How are you and what have you been up to recently?
I am well thanks. Recently I have been closing my eyes and hoping my uni work goes away. Also, we just got back from Dublin where we filmed a video for our first single.

What are the five albums that have most influenced you?
I have no idea. I would say the albums I have listened to most from start to finish would be: Midnight Organ Fight by Frightened Rabbit, Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters by The Twilight Sad, Is This It by The Strokes, 2001 by Dr Dre and Best Club Anthems 2001.

You grew up in Scotland. What was that like for a budding musician?
I actually grew up in Edinburgh and moved to Glasgow for university just after I turned 18. I like both Edinburgh and Glasgow a lot. Glasgow has been great for the band. There’s always been plenty of gigs for us to play and plenty of bands to go see.

What’s the best concert you have ever been to?
Tough one! I think I’ll say Frightened Rabbit at the Arches in Glasgow. I really love that band and they are such nice boys. It was at the end of the tour that we had just done with them and after seeing them playing in some shit places with not much of a crowd to speak of it was great to see them playing in front of 800 fans.

If you could have been a musician in any era when would it be?
I just saw Notorious at the cinema. I’d like to think I’m a West/East-Coast rapper trapped in a chubby Scottish boy’s body. I’ll say 90s American rap music because it seemed like there was a lot of fun and a lot of drama.

What’s the best gig you’ve ever performed?
It would probably be the gig we played at a venue in Glasgow called Nice N Sleazy last August. It was our first concert in about five months because drummer Darren had been in Germany for uni. It was our first proper headline show and the first and only time we’ve sold out a venue.

Have you ever played a show when everything has gone completely wrong?
I don’t think so. I used to play without a tuning pedal and we used to get quite drunk before playing. So that was always a bad combination. I remember one gig in Edinburgh where we had a lot to drink before we played and bought these ridiculous WKD fuzzy orange Viking hats and then wore them on stage. Needless to say we were shit and subsequently enforced the maximum-three-pints-before-gigs rule.

What was your first musical instrument?
My dad was in a bluegrass band and the fiddle player in his band used to teach violin. I started playing when I was about five and had lessons every Sunday until I was about 12. I had to choose between continuing my violin lessons or playing for my football team. I chose football.

What books have you read and films have you seen recently?
Notorious! Watched Eagle Vs Shark a couple of nights ago, which was great. I’ve also just read a lot of books on government communications and media management in British politics for my dissertation. I’m done with reading words for a while.

If not a musician, what job would you have had in the real world?
I have no idea. Luckily enough this band stuff means I don’t have to grow up just yet. I do think I would make a good car salesman though.