Kyle Falconer in Bangkok: A New Album and New Baby on The Way
Kyle Falconer, the controversial frontman of the Scottish indie sensation The View, notorious for his problematic behavior for over a decade, has cleaned up his act like you can rarely see in the music industry. Currently in Bangkok, where he has been working on his NEW album, we caught up with him before his first small concert at Bangkok’s iconic live music venue Play Yard by Studio Bar. He was very friendly, sincere, relaxed and above all hilariously funny, without a pretensions attitude as one might expect from someone who’s been a star since 18… We had a short chat about his new album and the tour, his creation process and why is he stuck on Thailand so much…
It’s pretty good, it’s definitely not like playing with The View. I’ve been playing with them for quite a long time, since I was 14. All five of us sang together and we had a good harmony like the Eagles, but performing solo you have to be more compos menits, and I’ve never been like that with The View as I was always f…ed up… So, it’s been great, normally with The View it would be like touring three months in a row, but now it’s quite different, cus’ I have a baby and a new one on the way…
OH WOW, CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Yeah, tnx!…. So now we’re just doing weekends to get started. And I’d been trying to find my new band, ‘cus everybody kept getting sacked, as they just would not be a good fit. But finally, I got a good band now! Tonight it’s just me and Stevie (Anderson from The Law), the guitarist, so it’s gonna be an acoustic show…
I guess that’s the most important thing, to have the right chemistry with the people you play with?
Definitely, I’ve tried so many musicians, I even had my brother in the band and some really good musicians that are my friends, but the chemistry just wasn’t there… The right ones need to be unsackable (laughs).
You produced and played all the instruments on your album except the drums. Why?
Because it’s something I always wanted to do. When I was making records with The View, there was always that thought that I could have done better. But that’s what everyone else thought in the band. Everyone had so many opinions and playing with the same people for so long – which was good as it produced that collective sound – but sometimes it was just too much. Now, there’s no other megalomaniac mind, it’s only me, and in the band everyone was so opinionated ‘cus we are just that kind of a band. D’you know what I mean?…
In the age of reality talent shows where people have their 5-min fame by recycling songs from the past, and when pretty much all is said and done in arts in general, how do you manage to find originality in your work?
I think if you search too much, you start questioning yourself, ‘Is this original’, and you’ll always think, ‘No’... I think you should just do what you do and listen everything you like, although I don’t have time to listen to new music as much as I should, cus it’s pissing me off, I always think, ‘Shit, this is something I should have done!’… That’s why I just listen to The Beatles and older stuff, as well as lots of classical music, but I also like Shania Twain! Not her complete super cheesy stuff, but her third album ‘Come on Over’ is one of my favorite records ever, and we’ve done a cover of her song… That’s what’s so great about being in this band, there’s no judgments, cus no one is like, ‘It’s f…ing shite!’, they are all like ‘Yeah, Shania Twain!!!’ We’ve just done a cover of Tina Turner’s ‘What’s Love Got to Do With it’... So, it’s cool…
Your music influences are ranging from The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, Bonnie Ratt, to Oasis and The Clash, to name a few. What else have influenced you in life, like books or movies?
I am more into movies, cus my dad was a crossword genius, my sister is an English teacher, and my brother reads like crazy. I don’t read. I mean I do read, I’ve read books in my life, but I am more movie daft. I love Stanley Kubrick, Eyes Wide Shut is one of my favourite movies of all times, and I love old films, like the West Side Story and Jesus Christ Superstar …
It was great fun chating with Kyle about life and music.
So, you consider yourself to be an old soul?
Yes, cus my both parents are dead now, they both died when they were 65, and I was 16, so I was first brought up by older parents and then by my two sisters who are 20 years older than me, so they brought me up different, not the same as everyone else.
That made you different from your generation…
Yeah, I even listened to ABBA and 70’s, and my mum liked Carpenters and my dad loved classical stuff and like Tony Bennett. What’s was cool when we played once on Jools Holland’s show in the UK, and Tony Bennett was performing too, and my whole family came… So before my mum died she got to meet Tony Bennett, and my dad had just died so that was dead sad, but I brought the whole family to see him, I got them a nice flight and they all came to London to meet him. I mean at the time, they were just coming for the show, but my mum got to meet him, so that was a big deal for her…
That’s really cool!
Thank you!
Let’s talk about Thailand a bit. We all know you were here for the rehab and all that, but why to Thailand?
My manager lives here. I’ve been here four times before I met him, so even before there’s always something that draws me here, it’s my seventh time now! And I would spend like three months at the time, so in total I’ve spent a lot of time here. I met my manager through some musician friends I used to go to school with when I was younger. They told me that David (the manager) really liked my stuff and as he lived in Thailand, we met and ended up getting on…
Yeah, I read somewhere that you said your new managing agency, Riverman Management, felt more like a family?
Definitely, they are all very cool, even the team here in Thailand, they are all like a family. I never had a manager like that, before it was always about money, they would always say no you cannot do something cus it’s too expensive and such… We were always treated like children, and always scared to say something because we were in it since the young age and always told no to do things… But now it’s like do what you want, and you’re treated as a grown up.
It’s quite a thing, being in a band since 14 that became super famous when you were 18. When did you first start playing?
I started playing when I was 13, and we got the band a year later. But all my band members were a year older than me in the same school, so they were like my big brothers. And they would get pissed off cus I would be playing better than them (laughs). But that’s because there was this big divide – I was into The Beatles, and they where into Oasis and Stone Roses. So, I would tell them, ‘You need to be ahead of the game!’ and they were like, ‘F… you!’ (laughs) Obviously, I love Oasis now, but at that time I was like, ‘You don’t know shit’…
No, I’ve come here to record my new album, I’ve been feeling really inspired and have a lot of new material on my mind so, I just needed to get it out. I’m leaving in a few days, but I’ll be soon, maybe even do a bigger show here.
What’s your favorite spot in Thailand?
Well the first time I came, I was in Bangkok for a month, but that was a lots of drinking and shit… I don’t know, lately I’ve spent quite a lot of time on Koh Lanta, I was there for a month with my fiance and our baby, who was only nine months old at the time, and it was great, just relaxing and motorcycling around…
Was that one of the locations of your Family Tree video?
Yeah, it was from a few places like Chiang Mai, Bangkok and a few more… We had a great time!
You know that Bangkok has a budding music scene of all genres, do you have an advice for young musicians, how to be more creative?
I would say go and see as many bands as possible! That will open your mind. Like I heard so many interpretations of Wonderwall here, i always discover something new. It’s pretty inspiring…
Describe yourself in two-five words?
Complicated, funny and exaggerating! (laughs)
When you first met your wife, how did you know that was it?
I met her in a gay bar in Dundee, and she was the only girl there. I went there with a friend, and she did not know The View, so usually in Scotland if I meet a girl, I’m normally like, ‘Oh, she’s a groupie’. But when she said she didn’t know about my band, I was like, ‘Yes!!!’! And she was really cool. She never really listened to The Beatles, she was just like, ‘Oh I know ‘Hey Jude’, and I was like, ‘Nooo …… you gotta listen to this’... so the first time we met I perched a tent in the bedroom and we just listen to The Beatles…
And for the end, what are the plans, you already said, a new album, a new baby…
Yes, new album, new baby, new house, just passed my driving test, got a new car too, so I’m just doing things that’ve been due for years.. And work! I mean, I love recording, I like coming up with new ideas, sometimes when you’re sitting around you just get good ideas, and that’s why is so great to have such a good management, cus you ask for something and they deliver. So, I told them I have some new songs and I want to record a new album, and they arranged everything in two weeks, so here I am…
When will we see you again here?
Coming back in March, so Thailand see you soon!