Friday, December 04, 2009

Ronson Team Up

Dundonian pop bandits The View stormed 2009 with a new album, some hits singles and the odd moment of controversy or two.

Never ones to leave the bottle half empty, The View careered around Europe like a band possessed this year. Second album 'Which Bitch?' saw the band push the indie template until it cracked, adding in orchestras, folk rhythms and even the odd bit of rapping.

Alongside this the band pushed themselves to greater heights in the live arena. Always a group to give 110% The View found that sometimes it was difficult to match partying to the rigours of touring life.

Settling down in Liverpool to begin work on their new album, ClashMusic caught up with singer Kyle Falconer backstage at the Nordoff Robbins awards to talk about their plans.

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Kyle, how are you?
Good man.

Apparently the band have moved down to Liverpool, what brought this on?
The band's been living apart from each other for a while, but we'd always get back together to work in Dundee. But we've found there's just too much distraction in Dundee. We'd set up our equipment in this big aircraft hanger, locker type thing and it was just no use. It was great for skatingboarding on, and everybody was getting out their cars. It was good for skidding about on, but we couldn't get anything done. So we ended up moving to Liverpool to get more concentrated.

Did you enjoy life in London?
Yeah I loved it. I was there for three years, since we got signed. I had loads of pals down there, and it was great but recently it's been all smackheads in London.

How has life in Liverpool changed the band?
It's great! We've all been running. I'm not saying we haven't been getting drunk and shit, just being a bit more creative and working. Before, me and Kieran wouldn't see each other for months at a time then we'd come back and it'd be like "that's what I've brought" and then like elaborating on people's stuff. Recently it's been like the whole band sitting in a room and experimenting - the drummer playing the piano and loads of other different stuff.

Like back in the Doghouse in the early days?
Yeah yeah exactly.

Apparently you've got The Zutons living next door.
The Zutons have been rehearsing across the road from us, aye. Good lads, we see them shooting around on their bikes. We're just trying to be more cosmopolitan! (laughs). We got more than enough tracks for our new album, in fact we've got about three album's worth. Right now we're just trying to pick the best tracks and start rehearsing them, get them recorded. We've been trying to find different producers, we've been speaking to Youth who seems pretty good.

So you're not using Owen Morris again?
Owen has gone on a different path, he's just re-married again. Heard he's trying to get into politics which is a bit strange, like! But we're still keeping in touch, we're going to his wedding well he's had the wedding, he done it like on the sly but we're going to this big party he's organised - hired a big castle in Edinburgh as well.

Will you be playing?
Aye. Most likely!

There's also been a lot of rumours about you working with Mark Ronson?
He's just got like some tunes that Dave McCabe has been writing. I've been helping them out a wee bit.

So is it a Zutons project
It's Mark Ronson's project. A lot of people are involved and I'm one of them, so I just come out and like sing for them. He's dead nice, he's not very hands on in the studio - he'll just say what's going down. He's not the kind of producer that if you lived in a school singing he could tell if you were missing out a semi-tone or if you are missing some sort of minor scale he'll go "no you're getting it wrong". Sometimes when you're getting a bit pissed off he'll step in, he can be a bit sort of hands on I suppose, but he knows what's going down anyway. A lot of people kinda mess him but he's the nicest person in the world and he makes fucking fantastic records as well.

I've heard Owen Morris prefers to work on guitars, rather than your voice.
Owen just loves going over and over the guitars, and it never gets frustrating for us because it's like we wanted to be when we started out. We wanted to be like what Oasis sounded like so on 'Definitely Maybe' so it never gets frustrating for us.

Will you have a selection of producers for the third album?
I dunno, we're seing a few people at the moment - we're kind of being slappers to be honest! We'll need to see, there's a few people we've had in mind but we'll need to see what's happening.

Transcription by Lindsey White

clashmusic.com, 4th Deceber 2009

Thursday, December 03, 2009

Win The View tickets

Marrying the forked tongue wit and guttersnipe humor of The Libertines with the melodic nous of The Buzzcocks and Oasis, The View - one of the latest groups from the UK to be touted as "the next big thing" - are bringing their
infectious sounds to Australia for the 2009/2010 festival season.

The Scottish band have been making music since the four members met in school in Dundee, and progressed quickly from gigs at caravan parks and family weddings to the international rock 'n' roll stage.

Before an appearance by Babyshambles in Dundee the band busked for Pete Doherty, who was impressed and offered them a support slot for his band's show later that night. Several months later, Doherty again asked The View to
support his band, this time on a national tour. This opportunity, plus the release of their 2006 EP The View and a free demo album, gave the group substantial exposure and garnered them an ever-growing fan base.

In the second half of 2006, they released the singles, 'Wasted Little DJs' and 'Superstar Tradesman'. Both of these singles reached #15 in the UK singles chart. 'Wasted Little DJs' was voted Best Track of the year at the annual NME Awards 2007. Their next single, 'Same Jeans', hit the number three spot in January 2007.

The album, Hats Off to the Buskers, was released in 2007 and entered the UK Album Chart at #1 before being nominated for the prestigious Mercury Music Prize. Sophomore album Which Bitch? was released early 2009 reaching #4 in UK charts, with radio singles '5Rebbeccas' and 'Shock Horror'.

*ENTER COMPETITION HERE*

The View are returning to Australia in December to wow festival audiences over the New Year period; keep an eye on

Tour dates are:

Wed 30th Dec Falls Festival, Lorne Victoria
Thu 31st Dec Falls Festival, Marion Bay, Tasmania
Sun 3rd Jan The Hi Fi, Melbourne
Mon 4th Jan The Hi Fi, Brisbane
Tue 5th Jan Metro Theatre, Sydney
Sat 9th Jan Southbound Festival, Perth

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Homecoming Videos



Happy

The full setlist was; Glass Smash, Wasted Little Dj's, 5 Rebeccas, Skag Trendy, Realisation, Wasteland, Happy, Same Jeans, Superstar Tradesman and Shock Horror.

Viewin’ the Fat

ROCK stars and celebrities raised the roof last night at the glitzy Tartan Clef music awards bash.
Indie stars The View and Marillion frontman Fish rubbed shoulders with TV funnyman Ford Kiernan and airport hero John Smeaton at the awards at Glasgow's SECC.

Others on the star-studded guest list included telly presenter Laura Marks, comic Fred MacAulay and singers Eddi Reader and Lloyd Cole.

The night's big winners were Dundee band The View - who scooped Best Live Band sponsored by The Scottish Sun.

Singer Kyle Falconer put on a brave face on the red carpet despite mourning the death of his mum this week.

But the scruffy rockers were worried they looked out of place. Bass player Kieren Webster, 23, said: "We're excited to be here but I feel a bit under dressed as loads of people got on the kilts." Guitarist Pete Reilly, 23, quipped: "We scrub up well, we've all got a splash of Dior on."

Folk rocker King Creosote, who won Singer Of The Year, and Fish picked up the Rock Award.

Other winners included Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, Mott The Hoople and DF Concerts.

Guests included SFA boss Gordon Smith, below left, who revealed he's a pal of Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney.

He said: "The biggest thrill of my life was sitting in Sir Paul's house as he played for me about 20 years ago. I played to him Beatles song Blackbird, which I found really difficult. He went out the room, got his guitar and taught me how to play it."

Radio DJ Heather Suttie was keen to show off her credit-crunch dress on the red carpet.

She pulled off her jacket to reveal her cream lace vintage outfit.

The blonde bombshell said: "It cost me a whole £10."

The Tartan Clef awards bash raises cash for Nordoff-Robins music therapy in Scotland.

Scottish Sun columnist Donald Macleod, chairman of the fundraising committee, said: "This year's Homecoming Scotland Tartan Clef Awards again showed the incredibly high calibre of music in Scotland.

"On behalf of Nordoff-Robbins, I'd like to thank our sponsors, guests and donors for their overwhelming generosity in support of our charity's important work. It's hard to believe that in ten years we've moved from a small lunch in Edinburgh to filling one of the halls in the SECC."

The Sun, 28 December 2009

2010 Australian Tour Promo

Homecoming Pictures

View all pictures here.

Homecoming Live

..."It was clear who the vast majority of the 2000 strong crowd in Hall Two were there to see though and when Dundee rockers The View - the new Tartan Clef live band of the year - hit the stage the hall went mental.

'Superstar Tradesman', '5Rebeccas' and 'Shock Horror' were highlights of a performance cut short by the gig's over-run. But hat's off to View frontman Kyle Falconer who gave a brilliantly rumbustious performance just days after his mother's sudden death."


The Glaswegian, November 30th 2009