Indie legends Teenage Fanclub talk Endless Arcade, longevity and their future ahead of Wedgewood Rooms gig | Interview

Like those which came before, it is beautifully poised between melancholic and uplifting – packed with soaring harmonies and heart-aching songcraft.

The album was recorded pre-pandemic, but that aside it represents a time of change in the band’s camp. It is the first without co-founder singer/bassist/songwriter Gerard Love, and the first with Euros Childs (former frontman of beloved indie oddities Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci) as a full-time member.

Some 33 years since forming, the Fannies (as they are known to their admirers) have transcended their noisy, scrappy early days, survived a brush with Britpop and a lengthy stint on the legendary label Creation Records to become elder statesmen of the UK indie scene.

Still boasting three-fifths of the original line-up, with Norman Blake and Raymond McGinley sharing vocals and guitars, and Francis Macdonald on drums, they are also joined by ‘new boy’ Dave McGowan who has played keys and now bass with them since the early noughties.

When The Guide spoke with Norman, he was caught in a curious mood somewhere between optimism about finally getting out on the road again, and worrying about the ongoing pandemic and the then-escalating situation on the Ukraine/Russian border.

‘It all seems trivial talking about music and these kind of things, and it is trivial in the grand scheme of things with what's going on in the world,’ says Norman, ‘but life has to go on, doesn't it? And to have some semblance of normality – but it's certainly horrible...’

He also reveals that Covid remains a matter very much close to home.

‘It's been frustrating because we haven't been able to tour Endless Arcade because of the pandemic. It's how we make our living, but not only that, we get a great deal of pleasure from playing for people.

‘And it's obviously still ongoing – my daughter's just tested positive for Covid this morning – but she's absolutely fine.

‘I was playing a show a couple of nights ago with a guy called James Grant who was in Love and Money, and Bernard Butler, who was in Suede – we did this little thing, just the three of us playing songs, and I got a call from the promoter saying he's got Covid. We're still very much in Covid times!

‘I've already had it, last October, so I guess I'll find out later today if I've got it again...’

The band remain based around their native Glasgow, but are very much looking forward to doing what they do best.

‘Because of all of this we haven't been able to play shows, and for musicians, that's how we make our money, that's how we make our living. That's why it's imperative to get out there and keep working.

‘I suppose in some ways we were lucky that we had finished the album before the pandemic because we may not have had the opportunity to record it if we'd been a few months later – so we were lucky in that sense.

‘It's just been crazy times.

‘Funnily enough, we had a very good experience making the record because Euros Childs had come into the band, and Dave who's been with us for a long time playing keyboards moved onto bass, and he is primarily a bass player, so we actually had a very enjoyable time making the record.

‘Obviously we were sad that Gerry had left the band, but we kind of felt reinvigorated because with the line-up change there was a sort of freshness to the whole thing.’

Gerry left the band over a disagreement about their future touring plans. Has it felt strange playing without him?

‘After Gerry decided to leave the band, we did some shows in America and Hong Kong and Australia, there was obviously a transitional period.

‘Bands are like that – people come and go, things change – and once you're on stage it all feels absolutely fine – but where he'd been with the band for such a long time, it was initially a bit odd turning to my left and Gerry wasn't there, but Dave was.

‘We often think of Dave as “the new guy” but he's been playing with us for 20 years! I made an album with Euros,’ 2011’s Jonny, ‘and I've toured with Gorky's in the past – I stood in for their guitarist, John, when he couldn't do a tour, so Euros already felt like family as well.

‘It wasn't as if we had someone we didn't know joining the band. So yes, it was slightly strange, but it's absolutely fine now, and we're just getting on with it.

‘I actually bumped into Gerry just about a month ago over in the west end of Glasgow, and he's fine, just doing his thing. Life goes on…’

There is in fact something of a belated follow-up to the Jonny album with Euros which Norman hopes will see the light of day eventually.

‘We have actually got another little project in the pipeline – we've finished recording an album of songs that were either written by or produced by Joe Meek.

‘We've had that finished quite some time, but there's a bit of a backlog in getting things pressed up because I think Adele and Ed Sheeran have taken over all of the vinyl presses!

‘And Euros still does his own thing too, but he's been a great addition to the band – he's a great guy and a fantastic musician and singer – really easy-going, so he slotted right in.

‘On a couple of occasions we've had Stephen Black with us too, he performs as Sweet Baboo, who's a friend of Euros's and works with Cate Le Bon, Steve has come in and helped us out on bass. It's slightly complicated because Dave who plays bass with us is also a member of Belle & Sebastian, so sometimes he has to do Belle & Sebastian things – so we've added another new member to the family as well.’

When it’s put to Norman that here is a distinct undercurrent of optimism on Eternal Arcade, he agrees: ‘I think we are the eternal optimists as a collective unit – we're pretty positive. We're a harmonious bunch, really.

‘It's that funny thing with bands – people talk about the relationship that Mick Jagger and Keith Richards had, and it was a kind of fraught and difficult relationship which made them productive, but that's not us at all! We're all pretty mellow, we're pretty easy-going and that's the way we like it, it's what's conducive to us making good music, it's that harmony.

‘It's just a reflection of us as people – we're all pretty optimistic people. We're all just happy to still be making records after all this time – it's great to be able to do it, it's a privilege, and long may it continue.

‘We'll keep going as long as we feel we've got something to say, and as long as people still want to see us, we'll keep playing shows.’

After a fairly rapid release schedule in their first decade – including 1991’s career-making Bandwagonesque which US magazine Spin famously put at the top of its albums of the year ahead of big hitters from Nirvana, REM, Guns’n’Roses and more – the pace has eased off in the 21st century. It's a situation the band want to change – they’ve already been recording new material at the renowned Rockfield Studios in south Wales.

‘We want to crack on and make another record soon. We do see ourselves as being contemporary, we're wary of becoming a nostalgia band – you can definitely get into that.’

In 2018 they performed a run of shows where they played their five albums released on Creation Records in full, reuniting with past band members from the era for the dates.

‘Part of that remaining contemporary is continuing to make records – you have to continue with that. You look at someone like Paul Weller, his work ethic – he's still releasing albums every year, and I think that's the way to go. Or someone like Nick Cave, always working and touring and promoting a new record. That's what we want to do.

‘We have started work on the next one already, and we're very conscious that we need to do that.

‘As long as we can still have ideas for songs, we'll keep recording.

‘It's really what you should be doing as a creative person! If you think of songwriting as a craft, which it is, I like to think you can continue to do that and improve your technique. That's the idea anyway.’

Teenage Fanclub are at The Wedgewood Rooms on Sunday, April 17. Go to wedgewood-rooms.co.uk.