Teenage Fanclub at Chalk, Brighton: Gig preview

Scottish rock band Teenage Fanclub will be taking to the Chalk stage on Saturday, April 11 - 32 years after they first played the city.

The band will be touring their critically acclaimed 10th album - Endless Arcade - which was released in April last year.

When asked about how touring have changed over the years for the band, guitarist Raymond McGinley said: “It’s surprisingly similar, although we look a bit different when we look in the mirror these days. I think when we started the band we wanted to just get out in the back of the van.

"We would go to Norman’s [Blake] house and would get his mattress and put it in the back with our amps and we would kind of live out the back of this van. We travel slightly more comfortably these days, and also more safely.

“When we started out everything was an adventure because you are going places you have never been before. Now we are going to places that we have been before. This thing that we do, whatever you would call it, we still get a buzz out of doing it. I have no ideas what else we would do. Being on tour has always felt like being on tour, it's always felt pretty good.”

The band released their first record - A Catholic Education - in 1990 as a four-piece on Paperhouse Records.

Now, after three decades in the industry and a number of changes to the band line up, Raymond believes Teenage Fanclub have managed to retain their true identity throughout.

He said: “Our approach to making records has always been instinctive. We don't like to second guess why we are doing things, we just kind of do what we feel like doing.

"If one of us sits playing guitar and singing a song. We don’t think and analyse what we’ve done in the past and bring an element from this into it. We just go into the studio with some ideas and start working on them without second guessing ourselves.

“I think we realise, for better or for worse, who we are and what we feel like doing is all we have got. We are not really good at constructing things from a preconception. We’ve always just done things the same way. We always try to be honest about who we are today, rather than being a pastiche of who we were. And just present ourselves as the people we are.”

In the 1990s, the band crafted a magnetically heavy yet harmony-rich sound on classic albums such as Bandwagonesque (1991) and Grand Prix (1995).

This century, albums such as Shadows (2010) and Here (2016) have documented a more relaxed tone, reflecting the band’s stage in life and state of mind, which Endless Arcade slots perfectly alongside.

Raymond said: “I can remember going to the studio in 1989 to start making our first album and the feeling is the same as when we made our latest album Endless Arcade. We kind of go in and do the same thing. But the songs aren't the same and we aren't the same people because you have lived life differently.

“If you tried to make the same record every day, it would be a bit different, because you are in a different mood. So that's why we work instinctively and go with what occurs to us, to be the thing that we feel like doing and not be too self-critical of it. That’s all we have.

"I think we have always been reflective, because who you are in a song isn't always the person you are in real life. It is a place of self indulgence, I really like Norman’s songs on the Endless Arcade record. People can get a picture of his state of mind from that point in time.

“It can be easy to disguise yourself, but I think it's better to show a bit of yourself, even if it might seem slightly unpalatable to do that.”

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the band never got the opportunity to tour the album until now.

Raymond is looking forward to getting back out on the road and playing a blend of songs from their whole discography.

He said: “We don't really do twentieth or thirtieth anniversary tours. But this has kind of become a year anniversary tour of Endless Arcade. But it’s not going to be wall-to-wall stuff for the new album. I think it's always good when you can pull some things out from your past that we haven't played in a while. When we get into rehearsal we will see what we can remember how to play.

"Sometimes it will be obvious because we know what we like and what works well in rehearsals. I think we do need to try and challenge ourselves a bit more to dig more things out from the past that we haven't played live.

"There are things you know you can get into a groove when playing live that works. We work it out between us and then when it comes to going on tour we will move things about a little bit. But we try to work it out in advance as much as we can and arrange a pool of songs we are going to do.”

Raymond and the band are also eager to complete what he calls ‘the album cycle’ when they head out on the road in April.

He said: “It was good to get it [Endless Arcade] finished and it was good to get it out. It was strange to have an album out and then not go on tour after it. That felt really weird having done that sort of thing for thirty years.

“You are used to the process of the album coming out then you go on tour and you play the songs live and then it becomes a different sort of thing. Then you would meet people and they have a sort of naturalistic reaction to it.

“You see that sort of reaction to the thing we have done and it feels like that is the end of the cycle. Going on tour in April and May this year will be part of that cycle being completed.”

Teenage Fanclub will be playing Chalk on Saturday, April 16.

Tickets can be bought here

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