The View biographyThe View LyricsSource: http://www.theviewareonfire.com/ Cast your mind back to 2005. While A&R men the length and breadth of the land were busy scouring the post-Franz landscape of Glasgow in search of the next great new Scottish band, what they sought lay a couple of hundred miles to the North East, in an oft-overlooked part of the country. Musically, the history of Dundee isn't exactly littered with success stories. Indeed, of the city's two most notable additions to the pop canon - The Associates and The Average White Band - one's tale ended in tragedy, while the other specialized in soul-funk. But all that is about to change with the advent of The View, the city of discovery's newest and greatest white hopes. Four alarmingly young (average age: 18) friends from the Dryburgh area of the city, The View are comprised of Kyle, Keiren, Peter and Steve and formed from the ashes of an old covers band they formed at school, playing everything from Squeeze to The Sex Pistols. After deciding just over a year ago that their ambitions stretched considerably further than hawking 'Up The Junction' around the pubs and clubs of Dundee, they began writing and rehearsing their own songs in the backroom of their local, The Bayview Bar (hence the band's name). When the band were thrown out of there - "I can't remember exactly why," recalls Peter, "But I think it had something to do with Kyle riding a scooter along the bar," - they decamped to nearby venue The Doghouse, where they began living a "Monkees-like" existence, and the songs they were writing slowly began to take shape. And what songs. From the ramshackle pop nuggets like 'The Don' and 'Superstar Tradesman' to the razor-sharp melodies of the ska-inflected 'Skag Trendy' , they may be grounded in the gutters of Dundonian council estates but nonetheless gaze intently at the stars. Marrying the forked tongue wit and guttersnipe humor of The Libertines with the melodic nous of The Buzzcocks and Oasis, each one is a mini-anthem in waiting, and none more so than 'Superstar Tradesman's singalong tale of council-estate drudgery. "Your whole life," explains Keiren, "People are always telling you, 'Getyourself a trade, get yourself a job, it's the only way to make any money' and people end up giving up their other ambitions just to make some money. So you end up getting a trade to buy yourself a guitar and get a band together, but when you get home at the end of the day, you're too tired to play the thing. You see it happening to so many people." Armed with an album's worth of great tunes, it didn't take them long to build up a following around the city, and after only their second gig, local indie label Two Thumbs declared that they wanted to release an EP with the band. Interest outside the city, however, was harder to come by - at least until former Rough Trade A&R man James Endeacott stumbled across their early demos and since, things have been moving at breakneck speed for The View. They watched as their small gathering of followers grew into a mobile army, following them the length of the land on support slots and headline shows. And they stood agog as they found themselves at the centre of a record company bidding war that finally ended when they recently signed to James Endeacott's new label, 1965 Records. "He's just a brilliant person," explains Peter as to why they signed to 1965, "You can sign to someone for money, but we signed to James' label because he's a totally genuine guy who's really enthusiastic about what we do. It's all about the people for us, not whether someone's a big shot or not. The other people we spoke to were all like 'We're from such-and-such a label, we could make you huge', but James would just be down the front at our gigs jumping up and down, shouting 'I love you boys! I love you boys!'" They were soon whisked off to record their debut album with legendary producer Owen Morris, renowned for his work with the likes of Oasis and The Verve, where their eyes were quickly opened to the excesses of rock n' roll. "When James told people that he was sending us off to record with Owen," laughs Peter, "Everyone apparently said to him, 'Why the hell are you sending the boys off to work with him? He's mental!' and he replied by saying, 'Well, Owen's mental - but the boys are fucking insane!'" Kyle concurs, "Every time people were a bit down in the studio, or something wasn't working properly, he'd be like, 'Right boys, let's head off down the strip club!' Then another time it came up in conversation that I'd never drank champagne before and he stopped the session, dragged us out to a Chinese restaurant and told the waiter to give me as much champagne as I wanted! He's a lovely guy, but a crazy bastard. I mean, we like a drink, but..." After they'd got the strippers, champagne and stimulants out of the way, however, the band managed to record a truly great debut album, as yet unnamed but due to be unleashed on the world this autumn. Meanwhile, however, the band's popularity has been quietly snowballing, with Bobby Gillespie recently declaring The View his new favorite band after they'd supported Primal Scream on a handful of recent dates, and their debut UK festival appearance at last month's Radio 1's Big Weekend Festival in Dundee, where the band's hometown crowd packed out the tent they were playing in. "I feel like it's just meant to happen for us right now," says Peter. "A small band from Dundee play two gigs and sign to a small Dundee label, a couple of months later they sign to a bigger label, then there's a major music festival in Dundee for the first time - and we're on the bill! Not only that, but people are going mad for us. It's just meant to be. We used to read books about The Libertines and think to ourselves, 'I'd love it if James Endeacott signed us,' then a couple of weeks later, he's on the phone offering us a record contract. It's been totally weird." It's only going to get weirder. Boasting an album of incredible songs, and ever-growing band of believers, the rest of the UK is about to find out what the residents of Dundee have known for some time (and have no qualms about making it audibly clear throughout every gig the band ever play) - The View Are On Fire! |