorated, confident and played really well together.”

Headlining the Friday night line-up are The View. Also appearing is the legendary Neville Staple, formerly of the Specials; one of Scotland’s hottest acts The Dykeenies; self confessed ‘product of the ipod generation’ Kid British, along with one of the fastest-rising acts in Scotland, Pearl and the Puppets; alternative Highland two-piece Bronto Skylift and a visit from the one and only Ullapool Pipe Band.

The honour of closing tomorrow night’s show falls to The View — and lead guitarist Pete Reilly is delighted.

“Loopallu is what a festival should be, slightly quirky and little with everyone there quite mellow, plus it’s in a great setting and is not commercial like some of the bigger festivals,” said Pete.

“The spirit of Loopallu is more like the original idea of what a festival was back in the early days, and I think it gives it an edge over some of the bigger ones.”

The band are currently working in a Liverpool recording studio, recording tracks for a new album which should be released early next year.

“We are flying from Liverpool to Inverness then driving to Ullapool, but I think half of the folk in Dundee are coming along too,” said Pete.

“Like Rob Hicks said, the band are playing really well together just now — I think Reading Festival was one of our best ever gigs.

“We are enthusiastic and really enjoying playing together, and are certainly more revitalised.

“Things have settled down a lot since that chaotic first album — or maybe we’re just getting a bit wiser at last,” he joked.

Saturday’s line-up is headlined by the Lightning Seeds and includes an appearance by Jon Fratelli, lead singer with Scottish rockers The Fratellis who have had massive hits including Chelsea Dagger, who will bring along his new band, The Codeine Velvet Club, a collaboration between Jon and Glasgow singer Lou Hickey, which promises to be something special.

Regular Loopallu guest, Radio 1 DJ Mark Radcliffe, will be there with his bar-room drinking band, The Family Mahone, while other acts worth getting excited about include the beautiful and captivating folk sounds of Mumford and Sons and firm festival favourites, The Dangleberries who went down a storm at this year’s Belladrum Festival.

Also on the bill is crossover act The Grousebeater Soundsystem, who blew away a packed-out clash tent at Rockness earlier this year; Glasgow’s quirky indie pop favourites French Wives, Polly and the Billets Doux and home-grown talent from Naked Strangers.

All this plus pub fringe shows, street entertainment, excellent mouth-watering local food and drink, and plenty of arts and craft stalls to keep little festival goers happy, makes it easy to see why the festival is known as the ‘best little fest in the west.

Weekend camping tickets are now sold out but at the time of going to press, a limited number of weekend tickets are available from a number of outlets including on the web: www.thebooth.co.uk; www.ironworksvenue.com; www.seetickets.com or by calling 0871 7894173. www.loopallu.co.uk

By Susan Welsh, Press and Journal, 17th September 2009

Photos from BadFormat

A few pictures from Secret gig in Liverpool.

See here.

Secret Gig at BadFormat!

Scottish band The View headlined the Sunday service at BadFormat! Social Club last night, kicking off the weekly BANDWAGONeque club supported by The Hot melts and Hey Tourists.

The not so ‘secret free gig’ saw the Social Clubs underground live room transformed into the banging sweat pit that it was destined to be, with the Dundee boys jumping on stage brandishing full bottles of Smirnoff and lemonade mixer.

Kicking off the set with Wasted Little Dj’s, crowd control had to be enforced as one lout, with hair curlier than front man Kyle’s, mounted the stage to try for a dance with bassist Kieran.

The band made full use of the clubs tinnitus inducing PA, working up the crowd into a gig/brawl frenzy that seems just for the brick tunnel venue.

After the success of their debut album Hats off to the Buskers in 2007, The View continue to knock out tunes that stick and last night performed tracks from their 2009 release Which Bitch?.

Lead singer Kyle said ‘This place is great, we’re moving to Liverpool , can we stay at yours?’ after coming off stage last night. The band have spent the week recording in Lark Lane’s Motor Museum, a studio that has saw The Arctic Monkeys, The Enemy and of course Atomic Kitten record over the years.

Whispers have already begun to circulate about the next secret gig that BadFormat! will spring on the city, with talk of Pete Doherty flying around the bar last night. After BadFormat! favourites Hey Tourists supported him this summer we’ll have to wait and see what surprises the new Truman Street venue come up with next.

You can find last nights set list on Spotify.com

Glass Smash // Wasted Little DJ's // 5Rebbeccas // The Don // Temptation Dice // Gran's For Tea // One Off Pretender // Skag Trendy // Realization // Comin' Down // Wasteland // Typical Time 2 // Covers // Distant Doubloon // Face For The Radio // Double Yellow Lines

Southbound Festival

The View have been added to the line up for the Southbound festival in Australia.

For more details visit the Southbound website here.

Doghouse at new venue

OK, here's the news you've been waiting for.

Love Live Music Ltd (that's us!) presents...

From an old school to an old church....

New Venue for the Doghouse: 15 Ward Road Dundee (formerly Starz) - next to Deacon Brodies

Private Premiere Opening by invitation only Friday 18th September

Grand Public Opening Saturday 19th September

Plus The Doghouse Annual Day Out will take place this year on Saturday 5th September
Secret Location. Ticket Price £15 includes bus, bands, food and drink!!!

There are a limited number of tickets available for this. Please contact Sarah by email sarah@doghousepub.co.uk for tickets.

www.myspace.com/dundeedoghouse

T in The Park photos

Photos by Robert Kelly

Kyle on Oasis split

"They haven't split. I fight with my brother all the time too. They've done it loads of times. Oasis will never end"

News Of The World, 31st August 2009

Kyle Delight

The View frontman Kyle Falconer's delight as band are chosen for Homecoming gig

THE VIEW frontman Kyle Falconer has compared his songwriting with the poems of Robert Burns.

Dundee rocker Kyle made the claim as his band were unveiled as one of the acts for a three-day festival to celebrate Homecoming year.

Homecoming Live - The Final Fling takes place at Glasgow's SECC over the last weekend in November.

The Clyde Auditorium and King Tut's Wah Wah Hut will also host gigs.

And they will all feature acts from Scotland - or inspired by Scotland - in the weekend leading up to St Andrew's Day.

Other Homecoming Live acts include Deacon Blue, The Bluebells, James Grant, Kevin McDermott, The Law, Tommy Reilly, Lloyd Cole, Hue & Cry, The Vaselines, King Creosote, The Law and Idlewild.

The View will play the SECC on Saturday, November 28.

Kyle said: "It's cool to be playing with all these other Scottish bands. We have just found out about it. The SECC will be magic. It's a good venue.

"Rabbie Burns and I are both poets so it's all good. I don't know too much about him but we got Burns in school and I liked it."

The news comes as The View get ready to record their third album. The band will begin laying down demos of the songs today at the Motor Museum studio in Liverpool.

They'll spend 10 days on the tracks before re-recording them for the follow-up to No1 debut album Hats Off To The Buskers and Which Bitch?

Kyle revealed: "We are in Liverpool with the engineer who worked on our second album. We're not sure which songs will make it. We'll see. We want to record the songs quickly so we don't get bored with them like last time."

Kyle denied reports producer Owen Morris had been snubbed for the album.

He added: "He hasn't been dumped but we haven't seen him for a while. We are going to record the songs ourselves with the engineer from our last album, Jim Anderson. We have built up a relationship with him. Then we'll see if we need anyone else in."

Kyle admitted a lot was riding on the success of the third album for the band who are signed to 1965 records.

He said: "We are going to do our best. If it doesn't do well, it won't be for the want of trying.

"The last album didn't do as well as we hoped. We were all chuffed with it, though. We think it is a lot better than Hats Off To The Buskers."

Tickets for The View at the SECC go on sale on Friday at 9am

By John Dingwall, Daily Record, 7th September 2009

The View 'Feel Credit Crunch'

The View are feeling the credit crunch, the band are self-producing their new album to help save the pennies.

The group have released two albums previously ('Which Bitch?' and 'Hats Off To The Buskers') and worked with Oasis producer Owen Morris on both records.

But this time around, the 'Wasted Little DJs' rockers are doing DIY, when they enter the studio soon to record their third LP.

"We're going to produce our next album to save money," explains frontman Kyle Falconer, "a producer is so fucking expensive."

"To get our heads in the right frame we've cut down on what we're drinking."

Angry Ape, 1st September 2009

Reading Video

Watch video highlights from The View at Reading Festival here now.

The View 'rock' the Leeds Festival

The View rocked the Leeds Festival this afternoon (August 29) with a lively set on the Main Stage.

The Dundonians dipped into their two albums - 'Hats Off To The Buskers' and 'Which Bitch?' - for a crowd pleasing show at Bramham Park.

Kicking off their set with 'Glass Smash' singer Kyle Falconer declared the band's intentions early on. "Hello Leeds, we're ready to rock," he told the crowd.

He then dedicated 'Wasted Little DJ's to the "girls in Dundee" which the song was originally based on before following it up with hit single '5Rebbeccas'.

The band then suffered a momentary technical hitch which bassist Kieren Webster apologised for. "We're having a bit of a technical problem at the side of the stage which should be sorted in a minute," he said before he filled in time by asking the crowd: "Did you see Arctic Monkeys last night? Were they good eh?"

He then took centre stage for three songs - 'One-Off Pretender', 'Skag Trendy' and 'Realisation', which the band dedicated to Scotland - before the band kicked their set up a gear with hit singles 'Same Jeans' and 'Superstar Tradesman'.

The View played:

'Glass Smash'
'Wasted Little DJ's'
'5Rebbeccas'
'Temptation Dice'
'One-Off Pretender'
'Skag Trendy'
'Realisation'
'Comin' Down'
'Wasteland'
'Typical Time 2'
'Same Jeans'
'Superstar Tradesman'
'Shock Horror'

NME.COM