Look At The Street Lights: Clash Catches Up With The View

A wander down memory lane with Kyle Falconer...

In almost every sense The View’s debut album ‘Hats Off To The Buskers’ belongs to a different world. Released as the indie boom conducted its peacock strut across the charts, it was informed by the peculiarities and passions of the city of Dundee. Veering between shuddering, punkish indie and lilting introversion, Cossack bedlam and outright disgust at their surroundings, it consisted of fourteen tracks wrought from the concrete of their working class Scottish upbringing.

Speaking to Kyle Falconer, it’s evident that both nothing and everything has changed. The singer has endured troubles of his own – substance issues, spells in rehab – but has emerged triumphant, leading The View into their second decade.

“It doesn’t really feel like ten years,” he admits. “Music has completely changed. Ten years ago the music industry – what we were in – was the popular music on the radio. You had bands like The Kooks and The Fratellis… it was good times. We were so young when we got signed… getting A-listed on radio or when we got to number one… we still never really knew how important it was, what was actually happening. We were too young to actually understand what was going on.”

“We were just going on, playing our music, and then coming off… all over the world. Nowadays you’re more involved with everything that goes on with the record. You discover that the record industry is really deep, and it can be quite vile sometimes. You grow up more and you see that it’s not all fun and games… it’s quite tough.”

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Rather more mature, at times sanguine, Kyle still reflects the sheer glee and excitement that engulfed The View across that heady 18 month period. Throwing their demo tape on the Babyshambles tour bus found the band grabbing a vital support slot, before 1965 Records – headed up by legendary A&R and one-time Loop guitarist James Endeacott – came knocking on the door of their Dundee rehearsal room.

“We took to it like ducks to water,” he says. “That’s all we’d ever wanted to do! We’d rarely played outside of Dundee – I think we played (nearby Scottish town) Perth about once. All of a sudden we got signed and we were playing non-stop. The high profile gigs weren’t any different to us, it was just another gig. I think we were good at it.”

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I was a bricklayer for a wee while… like, a month or so!

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The band’s sudden rise did bring one drawback, however. “No one could understand what we were saying onstage. The label wanted us to go and get elocution lessons… we were like: nah, fuck that! I think we kind of got away with saying whatever we wanted onstage because no one knew what we were saying anyway!”

The View were part of a wider scene in Dundee that coalesced on the Doghouse venue – a former schoolhouse turned ramshackle pub, where fans could grab a dub soundsystem one night, a graffiti event the next, and local bands of a weekend. Touring bands rarely went outside the Glasgow/Edinburgh loop, meaning that Dundee could feel cut off – conversely, this also meant that new groups drew passionately on their surroundings for inspiration.

“The pub we used to rehearse in, there used to be a lot of tradesmen would come in,” he recalls. “I was a bricklayer for a wee while… like, a month or so! And then we got signed. We were all working: Pete was a joiner, Kieran was a civil engineer, and Mo was a butcher. We all just gave it up at the same time. But we never felt that at the time, because we only had our songs. We never knew how good we were at the time, we just thought: let’s go for it. When the songs started coming together we thought: fuck, we’re actually pretty good!”

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The View were that rare thing in the British charts: an unashamedly working class Scottish voice. ‘Superstar Tradesman’ told of societal pressure to “get a trade, son”, but songs such as ‘Skag Trendy’ and ‘Wasteland’ were more unequivocal in their take on the band’s surroundings. “We always felt hard done by being from Dundee. When we were younger we’d always get chased by the police for playing football at the shops. There was always something.”

“When we had the chance to let people hear about it, it was like: well, this is what we’ve got to say. We were living in a wasteland. There wasn’t even anywhere decent to play football, or a good swimming pool. So basically everyone just turned into punks. So when we got the ability to let the masses hear about it we made it right. That’s just how we felt.”

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We’d hear all these stories and we were just in awe…

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Never ones to wallow in misery, though, The View coated this rebellious streak with impish humour – there’s even a nod to familial ties on ‘Hats Off To The Buskers’ in the form of ‘Gran’s For Tea’. “We weren’t tongue in cheek, but we never took it as serious as a lot of other people. I mean, we did, but it doesn’t come across in the music. We always took after The Beatles, songs like ‘You Know My Name, Look Up The Number’ where they would have fun while they were doing it. We always wanted that to come across. The four boys doing what they wanted to do, and not taking it so seriously.”

For a while there, it all worked perfectly. Sessions for The View’s debut album took place with Owen Morris, who had worked on classic recordings by Oasis and The Verve. “It was amazing!” the singer exclaims, beaming at the memory of it all. “We just constantly asked him stories of Oasis. Once we’d finished our recording for the day we would sit and listen to old Oasis albums. We’d hear all these stories and we were just in awe – it was like sitting around a campfire and your dad telling you stories. It was great”.

“That was all the songs we had: we recorded them, and that was the album. We recorded it in a cowshed in Scarborough. We rented all the hire equipment in. We ended up falling out with the people there, and they didn’t want us recording there any more. They were chasing us out with pitchforks because we were causing a riot.”

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Recorded at breakneck speed, ‘Hats Off To The Buskers’ isn’t exactly a subtle experience – but then, it was never meant to be. A brash, humorous, and at times touching experience, it’s the sound of a gamble paying off. Buoyed by Top Ten single ‘Same Jeans’ the record flew into the charts, smashing into number one. Pushing themselves further and further, the toll eventually became apparent: a show at Nottingham’s Bodega venue was cancelled minutes before The View were due to go onstage, with Kyle said to be in no fit state to perform.

It was the start of a troubled period for the singer. Spells in rehab followed, before a stint in Thailand allowed the singer to find some sense of peace. “I’m good, aye. I take everyday as it comes. I’ve got a kid on the way. My fiancée is pregnant. Back in the day, that was part and parcel of the job – the wild lifestyle. Back in the day, everyone was doing the same thing. Nowadays, the industry is a lot more polished, and it’s not considered cool to get wrecked any more. It’s hard to deal with both sides of the world.”

“I’ve been doing great – Thailand has helped us out. I’ve done it a few times now. The first few times I was just trying to get my head together, but now I’ve actually listened and absorbed what they’ve been trying to tell me and it’s really helped. I’m a lot more able-minded rather just being all over the place.”

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We were in the deep end, going from gig to gig.

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Recently selling out six nights at King Tuts Wah Wah Hut – a record for the iconic Glasgow venue – The View are about to start work on new material, with Kyle Falconer working on a solo album alongside George Ezra producer Cam Blackwood. The band have even come to terms with their home-town – Kyle is buying a flat there, and intends to start his family in Dundee. “When we were younger we felt really hard done by… we thought: ‘why do we have to come from Dundee?! It’s a shithole!’ But you come back to Dundee and it’s actually a really nice place. Once you’ve seen the rest of the world you think, Dundee’s not actually a bad place to come from.”

Asked if he has any regrets from that volcanic opening period, Kyle thinks for a second. “I wouldn’t really change anything, but I’d like to have been aware of what was going on. We were in the deep end, going from gig to gig. All of a sudden our manager came down and said we were in the Top 10.”

“We never got told how to behave, or how to act. It all went the way it went. We’re the last of the Mohicans, now. A lot of them bands gave up, from that time, but the good ones are still here, and we’re one of them.”

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The View have confirmed the following 10th anniversary shows:

February
19 Glasgow King Tuts Wah Wah Hut
20 Glasgow King Tuts Wah Wah Hut
21 Glasgow King Tuts Wah Wah Hut
22 Glasgow King Tuts Wah Wah Hut
23 Glasgow King Tuts Wah Wah Hut
24 Glasgow King Tuts Wah Wah Hut

May
4 Glasgow Barrowlands
5 Aberdeen Garage
7 Manchester Ruby Lounge
10 London Garage
12 Cardiff Tramshed
13 Liverpool Hangar34
14 Sheffield Foundry
16 Carlisle Old Fire Station
17 Edinburgh Liquid Rooms

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