The Glasshouse

We caught up with Barry from Mogwai ahead of their show on Thursday 26 February, and he gave us characteristically honest (and funny) answers about chaos, staying awake past midnight and being too scruffy for fancy venues…

You’ve played The Glasshouse before. What memories do you have of performing here?

It’s always less than a little bit familiar coming to Newcastle as it’s not so different an environment to Glasgow, humour, weather and all that. The venue is of course too fancy for a bunch of scruffy old men like us.

What was the creative journey behind The Bad Fire?

The pre-album period was absolute mayhem with a gravely sick child, and I can barely remember much other than panic. The times I managed to get to my studio to write were a welcome escape but in an ideal situation I’d have had much more time to write. The album was also recorded in record time and slightly chaotic. Stuart moved house halfway through which was a challenge. We don’t make things easy in this band.

You’ve chosen a very Scottish phrase for the album title. How important is your Scottish identity in shaping Mogwai’s sound and storytelling?

Probably at some deeper level of consciousness it makes an imprint on our music and the sort of musical grammar of the songs, but we don’t go in thinking about this when we write and play. I used to think about this a lot and couldn’t get close to explaining much to myself.

You’re part of the Innovators series at The Glasshouse. What does innovation mean to Mogwai after 30 years of pushing sonic boundaries?

It’s mostly driven by not wanting to be bored with ourselves and trusting that we can do what we want to do. I’m not sure we succeed always with innovating but we’re usually trying to, and god loves a trier and all that.

Forest Swords is joining you on this leg of the tour. What do you admire about their work?

Matt’s just a great musician and composer. I haven’t seen him for so long and we’re both going to get a fright when he sees our old faces and we see his frightened expression.

How do you approach curating a live setlist that balances fan favourites with newer material like The Bad Fire?

You just chuck in a bunch of songs from over the years, that bit is easy. It’s staying awake until midnight that’s hard these days.