No reply when I ring Kyle Falconer’s phone, which gives me another chance to listen to his first single as a solo artist, Poor Me. Very catchy with a sweeping riff and vocals that build and build. Custom-made to get the hands in the air at a music festival. Which is where we will see The View lead singer next. He is playing the King Tut’s stage at TRNSMT on Saturday 30th June.
I get a text saying “call back”. Kyle’s at home and we start talking about the new release. I wonder if there is still a nervous energy around the debut of a new track.
“Definitely. Particularly when I don’t have the rest of the band taking the hit with me. I recorded the album a year ago so I’ve been bugging my managers to get it out there. For the full year solid I’ve been saying “release it! Release it!” They’ve been saying we need to wait for the perfect time. Hopefully this is it.”
The album has been a long time coming, he further explains. “I’ve always wanted to do a solo album. As a songwriter, when I have a tune, it often gets changed to suit the band, the way it is played” he says enthusiastically, then drifts off.
Turns out he was fixing the volume on the television as his baby girl, Wylde Elizabeth Falconer, just over a year old, is with him.
“What was the question?” I was asking about the songwriting for the album.
“Me and Kieren write separately anyway, apart from the first album. Until it comes time to put the songs together. I’m constantly writing. Every time I finish one, it pushes another one out, I’ve got so many in me. If I’ve got an idea, I’ll not let it go.
“Poor Me for instance, the main riff [sings], I had that six years ago. Then I wrote the song in Thailand and I put that over it. I got an orchestra from Glasgow to play on it. It was class.”
Some of the songs on the new record have been lingering in the background for a while, others are new and based on a changed perspective.
“There’s a couple of the songs I wanted to write. We tried to play them as a band a few years back. They were turning into another View song. It was hard to get out of what we were doing. We have a formula that we stick to. I’m not even that sure what it is. There’s just a routine when we get a song together as The View.
The process was deliberately different for the solo record, No Thank You, which will be released on 27th July. “It was just me and the drummer in the studio. There wasn’t anyone there to interfere. I produced it all myself. It was the first time I’d done all of that. We just had an engineer with us, Charles Rees who does all of the Paul Weller and Ocean Colour Scene stuff… it was pretty cool.”
The record was recorded in Paul Weller’s studio. He used to pop in and see Kyle, get out some of his old guitars to add bits to songs. I’m not sure if that’s something you would ever get used to. “Well, I’ve met him a couple of times, but yeah, it’s still Paul Weller”.
Warming to the theme, Kyle explains his approach to being a solo artist. “When I sing with The View it’s like a collective thing. “We are the clever little clowns”… I’m singing, but we’re saying the lyrics as a group. With this, I’m making it more personal. Before, I wasn’t… I wasn’t really happy people knowing my business to be honest.”
“But in the last couple of years, it’s been splattered all over the papers. There’s no way to really avoid that. There’s been loads of times I’ve not really wanted to talk to the papers but then they say they’ll write something good. Then it gets completely twisted. So I just thought, fuck it, I’ll write it my own way.”
So, will the new record surprise fans? “Everyone says that. Every time you bring out an album, people say it’s really different. I actually think this one is though. I think the songs are more melodic.
Pic: Tess Parks
“There’s no time to fill it up with guitar riffs. It’s all quite empty. That’s why I brought in the strings for some of the tracks. I wanted to show people I could write a song without a big blasting guitar.
“It’s working out quite well. We had a big string section when I played the songs at The Hydro when I was supporting Liam Gallagher. I’ve got a good team. The band are pretty shit hot.”
Right now the live show sees Kyle Falconer backed by a band. “When I go out to America I might just play some of the songs acoustic, but for now it’s full band. I want to show people what’s on the record.”
Kyle has been testing the waters with live shows. “I’ve done spot shows and support gigs so far. I wanted to test things out. You need to hear the songs before you go see someone live so that’s why I want to get the songs out there.
“It’s great to get people to hear it. There’s only so many times I could sit with my pals and play it! They’ve heard it enough by now!”
Bringing the new songs to an audience is one of the things that Kyle is looking forward to. “I like to see people’s reactions. It used to get us in trouble because, with The View, if we had a record we’d take it to parties and play it then go back to the studio.
“Thing is though, I remember there was someone covering one of our songs in a local pub in Dundee six months before it was released. Someone had handed out a copy of the record. Half of the city knew all the words. This is before the internet and things like that. It was just people passing around a copy to pals.
“I’m not allowed to go around with a CD anymore.”
As TRNSMT approaches, it’s the biggest gig Kyle has faced on his own. How does he feel about it?
“The thing about a festival is, everyone’s happy to be there. They can go and see anyone they want, but they came to see you. They are in good spirits. Whether you are top of the bill or opening the stage, no-one’s going to give you shit. It’s good times, the sun’s out, and it’s kicking aff.
I’m looking forward to seeing the King Tut’s stage. It looks cool. It will mostly be a Glasgow crowd and they’ve always been very good to me.”
For some reason, I finish things by asking about Kyle’s hair, like a Smash Hits hack in the late nineties. It’s pretty impressive, though, so deserves a mention. Does he have any hair heroes?
Brief pause. “John Lennon. The versatility of it. Actually, I asked the hairdresser if I could get my hair like Paul McCartney in 1969 recently. She said I’d have to straighten it every day, so that was the end of that.”
You can see Kyle Falconer at TRNSMT on Saturday 30th June.
Read more about TRNSMT here.
