Scottish indie rock band Glasvegas will be playing at Call the Office Saturday night.
When it comes to hosting renowned musical artists, there are few places in London like Call the Office; its decades of history jump out off of the wall, the echo of thousands of bands still buzzing faintly in the room like a musical equivalent of cosmic radiation.
On May 28, Call the Office hosts Glasvegas and Magneta Lane, a powerful one-two combination of indie rock groups that are as known for their unstoppable passion as the quality of their music. And while London still enjoys a rich reputation and a thriving music scene, this coming concert proves to be a night to remember.
Touring in support of EUPHORIC /// HEARTBREAK \\\, their second album released on April 4, Glasvegas are like few bands that have come through London; they formed in Glasgow, Scotland early in the 2000s after cousins James and Rab Allan each learned that the other had been playing guitar and decided to form a band, recruiting bassist Paul Donoghue and a drummer soon after.
They began earning positive reviews in the media and catching the eye of the right people as the next few years rolled along. While gigging steadily, the band strategically gained steadily growing popularity in the UK, reinforcing their growing hype with ever stronger performances at a broad range of gigs. They finally signed to Columbia Records in 2008 and produced their self-titled debut record in New York.
“I think the first record was probably a result of the band’s lack of ability,” guitarist Rab Allan joked by phone, reflecting on the band’s first release. “We had a drummer who couldn’t play drums, we had a bass player with the notes written on the back of his bass, and James, whose guitar probably wasn’t even plugged in half of the time. And I could play a couple of chords.”
However good-humoured and modest, Allan concedes that the progression they’ve enjoyed as a band has been a natural one. Since signing and breaking into the U.S. — even before releasing first album in September 2008 — the band have worked and toured tirelessly, becoming one of the hardest working bands in the world.
“In a year and a half, we had about three weeks off,” Allan recalled. “It’s a strange thing, because we didn’t know any different — we thought doing that many gigs was normal. We toured America six times on the last record, it was just constant, constant gigging.”
“D’you know what, I couldn’t actually do this if it wasn’t with friends,” he continued, when asked about growing up with James and chemistry in the band. “Paul, the bass player, I went to school with him, we’ve been best friends for 16 years. I know a lot of bands hate each other, but we were never really one of those bands. Our band is like one big family.”
For Glasvegas, whose lineup was completed by drummer Jonna Löfgren after the completion of EUPHORIC /// HEARTBREAK \\\, the gig at Call the Office represents their first visit to London since playing here in 2009 with Kings Of Leon.
Tickets are $15 in advance through TicketScene and will also be available at the door.
