Interview: Norman Blake, musician, Teenage Fanclub

Published on Friday 28 May 2010 13:41

IT says something about Teenage Fanclub's early years that the Bellshill boys are now considered among indie's foremost under-achievers.

They've had chart successes, for sure, but perhaps their 1991 album coming up trumps on end of year polls against career bests by Nirvana, Primal Scream and REM suggested an altogether brighter future.

Although mainstream success has proved more difficult to come by in the years since their commercial breakthrough, the band affectionately known as the Fannies have continued to tour and record, with new album Shadows earning them some of the best reviews of a 20-year career.

Their ninth studio offering was five years in the making, which seems like a long time for a band with such a wealth of songwriting talent at its disposal.

Indeed, while most outfits are lucky to have one great songwriter, this one is blessed with three – Raymond McGinley, Norman Blake and Gerard Love.

Now that it's finally completed – Shadows is released on Monday – the band are in celebratory mood.

"I'm actually happier now. We started this record about a year-and-a-half ago and it's been a long time coming," says the slightly hungover Blake, speaking ahead of the band's visit to the HMV Picture House on Thursday night.

"I'm very happy with the way it sounds. We made the last album with (Bright Eyes, Blur and Broken Social Scene producer) John McEntire in Chicago, and we didn't take any of our equipment other than guitars. This time we took a whole load of stuff – synthesizers, the lot – and we really went for it with this record.

"There are strings and lots and lots of harmonies, so it's maybe back to what we did with our Grand Prix record, or something like that."

Recorded in a country studio in Norfolk, and then mixed at Rockfield Studios in Wales, Shadows is another well-made record from Teenage Fanclub.

But while it has a deceptively simple feel to it, it's as polished and intelligent as the aforementioned Grand Prix, the band's 1995 album, which Q Magazine placed at No 72 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.

"I suppose when you come to make a record, the way that we work, we can't really go off on a tangent because it's three people writing songs, it's not one person's vision," says Blake.

"It's song-based, and all that we can do in terms of making it different is look at the way we arrange the songs. So we do try to make it different from album to album.

"Also," he adds, "the way we work after all these years is just intuitive and you just get a feel for when someone comes in with a song.

"Gerry will come in and play a song and outline how he wants it to work, but at that point he'll give us the freedom to express ourselves in that context."

Teenage Fanclub, HMV Picture House, Lothian Road, Thursday, 7pm, 17.50, 0844-847 1740