Interview | Euan McMeeken
Euan McMeeken is one of the hardest working musicians in Scotland, and that shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, given the amount of projects he has his hands on. As frontman of emotional indie-folk group The Kays Lavelle, he recently launched their debut album and will be on tour later this year. He runs mini50 records and is preparing to launch some very promising records by some of the most exciting prospects in music; as if all of that wasn’t enough, he’s about to debut as a solo artist, as well as a few other things.
Since keeping track of all his work might sometimes prove to be a hard task, it was a pleasure to ask him a few questions in order to get to know him and his work better.
Argos Barks: First of all, could you briefly introduce yourself to the Argos Barks readers?
Euan McMeeken:My name is Euan McMeeken and I am the lead singer and piano player in a Scottish band called The Kays Lavelle from Edinburgh. On top of this, I write a blog called The Steinberg Principle, run a music promotion night in Edinburgh called Trampoline and run a record label, with my friend and band mate Russell Kostulin, called mini50 records.
AB: It’s hardly a secret how much I have enjoyed what you have done with The Kays Lavelle - how did it all start, and what made you move to Edinburgh rather than another city?
EM: Well, my friend David and I started writing music together when we were about 16 but we never really took it further than playing in our living rooms until we moved to Edinburgh. At this point our old school friend Graeme joined the band on guitar. We started doing shows as a 3 piece, gradually added members and started working on our first ep, which was released in 2006. The line up changed greatly from the point of that release, with the current line up having been together for less than a year. For the first time though it feels settled and feels right. The new material I’ve been working on will be the first batch of songs we’ve worked on as a group, so it will be interesting to see how it develops and should hopefully be a different beast from the debut record.
In terms of why Edinburgh – that was purely circumstance. We could have ended up anywhere to be honest, it just so happens it was Edinburgh.
AB: What was the first reaction to the release of debut album Be Still This Gentle Morning?
EM: I think for the most part it’s been fairly positive, if a little slow. We have had some great reviews and a few average ones. I think, so far, we’ve found it hard to get the album to the right market/audience. I’ve also not been able to play shows either of late, which is where a lot of records sell and people find you, so it’s been tough getting it out there. In addition, we’re all a bit inexperienced when it comes to releasing an album having never done it before, so it’s a learning curve. I hope that it’s a slow burner and it starts to gather pace soon, but that will depend on us getting a few breaks here and there along the way. It doesn’t matter how good you are, I think you need a little bit of luck in life to be successful at anything. So fingers crossed.
AB: Later this year you will be touring with the Kays - could that be the little push the band needs to be better known?
EM: I hope the tour helps get us some recognition and helps us sell a few records along the way. Word of mouth is a good way for things to take off, but it’s hard to get people to part with their cash and buy records these days. Still, hopefully the tour will open us to a wider market and help get our name out there a bit more.
AB: The Kays easily feature some of the hardest working musicians in Scotland, half the band being involved in endless side projects. What can you tell us about them?
EM: Well, Chris our drummer is a solo artist called Esperi who has an album coming out this year. He works extremely hard on his solo stuff, playing a lot of shows, so he should be easy to catch live sometime, especially if you live in Scotland. His stuff is very quiet and folky in nature.
Chris was also involved in a band called The A Forest from Dundee, along with our bassist Michael. Although they are unlikely to play shows or record any more music they have just released a free download single entitled Polar White taken from their album to be released sometime this year.
Russell our violin/viola player is a solo artist called Mammoeth who has produced a brilliant album of sickly sweet sour pop to be released on mini50 on 26th July this year. His record just got 3 out of 5 in Uncut magazine and I’d highly recommend that people check it out.
Chris our guitarist also plays in Little Doses the band of former Snow Patrol bass player Mark McClelland. I think they are working on a record at the moment, though I don’t know what stage that is at.
Other than that, it’s just my projects really…
AB: Soon we will also see you debut as a solo artist with your debut album titled Memorials - why go solo?
EM: Well, it’s not really an album. It’s a 3 track EP with a couple of short piano interludes in between. I think the reason I decided to do it was that I had a couple of tunes which were not really Kays tunes but I wanted to put out there anyway. It’s been fun working on things on my own, but I cannot wait to get back to working as a band. There’s something really rewarding working with other people.
AB: What can we expect from the album?
EM: Personally, I think the EP is a lot darker in content and tone than the Kays. It’s more stripped back and minimal too.
AB: And after that, what will your next project be?
EM: Well I have a couple of other projects on the go at the moment. The first is a long running project with my friend Heidi Kuisma, who is a very talented photographer and part of the duo who run We Sink Ships. The project is basically a combination of music and photography where I have tried to convey the feelings and emotions I had about sets of photographs Heidi took. There are 4 sets of photographs and therefore 4 pieces of music to accompany them. The project is called ‘Lost Again On Waking’ and details of it can be found at http://lostagainonwaking.blogspot.com
The other project I’m working on is with Chantal Acda, better known as Sleepingdog. We’ve formed a little duo, called ourselves Nine Threads and started working on songs together. It kind of stemmed out of a conversation that we had about our mutual love for dEUS and Sparklehorse and will hopefully result in an EP or mini album at somepoint. We have a few songs so far. In the meantime I’d highly recommend that people check out her work.
AB:What would you say is the current state of Edinburgh’s so called scene?
EM: There are a lot of great bands coming out of Edinburgh at the moment, but I think that’s true of Scotland in general. Personally, I don’t like splitting the country up into cities and scenes to be perfectly honest. I’m definitely part of the Edinburgh music community but I would not say that the Kays are particularly well supported by others in the “scene” and may well be more popular in Glasgow than through here. So it can be a frustrating place to exist, whilst at the same time a lovely place to live.
AB: And of the music industry in general?
EM: I’m not sure I have strong views on the music industry in general. I fucking hate N-Dubz though if that counts?
AB: Speaking of the music industry, one of your many projects is running record label mini50. What’s the main philosophy behind the label?
EM: The only reason we started the label was to help artists we loved release their music. That included our own music to begin with but ultimately we want to work with lots of people who inspire us, and help them get heard.
AB: Do you think there is a chance of survival for small, DIY indie labels like Gerry Loves Records or yourself in today’s music industry?
EM: Well, we didn’t get into it to make money that’s for sure. I don’t know about other labels, but I think Song By Toad is a perfect example of how you can survive if the right band comes along. Meursault have been a god send to Matthew and maybe we will get lucky with one of our artists. Ultimately, provided it’s not going to bankrupt us, we’ll keep doing what we’re doing so far and hopefully get better at it as we go.
AB: What can we look forward to from mini50 records?
EM: At the moment we only have 2 releases planned for 2010. We have Mammoeth’s debut album ‘Nascent’ which is out on 26th July and just received a rather good review in Uncut magazine. Later this year we have the debut record from Conquering Animal Sound who, in my opinion, are the most interesting and exciting act in Scotland at the moment. We’re taking baby steps at the moment, but we’re talking to other artists about potential releases. We’ll see what happens and how the first 2 releases go though first of all.
I should mention that the CAS record is a split release with Gizeh Record from Leeds. It’s been great because Rich, who runs Gizeh, has so much experience and we’ve been learning a hell of a lot from him along the way.
AB: Even thought they may not be signed to your label, who do you think are the best Scottish signed bands of the moment?
EM: Well, for me personally the best Scottish bands at the moment are Meursault, The Unwinding Hours, Conquering Animal Sound, The Scottish Enlightenment, eagleowl and Withered Hand.
AB: And who are the best of the unsigned?
EM: That depends on what you mean by unsigned? Technically The Kays are not signed and I know a lot of bands like that – have labels but not really signed.
AB: If you could sign any artist to mini50, dead or alive, who would it be?
EM: Tom Waits. Wilco. Sparklehorse. The National.
AB: What are you listening to right now?
EM: Right now I’m listening to the new Broken Social Scene record. Over the past month or so it’s been mainly new records by The National, Olafur Arnalds and Goldmund. I am desperately trying to get my head around Joanna Newsom’s new record as well. And I have fallen head over heels for Aereogramme’s record ‘Sleep and Release’ this week.
Thanks a lot to Euan McMeeken for taking the time to answer these questions!
The Kays Lavelle
TheSteinbergPrinciple
mini50 Records
