Interview withPaul Donoghue (Bassist of Glasvegas)
With their self-titled debut, the four-piece GLASVEHAS hailing from Glasgow has dished out one hell of a successful album and shortly before with ‘Daddy’s Gone’ a new single gets unleashed upon the crowd we got the chance to talk to Bassist Paul Donoghue about this prolific release and a little bit about the above mentioned tune.
Paul: I'm Paul, I’m single and I like strolls in the park and ice cream of an evening. I'm also in Glasvegas.
RoD: Have you been surprised by the second wave of excitement once the album was released here in Germany as well a couple months ago?
Paul: We've been very fortunate that so many people have picked up on our music so it's always flattering. Europe has been amazing for us and always holds good memories.
RoD: Why did you choose to perform the songs in your native dialect?
Paul: I think it's mostly to do with it being a beautiful accent, like New Yorkers accents. And it's also honest too.
RoD: Who did the artwork for your album and in which way is it connected to the band or the songs on the album?
Paul: James designed the artwork for the album. He worked with a designer in London to get a variation on Van Gogh's Starry Night. He liked the way the wind in the original was furious and exciting. We wanted to make it a beautiful physical thing; so that people who bought it as
opposed to downloaded it had something special.
RoD: As a musical backdrop to the spoken-word in 'Stabbed' you're employing the first movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No.14 popularly known as Moonlight Sonata. Why did it have to be this classical piece of music?
Paul: James had tried to do ‘Stabbed’ a few different ways when he heard Moonlight Sonata. When he heard it something clicked and he spoke it instead of singing it, and he realised that was the way it should have always been.
RoD: In songs like 'Flowers & Footballtops' or 'Daddy's Gone' for instance the listeners can hear kind of a guitar wall of sound; like a huge texture enveloping the songs. Has the shoegaze genre been a huge influence for your sound?
Paul: Not as much as people think. It's more influenced by the sound an orchestra makes, the power of that is more in our music than shoegaze. There's more intensity in it.
RoD: So 'Daddy's Gone' will be the new single. Inevitable if you ask me. Did you ever suspect this song would become such a crowd pleaser?
Paul: The reaction to it is always different. You can have someone crying standing next to someone jumping up and down in euphoria. We don't hold too many expectations for any of our songs; people can make up their own minds.
RoD: In May you're going to play 3 sold-out gigs in Germany, but you've been over here for a couple shows last year already. Is the German audience different compared to the one in the UK?
Paul: Every country is different, some crowds come to see us to party like it's 2999 and other crowds are waiting to be impressed. Either way they have all shown us so much love. We're very privileged to have the fans we do.
RoD: Have you planned any special surprises for the upcoming German shows and if so would you give us a little hint on what to expect?
Paul: We try and take our little world with us wherever we go, and make sure that people are being entertained visually and audibly. So expect fireworks, electricity and intensity.
RoD: What are your further plans for 2009 except touring a lot?
Paul: We'll be touring and playing festivals until the autumn then starting the recording process for the next album which we'll start proper in January.
RoD: We've already reached the end. Thanks again for this interview and if you have any message to our readers or something to add, you're welcome to do that now.
Paul: Nothing to add. Thank you for taking the time to come up with the
questions.
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