KYLE FALCONER | THE VIEW | TRNSMT INTERVIEW

The View need absolutely no formal introduction in their native Scottish turf. Having formed back in 2005 the Dundee school pals had their debut album Hats off to the Buskers reach number 1 in the UK album charts in 2007. With featured single Same Jeans becoming somewhat of an unofficial Dundonian anthem, the band went on to become just as well known for their raucous behaviour as they did for their upbeat indie bangers.

The View never really went on to top the success of their debut album, however, they have continued to build a strong dedicated following across Scotland and beyond. Following a 5 year hiatus, The View announced a legendary comeback last year which saw them sell out four back to back dates at Glasgow’s O2 Academy. With hype for The View at a peak, the band declared that it was time for album number 6. Eight years since the last album, Ropewalk, 2023’s The Exorcism of Youth is to be released on August 18th. The lead singles Feels Like and Neon Lights have been positively received by fans and critics alike and sales for their upcoming tour have been solid.

However, fans feared the worst when back in May an onstage altercation within the band kicked off during a gig at Manchester’s Deaf Institute. The band quickly vacated the venue and social media went wild speculating what just happened. Brushed off as a “brotherly bust that went too far”, The View are now back in business and ready to make their biggest homecoming comeback this year yet at Scotland’s biggest music event of the year – TRNSMT festival.

We had the opportunity to chat with frontman and vocalist Kyle Falconer ahead of the anticipated main stage performance where we chat about TRNSMT, touch on the new album and what it’s like touring in a band when you’re all settled and stuff.

Thank you Kyle for taking some time to chat to me today for Northern Exposure.Is this your first time with The View playing TRNSMT?

No, we played the opening year back in 2017. I think it was the opening year but I played it twice on my own. The last time I played, a couple of years ago, it was a bit of a disaster. The first time was class but the second time it was (bad).  I went to a party the night before and I couldn’t get through the city centre because it was mobbed. I got in and it was good, but I don’t think anybody knew I was playing it. It was the other wee stage, the King Tuts. It was Luke La Volpe’s (slot) and I got slotted in last minute

Main Stage today though! How you feeling about that? Good to be back in front of a Scottish crowd that size again?

Good. It’s class like. I feel like the last time we done that was probably TRNSMT. Well, we did it at Neighbourhood (Neighbourhood Weekender Festival in Warrington) the other week which was class. We had a really nice time.

It keeps changing and I can’t keep up but the new album is out next month – is that right?

It’s out on the 18^th of August. (The delay is) because everybody else keeps releasing albums. Liam Gallagher now has an album out on the 11th.

How dare they? (laughing)

It’s not really, it’s because the record label are incompetent (said with a hint of sarcasm) Nah it’s because of a lot of other stuff.

What I’ve heard so far of the new album is great and I’m really enjoying it. Some of the songs first took me by surprise, it feels a lot more experimental with a lot of different sounds going on there. What was the direction taken with this album?

I think when you’re younger you kinda just say whats on your mind. Like ‘Mum I want a sweet’ or ‘Mum I done a poo’. We were pressured to write songs. Now we’ve got time to reflect as a writer. It’s gotta be PC – you can’t say certain stuff. Even things that we said over the years, you can’t say anymore. Even now, everything is so dissected. When you’re sat with the producer and they say ‘you’re old and you’ve been through shit’ – but should I be saying this? So basically there’s more focus on the music rather than just the melody. That (impulsivity) kind of gets taken away from it but when you do it you become this other spirit. You become someone else because you’re not focusing on one side. I feel that with whatever record you do and whatever is happening at that time is happening so you just go with the flow.

Obviously you did the comeback shows last year which went really well, but how did you get to this point that you were recording a new album?

I think we’ve been trying to do it for years, but it was never the right time. Every time I finish a record I’m like, it’s more important to do this or that but what am I doing now? Then I thought, maybe it’s time for a View album. Even a couple of years before that we were thinking about doing a View album. Everybody was happy to meet up. It’s a bit weird because we never fell out but it was weird getting back. But we done it.

Things have definitely changed for you touring now that you have a family. Do they get involved?

So tomorrow I’m bringing them (his children) to the gig. Wilde (daughter) was at TRNSMT a couple of years ago though. You’re not allowed but I took her anyway and it was class. But my plan was to home school and take them on tour like Paul McCartney did. After reading his book when I was younger I was like, that’s going to me with my kids.

It’s not quite as easy as that, is it?

Yeah, he (Paul) was like ‘we never employed a nanny’ – but what were you doing when you were soundchecking? You and Linda? Somebody is running after them. But that is my plan – to take them on tour as much as I can because it’s cool. They are coming to the gig tomorrow supporting the Kaiser Chiefs in London.

You’ve kept yourself busy though? A couple of albums out (No Thank You 2018, No Love Songs for Laura 2021), The Camp (La Sierra Casa) and even a musical (No Love Songs 2023)

The musical starts at The Fringe (Edinburgh festival) in a couple of weeks but it’s kicking off. These guys are filming it (motions towards film crew in the room). Everythings good, all systems go. I’m away to Disneyland in a couple of days. After tonight we’re leaving tomorrow morning to go to London – I’m driving to London. John’s (Tour Manager) freaking out is like ‘It’s 8 – 10 hours to London’ It’s not, not from Dumfries it’s not, it’s fucking 6 hours, chill out. He’s making sure we leave at 6 in the morning but there’s no way I’m leaving at 6 in the morning after TRNSMT.

What can we expect from the set today?

We were looking through the set list and we’re only allowed 45 minutes to play, it’s quite a tough asking. Do we get rid of songs? We can’t do that. The management is like ‘Play new songs’ but why? Nobody is gonna know them and just go to the bar. We need to capture our audience. We’ve not played this kinda thing in this part Scotland for ages so lets just hit them with the bangers. Once the albums a hit and goes to number one then we’ll come back and play them.

Have you played the new songs live yet? How have they went down?

We’ve only played one live and it goes down well. But you need to go on tour for an extensive amount of time to learn the songs. When they’re recorded they’re not the same songs as you play them live. When you’re in the studio everything’s articulate and we’re all in harmony but then you play it live and it’s – (Kyle makes an incoherent noise) – all out the window and there’s like no bpm and it goes through the roof. There’s no point right now. I think when we’re going out on tour in November we’ll get it together.

Have you got Scottish dates booked in yet?

Yeah, they’ll be getting announced after we’re playing. (Dates now announced)

Favourite song from the new album?

I don’t know. I quite like them all. There’s one song called Woman of The Year – that’s pretty good. But I like them all. There’s a song called Pickers (sic) which was supposed to be on the album. I wrote that with my daughter but it never made the cut. It’s on the Japanese version though.

Finally, let’s play Fuck, Marry, Kill – TRNSMT Edition. You can pick one artist you would watch from the crowd, one which you would collab with and one you wouldn’t mind missing? So there’s Pulp, Sam Fender…?

Is Sam Fender playing tonight?

No tomorrow sorry

Aww I love him. Gutted. But I would love to work with Paul Heaton. Watch from the crowd? Who’s playing again?

Pulp, George Ezra, You!

I’d love to watch The View from the crowd! That would be an out of body experience. Without drugs! And one I’m not go to see is…no one! Because everybody deserves what they get.

There’s a lot to be said about this Dundee band but one thing is that you can’t fault them for their style and incredibly infectious stage energy. Going on to watch The View perform this afternoon there’s no sign of conflict. They pull off a strong set list of back to back ‘bangers’ which inevitably draws in the biggest crowd of the day yet.

Exorcism of Youth is due for release August 18th (pre-order here) and kick off their UK tour in November (tickets here.)

Author