Teenage Fanclub return with Leeds date

After a gap of six years one time indie music darlings Teenage Fanclub have released a new album and are preparing to go back out on the road.
Teenage Fanclub, back out on tour and heading for Leeds.Teenage Fanclub, back out on tour and heading for Leeds.
Teenage Fanclub, back out on tour and heading for Leeds.

‘Here’ came out this week and sees the Scottish band looking to enhance their national treasure status.

It captures a band entirely confident in their own craft - the consolidation of nearly three decades of great songwriting and almost telepathic musicianship.

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Recorded with the band’s soundman David Henderson alongside regular drummer Francis Macdonald and keyboard player Dave McGowan in three distinctly different environments (initially at Vega in rural Provence, then at Raymond’s home in Glasgow before mixing at Clouds Hill in the industrial heart of Hamburg), it’s a record that embraces maturity and experience and hugs them close.

Band member Raymond McGinley said: “We’ve been working together for a long time; we’ve probably used most of the studios in the UK over the years.

“We’re conscious of not repeating experiences that we’ve had before.

“For us, it’s about trying to get something new out of each place we go. If you’re always trying to make something original; it makes sense to go on a journey – a physical one – to try to make the record feel different.”

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Teenage Fanclub released five albums in their first six years together so what has taken them so long this time?

Founder member Gerard Love said: “I find that as you get older, everything expands. When you start out, the nucleus of the band is so tightly bound, you’re living in each other’s pockets. Later on, you move away from each other and then everything around you – distance and time – just expands. Life gets in the way.”

Fellow original Fanclub man Norman Blake added: “Shadows came after a five-year gap; this one is coming after a six-year gap. Getting back together to work, even after all these years, does feel a lot like coming home.

“Thinking about it now, we really should get together a bit more often.”

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Teenage Fanclub members will be seeing more of each other on a tour that began in Bristol last week and will bring them to Leeds at the University on Sunday, November 20. They are also playing Sheffield’s Leadmill on Thursday, November 17.