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