INTERVIEW: PICTISH TRAIL

Hellloooooo Johnny, if you wouldn't mind, can you introduce me to Pictish Trail...
Hellooo Mr Wasp. Pictish Trail is a mouthwatering multimedia explosion, a groovy new concept in sound dynamism, an urban pastoral nightmare experience crying to be believed. With crap hair. In Fife. Next question.
And the name; Pictish Trail - How did you come up with that?
I didn’t. My friend Harry did. We lived together for a number of beautiful months. He affectionately tagged me with the name ‘Pict’, on account of my diminutive stature, be-stubbled jowl and penchant for eating meat from a bone. I called him ‘ginger posh twat’.

For anyone who doesn't know you run the Fence Records label with the equally wonderful musician, King Creosote, this as well as touring your sound for most of the year and making new music. Where do you find the time my man?
Uuhhmmm ... well, I think it’s just important to be busy. I think it’s more important to be busy than to do something well. Quantity over quality - that’s me. Quality is very overrated. If you do something badly, then it’s important to follow it up with something else quickly. If the follow up is a success, then the bad stuff is forgotten about. If the follow up is bad, people just think you’re being consistent. I’ll go with consistency over progress every time.
Can I remind you of the gold one-piece you wore in the "Winter Home Disco" video... and then ask if there are any regrets looking back?
My only regret is not pushing it in Kanye West’s direction. I think that video is WELL better than Beyonce’s ‘Single Ladies’, let alone Taylor Swift’s. Seriously.

Actually, I really regret not washing the ‘one-piece’ before I put it on. I had worn it, two weeks before the video was shot, at a Fence Hallowe’en party (it was a pirate theme, and I went as ‘treasure’). I didn’t know how to wash it, so I just put it back on ... and all my Hallowe’en sweat was still on it. I had to spend the entire day in that gold costume, outside in the freezing sea-breeze of November. Which fortunately meant the costume was less revealing than it could have been. Have you seen that new Joss Stone one, where she plays a bride, a perverted police officer, and a Nazi soldier? Now THAT’s a video.
You have recently returned from touring in Europe with Malcolm Middleton (so I've heard), how did it go? And has a particular show or Festival that you've played in 2009 stood out for you... thanks for the memories n'all that.
Europe was really fun, and Malcolm and his band were braw. But it wasn’t really a sight seeing tour. It was a full month of gigs, a show every day, with 8-10 hour drives between locations, and I was doing two sets a night.

Here’s a typical day. You’d get up, get in the van, stick on your iPod, look out the window or try and sleeeeeeeep, get to the venue, load everything in, set the gear up, soundcheck the band, soundcheck yourself, quick bit of food, neck a few beers, do your set, neck another beer, get back on stage for a couple hours, run off stage immediately afterwards to sell merchandise, neck another beer, pack up all the equipment, load into the van, drive to hotel, then drink a beer slowly whilst watching seedy adverts for Euro-chat-n-date phone lines.
It was luxury compared to the American tour I did with Viking Moses, Golden Ghost & Rozi Plain - which was pretty much exactly the same, except we didn’t have hotels. We slept on the hairy carpets of acne-ridden undergrads, with barely a clean towel between the 6 of us travelling. Touring isn’t about being pampered, though. It’s about having a laugh with friends.
And drinking. Drinking to forget, and drinking to sleep.
I first saw you play live at Homegame this year, which for a few hundred attendees is a fabulously kept secret. What is Homegame all about, and how did you find the fest went this year?
Homegame is Fence Records’ annual bash - a “sort-of” festival, held in our home-town of Anstruther. Anstruther is an ex-fishing village, on the east coast of Fife. We use all the wee halls in the town - some of which can hold 300 people, some of which can hold 30 people - and put on music from acts on our label, and people we’ve met on our travels. It takes place over three days, with a batch of different gigs all going on at the same time.
It’s kind of turned into a report card / parents night deal - where the audience comes to check on our progress every year. Some of the acts have to be held back a year.
This year was our biggest one yet. We sold over 600 tickets, bringing 900+ into the town. So, on the scale of things, it’s not really a festival ... but it’s a small village, and that influx of people really changes Anstruther. It makes it more like Swansea.

I trust there will be a Homegame next year? And if so, is there an artist or band you would very much like to see play?
Yep, there’ll be a Homegame in 2010. Tickets are gonna go on sale before the end of the year, all going to plan. I think we’re going to do it a bit smaller again, just so it’s easier to manage. And so I don’t get to miss so much of the music. I hate that. I book all the acts, and end up only seeing about a third of ‘em. We’ve already got a few acts lined up that are bigger than we’ve ever had before. But I can’t announce them yet. We want to sell all the tickets without announcing anyone, this time. So, ner.

When can we expect the follow-up to your well received debut, Secret Soundz?
Earlier this year I finished recording a new album under a different name - and that’s going to come out next year, under a different label. I’ll have different hair, too.
I’ve started work on the next proper Pictish Trail album ... but I’m not really in any hurry. I’ll probably wait until Spotify bites the dust before I bring it out. Trying to make a living out of selling albums in a climate when folk don’t want to buy albums is difficult.
And do you see your music taking a new direction the second time around?
The idea I’ve had for ‘Vol.2’ is to try and recreate ‘Vol.1’ track-for-track, but with different songs. No, I’m not really sure what that means either.
Now PT, the list of Fence Artists is lengthy, choc-a-bloc with fine folk like James Yorkston, FOUND, Rozi Plain, and H.M.S Ginafore to name a few... but if you could invite one act today to join the family, who would you chooooooose from all those young starts out there?
I don’t know. I’d like to do something different. The comedian Josie Long came up to our Hallowe’en party this year, and did a set - and it was really really funny ... but it was also exciting. Comedy and music don’t always work together - but this compleeetely did, and the atmosphere in the room was great. It’d be fun to work some ideas with that. But I’m too shy to ask. I’d really love to put out a Vic Reeves album. Just him telling stories, and playing some sweet sweet bass guitar to some Pictish Trail muzak. F**k it. I just want to be Josie Long & Vic Reeves’ pal.

Pictish Trail. I hate to break it to you.... but one day, hopefully far far away from now... you will die. Sad times. The question is what song will they play at your Funeral?
Wow. I think the Conga would be good.
Good times, and lastly, I have a guitar PT. It sits in my room. Has it ever been played, well, no. Alas, I cannot play, wouldn't know where to start, I'm afraid I do not have the patience. But I really want to play. And play well. Because I write songs and sing but... nevermind. How do you recommend I get past this hurdle (that I have created for myself)?
Buy a keyboard. I can’t play guitar either. Not properly. Just hold a guitar and smile. Tell a few jokes. Drink lots. That’s all the advice I can give, I’m afraid.

Lastly lastly, what's in store for Pictish Trail in 2010?
I did a jingle for the new CITV channel - which is currently on between all the kids programmes. I’m hoping to do more of that. It pays well, and it's fun.
In 2010 there’ll be new music, new gigs. And a new hairstyle. And probably some sort of paedo scandal.

Thanks Johnny!

Pictish Trail sings 'Words Fail Me Now' on Marc Riley's BBC 6Music show - with The Earlies and King Creosote as his backing band.

B/W Photography by Calum Casino