Mogwai: “We’re not ‘post rock’ - we don’t really know what it means.”

Mar 3 2011 by Chris Clements, Hamilton Advertiser

JUST don’t mention the words “post rock”.

It is a label that critics have used to describe the music renowned Lanarkshire five-piece Mogwai for the past 14 years or so, leaving band members scratching their heads.

Guitarist and keyboard player Barry Burns doesn’t even know what the term means, he tells the Advertiser.

“I don’t really get it, and I don’t think anyone in the band understands what ‘post rock’ even means,” he says.

“I think it works for record shops, because it’s a lot quicker to say post-rock than saying, ‘Instrumental guitar and piano music from Scotland’.

“I suppose we just have to live with the label. I don’t like it because ‘post-rock’ suggests that it is somehow better than rock music, when it isn’t. It’s just the same thing done a bit differently.”

The talented multi-instrumentalist is speaking to the Advertiser following the release of the band’s seventh studio album, ‘Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will’.

Their first album in nearly three years, Mogwai’s latest offering has already been critically well-received and attracted praise from fans.

Barry, a former pupil at Cardinal Newman High in Bellshill, explains that they tried to do things a little differently this time around.

“When working on the last album, I think we became aware that we were getting into a comfort zone with some songs.

“It’s hard to explain exactly, but we didn’t go down the road of two minor chords and playing for 25 minutes.”

So how do Mogwai – famed internationally for their brand of ‘instrumental guitar and piano music from Scotland’ – go about writing their songs?

Barry explains: “Of the band, there are four of us who write songs. But we don’t do that together. We tend to send each other MP3 files over the internet, to give each other an idea of what we’re doing. It’s been that way for a while.

“Eventually, we meet up and we already have a few song ideas to practice.

“That applies a lot more now, because two years ago, I moved to Berlin with my wife. There is even more of distance between me and the band.”

One of the staples of Mogwai albums are their bizarre and unexplained song titles.

The latest album feature such corkers as ‘George Square Thatcher Death Party’ and ‘You’re Lionel Ritchie’.

“Well, you could say that we just pluck song titles out of thin air, or it might be something we read in the paper, a funny headline.

“We did that a lot in the early days, especially taking funny headlines from the National Enquirer in America.

“Sometimes, it can also be things that someone has said when they’re steaming and it just sticks.

“You think ‘That would be a good title for a song’.

“I suppose the basic use for the names is so that, when it is written down on a list, we all know what we are playing when we perform live.”

Despite the band’s continuing success since their formation in 1997 – they have a dedicated following and much of their music has been used in films and television – they can still walk down a busy high street without being recognised.

However, the guys are laidback about this.

Barry says: “Me and Stuart [Braithwaite, Mogwai guitarist and co-founder] were talking about this the other day.

“It is so good that we can make music that lots of people like and listen to, but we don’t get bugged in the street.

“The only time we’re recognised is when we are in record shops in Glasgow, and even then, I wouldn’t described that as being bugged. It’s quite nice to be recognised and to say hello.

“Even so, if that happened all the time ... I’m having palpitations just thinking about that.

“It is great to be at that level now where we are successful, but you are not recognised in the street.”

Visit the band’s website on www.mogwai.co.uk.