'He still owes me a fiver' - Aidan Moffat and Stuart Brathwaite

MOGWAI'S STUART BRAITHWAITE and former Arab Strap frontman Aidan Moffat, together at last ... for an interview, that is. The pair have collaborated on a number of endeavours over the years – Moffat has sung on a couple of Mogwai tracks, and there was their much cherished though rarely witnessed covers band, The Sick Anchors – but their latest effort is called Aloha Hawaii.

The first fruit of this amorphous recording initiative is the industrial/electronica instrumental, Towns on the Moon, released as a ten-inch single in an attractive tropical-themed sleeve by Chemikal Underground, the Glasgow-based independent label which first signed both Mogwai and Arab Strap.

This is all the excuse required to get these two friends and stalwarts of the Scottish independent scene together in front of a tape recorder for the first time and see where the conversation takes them. "We've only done one interview together on the radio before and they had to split us up cos we wouldn't shut up," warns Moffat. Fuelled by coffee and Italian beer, they're off...

What's the idea behind Aloha Hawaii?

Stuart: We have a vague plan to do a bunch of singles for different labels and at some point collect them together, and Aidan decided to embrace the digital age by only doing it on vinyl, no downloads at all.

Aidan: We could always do it on cassette too – they must be pretty obsolete by now.

S: We made Chemikal Underground put out the second Mogwai album on cassette. I think at least one member of (label bosses] The Delgados is using them as a coffee table at the moment.

It took so long to get the pair of you together for an interview, it's a wonder you can find the time to get together to make music.

S: It can be tricky. We were going to go into the studio this week, but I was on holiday. Did you go in anyway?

A: I did a 12-minute ambient experiment. Malcolm (Middleton, ex-Arab Strap guitarist] said to me, "So what are you singing about?" When I told him it was instrumental, he said, "It's whit?"

S: I suppose if you will go about singing in public, then people will presume that's all you can do.

A: But that's not to say the next one won't have words. There are no rules.

S: But I would be surprised if we do any jazz, because neither Aidan nor myself can play that well. Though I suppose if you play enough wrong notes, anything becomes jazz.

Do you remember when you first met?

A: (eagerly] I remember exactly when. It was at the door to their gig at Nice'n'Sleazy. I was on the way in and said, "Look, I'm a bit skint, do you mind if I get in for free?" cos I'd seen them at an Arab Strap gig earlier on...

S: I know what's coming...

A: You wouldn't let me in for free. You said, "No, cos I paid to get into your gig," and it turned out ten years later you told me that was a lie. Tight bastard. That's a fiver you owe me, ya c***.

S: I'll make it up to you. The first time we heard Aidan's band we were in the studio doing our second single with Paul from The Delgados and he said, "We've signed this band, they're really great." Paul, being a tight bastard as well, only gave us one copy and I'm pretty sure someone else took it, but I heard it on the radio and I remember thinking it was absolutely amazing.

A: It does sound incestuous when you say it like that, but it was like an aligning of the stars – The Delgados, you, us, everybody seemed to be in the same place at the same time with the same frame of mind.

S: I think the sense of community in Glasgow has always been a really helpful thing. I know in other cities a lot of bands are always moaning, they see everything as a competition, whereas in Glasgow it's more "what can we do to make everything better?" rather than "what can you do for me to make me rich?"

We were involved with a lot of things together. We were on the same label, we went on a ridiculously debauched tour in 1997. It was a bit mad because we were all young and daft and everything was going really well. You had that song in the Guinness advert (The First Big Weekend] and we got the telly on the stage so we could watch it. It was in Gloucester, and you stole some bongos.

A: I don't think we need to bring that up ... but it was congas.

Were you drummed out of town?

S: We were drummed out of Stoke.

A: What happened in Stoke? Oh, the Sooty masks? That was just a moment of surrealness – "everybody likes Sooty, let's wear masks". I played the congas that night. As you can tell, it was quite stupid that tour; it was pretty ridiculous. Malcolm used to discuss if we wanted to break things.

S: I remember he poured a pint of Guinness into that Marshall Amp, thinking the amp was already broken. Then he found out there was just something wrong with the plug.

A: Ah, the bad old days. Dinnae get me wrong, what a great deal of fun we all had, but I just get so exhausted when I think about it.

S: If I have an evening even approaching that mental, I have to stay in bed for three days now.

Apart from music, do you share any interests?

S: Well, Aidan has no interest in football.

A: Coming from Falkirk, I was never particularly inspired. Comics are a big part of both our lives. I think we're both slightly obsessed by Batman.

S: The Batman film (The Dark Knight] was quite an event. When he jumps off the building in Hong Kong – one of the greatest moments in my life.

A: But there's some terrible exposition dialogue. And the end is terrible – that bit with the two boats against each other, with the prisoners in one (the Joker gives each boat the means to blow up the other and an ultimatum]. Why not two boats with civilians?

S: The point of it was to show that there is good in everyone.

A: Bollocks, that's not true.

S: See how Aidan comes out with some quite extreme views when he gets drunk? This is where we might see some cracks appearing...

A: (ranting on] If you were on a ferry with your family, and there's another ferry with murderers, rapists, thieves and violent criminals, I'd say, "Get them tae f***, I want my children safe." Not to mention that you'd wipe out half the crime in the city. I'm just saying...

S: You'd think the Joker would have had a back-up plan and just blow up the lot of them.

A: Let's move on, I'm getting upset.

S: Have you seen the Clone Wars (feeble animated Star Wars spin-off] yet? I was furious, it was so bad.

A: I can't stand Star Wars now. The thought of it turns my stomach. I adored it. I used to be quite a rabid collector of the toys. I've got a lot of stuff I was going to get rid of, but I've recently had a wee boy, so I might just save them for him.

S: He'll probably be into chess.

A: He'll be a wee brainbox, not interested in shallow pursuits like Star Wars.

What's his name?

A: What's more important here is his middle name. We named him after both our grandparents, but there was one thing I always wanted to call him. So his name is Samuel Keppel Batman Moffat. Seriously. We went to register his name and I was so excited. I said his name to the registrar and she never even batted an eyelid. She must hear some lunatic names.

Is it true you are now a bona fide sex columnist/agony uncle (on The Quietus website]?

A: It just started out as a laugh, but it got quite a good response so I'm going to do it every month. Pocket money, like. The first couple of months were quite lighthearted, but there's a couple of quite serious problems in the new batch. It's weird that they think I can help them. They must have listened to what I've been writing – does it sound like I've got any answers? It's flattering, but it's also quite surreal. I used to get that at gigs, people saying "you helped me through a difficult time".

Stuart, would you seek Aidan's advice, and vice versa?

S: We've asked each other many things, and our answers have probably been appalling to eavesdroppers.

A: I remember I once broke up with a girl and Stuart took me for a drive. Did I take the bottle of whisky with me, or did I just drink it beforehand?

S: You were drinking in the car. I was more the sympathetic friend. I don't know if I could give any advice.

A: It meant enough that you drove me about while I was steaming.

How would you describe each other to a stranger?

A: I'd describe Stuart as the mouthy one in the band with no singer.

S: I'd say he was the grumpy guy with the beard. He can be quite amazingly grumpy.

A: Do you know what I've discovered in the past 48 hours? Tea makes me less grumpy.

S: You never drank tea before?

A: I never liked it.

S: Milk and two?

A: No, just black.

S: Have you tried chamomile tea? That really chills you out.

A: No, that makes me think of chickenpox.

S: That's calamine lotion. Chamomile and spiced apple is a particularly good tea. But I like Tetley for my straight-up tea.

A: The conversation's all gone a bit Coronation Street, but there's nothing wrong with that.

S: Do you watch any other soaps? I was really into all the Australian soaps when I was a layabout. I remember setting my alarm clock for quarter past one so I could get up for Neighbours. I used to really like EastEnders.

A: Naw, that's too miserable.

S: That's the whole point – you can think, 'My life is not as shit as their life.' Although how can they afford to go to the pub every single night when they're working in a market, and have their breakfast in the cafe when they're supposed to be skint? Surely that would be one of the first things you would cut out in a credit crunch? Speaking of which, I've never been so glad I've never saved any money in my entire life. I always knew it was a great lifestyle choice to be financially irresponsible.

A: (to The Scotsman] What on earth are you going to write about? "Aidan supports the death penalty for any criminal in Gotham City"?

We'll just print the conversation.

A: Good, cos I had no idea what we were going to say about our record.

Towns on the Moon is out on Chemikal Underground, ten-inch vinyl only.