In the latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast, Ian and Ali are joined by Looper’s Stuart and Karn David. It’s a timely chat as we discuss Stuart’s recent book In The All-Night Cafe about the early days of Belle and Sebastian, as well as Looper’s handsome new 5 CD box-set, These Things, which has just been released.
However, as usual, we stray from the main topics to talk about other interesting things such as the lost art of letter writing, literary and local musical influences, writing fiction, making films, and the problems that face the introverted artist.
Stuart reminisces about his first musical forays and the formation of the band who would become Belle and Sebastian. In doing so he sets out the chain of events which led from he and Stuart Murdoch’s first meeting, their finding a band of musicians who could share their vision, the importance of ‘Richards’, the making of their classic debut Tigermilk, the album’s initially cool reception, to his decision to make very different music away from the band.
You can read Ali’s review of In The All-Night Cafe over at Product Magazine, but on the podcast Karn gives her own view on this period of Stuart’s life as viewed from afar and through his regular correspondence, which helped in the writing of the book, and this perspective adds even more to the story.
The two then talk about their work together as part of Looper, touring with The Flaming Lips, catching the ear of Cameron Crowe, and how Karn’s visuals were as intrinsic to the band as Stuart’s sounds. The release of These Things is a terrific reminder of their music, and includes one CD of new material, including ‘Skinny Legs’, the video of which you can watch now:
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As always, thanks for listening and we’ll see you back here very soon…