Glasvegas star Paul talks about fame and how its good to get home
By Carla Callaghan
ICSCOTLAND talk to Glasvegas bassist, Paul Donoghue on their first night of the NME awards tour at Glasgow’s O2 Academy with Friendly Fire and Florence and the Machine.
Hailing from Dalmarnock in the East End of Glasgow, the band’s increasing fame hasn’t changed the down to earth Paul.
Talking about their impending gig at Glasgow’s O2 Academy, Paul says: “It’s good to get home, well in saying that we were only here last month, but it is always good to get back to Glasgow.”
Revealing that some acoustic numbers will be played as well as favourites such as ‘Ice Cream Van’, Paul says: “We are military-esque, we can’t really create things offhand, we need to know like two hours before we go on what songs we are going to play.”
Releasing their self-titled debut album ‘Glasvegas’ in 2008, the four-piece have become one of Scotland’s biggest musical exports and boast a following of celebrity fans.
Paul says: “We were all very confident even before we signed a deal with the quality of songs.
“We were prepared that this could happen but not to the extent that it has.
“Its just weird that when people don’t believe you that your album has only been out for five months because that much has happened that it seems as if it has been out for a couple of years.”
Former Creation Records boss, Alan McGee was one of the first individuals to get behind the band, labelling them as ‘the best British band for 20 years’ after seeing them play at King Tut’s two years ago.
Paul says: “Alan McGee and Dirty Pretty Things were the first people to stick their necks out and put us out there, so we will always owe them a lot for that.
“We are still in regular contact with Alan, he is our biggest fan outside of our family, he’s a good mate of ours.”
Their Christmas mini album “A snow flake fell” was released in December, which coincided with their gig at the Barrowlands.
A magical performance, complete with fake snow falling from the air vents wowed the fans and it’s apparent the band had an equally good time.
Paul reminisces: “The barrowlands in December was just one of those times that we knew the crowd, the band and the crew.
“It just clicked that night and it created certain electricity that you don’t get all of the time.”
He added: “You can be influenced by anything, you can be influenced by a great plate of fish and chips or walking down the street, so influences are a hard thing to pinpoint.”
