In a deserted bar across from Brownies I greeted with the floppy, prep school renegade appearance of Stuart Braithwaite, lead guitarist of the mostly instrumental quartet Mogwai from Glasgow. Harrowed as forerunners of the post-rock grey area, they have gone from Black Sabbath to Arab Strap and back again, in one song, and it’s all done with the ease of kids playing in the garage.

PERSONNEL

Daphne: What are you in the band, you sang for a while.

Stuart: Drummer, bassplayer... we all swap about, we all play.

D: I was wondering who plays the piano.

S: We stopped writing it down. Everyone’s played the piano at least once in a song. John’s the best piano player, but anyone can have a part, all you have to do is play in C minor.

OBSESSIONS

D: When are you recording?

S: We’re going up to Buffalo to record with Dave Friedmann. Then we’ll play some shows, and mix the record.

D: It’s tenatively called "Come on Die Young"...

S: Who told you that?

D: I saw it on a UK web pages. They’re quite fanatic.

S: I met that guy, he’s really normal. I was pretty weary of him to be honest.

D: Every set list of every gig.

S: Some of those gigs we don’t even want people to remember that we ever played them never mind can I have tape of them.

D: He bootlegs them too?

S: Tapes every gig. They’re a French guy who has 70 tapes of us playing. He’s really normal as well. He just likes us, and the Cure.

D: People lined up the night before just to meet Robert Smith at Tower last year.

S: I’m a really big Cure fan. There was one time we were playing in London and because of connections at a radio station, I was going to go to the after show but I couldn’t handle it.

D: Meeting them...

S: No way I could, too much.

D: Everyone likes at least one Cure song.

S: Dominic, our bass player, he thinks their rubbish.

DIRECTIONS

D: Obviously everything is written for the new album, what is its direction?

S: They’re (the songs) not as anthemic as they used to be. They’re not unlistenable, there are melodies but if these were are first songs, I don’t think we’d be as successful as we are.

D: Can you give me a brief history from 95?

S: We came together and recorded in 95 but I put it out on my own and we had to save up money.

D: Did you come together with a grandious idea?

S: We always had high plans. It had nothing to do with capitalism, we always knew we weren’t going to be an arty-shite band, well, maybe some people think we are just another shitty band but we always thought we’d do something more special.

D: How did these apocaplytic visions get worked in to your music?

S: We just really like metal (laughs). Our new record is a lot more controled and restrained, sound wise. The noise now is subliminal. We’ll have a really quiet tune, a dainty delacate song with all of us going until our hands were bleeding and we take as though it’s someone hovering next door. You can hear the violence but its more subversive.

D: What do you expect from Dave Friedmann?

S: I don’t know if there’s going to be a lot of room to sculpt the music or if he’s just going to be an extra set of ears.

D: What is the reason behind this new minimal approach?

S: A reaction against going on tour and playing the same songs.

THE PAST

D: After Young Team, you put out a "remix" album...

S: A reinterpretation.

D: How did you get that assembled?

S: Some people are friends like Hood and Arab Strap, and there were people we thought would do something interesting with it. I think most of it turned out very well.

D: The album goes beyond a basic remix where they just add more reverb.

S: And a funky drum beat.

FRIENDS

D: You mentioned Arab Strap. How did you guys start working together?

S: We’re friends. We quite like his (Aidan’s) singing. We’ve played concerts with them. Do you like them?

D: The band effects me all day when I listen to them.

S: I think people have trouble with the language in America. It’s hard to understand a lot of the thing’s Aidan says he’s got much more of a regional accent then we do.

D: The words are written out on Philophobia. It’s like reading a private journal.

S: That record is really strange because we were there and we know about a lot of the incidents that he’s singing about and a lot that he didn’t sing about.

D: A friend of mine said YT is the perfect soundtrack to conquer the world. Is this implicit in your plan?

S: These things change from day to day as far as why we do the things we do. We had a really good day shopping. We were all buying stuff and then we had sound check and it seemed really weird. It gets really intense and motivated.

THE DEEP

D: Are your songs an extension of yourself?

S: We always play what we like. Some of us like heavy metal and we play that. If I wasn’t in this band, I would probably quite like it.

D: Are there any discrepancies?

S: Dominic really likes the Deftones and stuff like Fugazi and he doesn’t like Spaceman 3. Nothing really devient, it’s not like one of us likes jazz and the other black metal. Sonicboom came to a few of our gigs and was just hanging out. It was quite strange. With what Jason’s doing now, Sonic is the true spaceman in my eyes.

D: Spiritualized has gone gospel.

S: Totally. To be honest I think it’s been cliched, a lot of musical cliches and 70’s rock.

SCOTLAND

D: Do you tour more in the U.S or Europe? How does your hometown react?

S: We play New York more than Glasgow. The last few years we haven’t played Glasgow. When we used to play there, people just didn’t really give a shit.

D: Do think its a sign of success when people start rumors about you?

S: Ya, in Glasgow we get rumors at the bank if we sell two records. There’s not a lot to do but make things up.

D: You aren’t anxious to get back?

S: We’re quite bored with Scotland.

(momentary silence)

FINAL

D: Where did you go shopping today?

S: Mondo Kims, comics shops (holds up Babylon 5 action figures and Urban Outfitters bag)

A girl comes in from the cold and plops down at the table, unwrapping her scarf and looking expectantly at Stuart. I decide to wrap up.

D: If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be?

S: Stanley Kubrick, we’d play music for one of his films. Or David Bowie.

Last rumors of Mogwai contend that their new album is recorded and shortly will be out on Matador in the Spring of ‘99. When not plagued with immense, unresolvable technical difficulties like their CMJ evening, Mogwai play intense, post-rockin’ metal without a drunken care for the audience; it’s like your baby cousin trying to mad at you.