Middle Boop interviews Errors

There has always been a steady flow of amazing music coming from Scotland and now it feels more so than ever. Middle Boop caught up with three bands who have been flying the flag recently for their country, Errors, Twilight Sad and We Were Promised Jetpacks, all of which have been producing some of the most original and interesting music around at the moment to talk about how Scotland has influenced them and their music. This week we talk to guitarist Greg Paterson and Drummer James Hamilton from Errors about growing up in Scotland, their influences and the art scene in Glasgow

MB: What bands have you been into recently from back home?

James : There are a lot of cool bands at the moment, there is a big scene with bands like Frightened Rabbit, We Were Promised Jetpacks and Twilight Sad who are all in a league of their own.
Greg : There are a lot of bands who are still underground from when we were growing up, bands like The Ballad of Mable Wong, kind of jazz post rock stuff who I’ve been really into.

James : Actually one of the main bands I’ve been into for some time now is Titus Gein, so metal it’s unbelievable. Also Remember Remember, I’m not biased even though I played drums on their album...

MB : How would you say the Scottish music scene has changed over the last few years?

James: There are a lot more venues now than there were, it’s almost anywhere that has a space and a bar. This isn’t necessarily a good thing as lots of them are ‘pay to play.’ It’s been ever since Franz Ferdinand got big people have been saying things like ‘Glasgow is the new Seattle,’ which also seems to encourage more bands to play.

Greg : There is a huge DIY element to it. There is definitely a backlash against the whole maximum production thing. There is also a DIY element to the gigs, bands will turn up and sell their own tickets, things like that.

MB : When growing up, were you influenced by any Scottish bands? Or was it mainly bands from other countries?

Greg : I was a big Grunge fan back in the day, anything by Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, that sort of thing.
There were a few underground Scottish bands who kind of stayed underground, then obviously people like Mogwai who have gone on and had a pretty decent career, at least I’m sure they’ll say they have.

MB : What do you think to the Scottish arts and music scene compared to other countries?

Greg : There is a great scene that has opened up the last few years or so, if you look beneath the surface there are a lot of DIY galleries and boutiques which have some awesome things going on. A friend of mine just started a night where they do life drawings but in a pub, so you get these people who come in for a beer and end up doing life drawing. Things like this are pretty cool.

MB : Finally, is Errors something you have always wanted to do?

James : It’s something we’ve always been into, the music and stuff, we all got into it around uni which was kind of the wrong time as we were busy with other things but we all really hope to do it for as long as we can, we do it for the fun of it.