With accents as Scottish and throaty as deep fried Buckfast, coated in tarmac, it’s sometimes hard to keep up with what The View are saying. “Getus apashfroomool” is translated as a request for ‘passion fruit mules’ – tonight’s two for one cocktail offer at The Deaf Institute where they are set to play in a couple of hours.
Maybe fortuitously, front man Kyle doesn’t join in the session till after the gig - on a couple of occasions he’s been a little ‘overly refreshed’ come stage time their live sets can at times be shambolic but are always well recieved and highly charged.
“We’re playing seventy per cent new songs on these dates – we’ve been writing our third album and it’s a chance to see what people think” Bassist Kieren Webster tells us, “The gigs are all pretty low key and we’re checking out what the fans like”. Manchester’s Deaf Institute is the perfect venue for their style of gig - the constantly rocking amps threaten to take out the first couple of rows and the fact that the boys are in the bar beforehand having a drink says a lot about them too. Hewn from the same material as The Libertines and with a scallywag nature that keeps them close to their fans – it was a chance meeting with Peter Doherty, when they thrust a CD into his hands that got The View their first proper gig and while Pete’s boat has sailed a ramshackle course for Albion, wherever that may be, the View’s trajectory has been steadier and a lot less treacherous.
Their natural home is on the road – we’ve seen them play everything from a 4am gig in a greasy spoon caff to early evening slot at The Isle of Wight festival where they were joined by fellow Caledonian, Paolo Nutini for their collaboration ‘Covers,’ and it’s the best place to see where they are at.
The gig is a blistering paced one hour that only leaves seconds between songs, seconds that Kyle fills with what might as well be a foreign language. Particular words like ‘new’ and ’song’ can be picked out but unless you’re from Dryburgh it’s as hard to fathom as an episode of Lost - the new songs are the sort of thing that will be sung right back at the band all Summer at festivals, choruses that accompany a night out with mates that end in unseemly behavior.
They open with debut single ‘Wasted Little DJs’ and it’s a case of hitting the ground running. The familiar cries of “The View are on Fire” doesn’t surface until three songs in. Kieren reckons “we know that’s when the crowd are really enjoying it and I was wondering if it was going to start – we tore through the first few songs so we didn’t really give them a chance. It’s really cool to hear it though”
There’s no room for biggest hit ‘Same Jeans’ but ‘Tragic Magic’ and ‘Happy’ seem to be adequate replacements with the dedicated fans who got the tickets in the 10 minutes it took for them to sell out.
“I had a bit of a scuffle with someone from another band in Ireland last night” says Pete showing off a small cut just below his eye. We reckon it’s a firm case of ‘you should’ve seen the other guy’ but we’re not ones for idle gossip so we’ll keep it to ourselves who it was. Towards the end of the set we’re treated to ‘Superstar Trademen’ that still best sums up the band. While those around them have “a new guitar….that’s never been played before. And it never will” – these five (the original four members plus old schoolfriend Rennie on keyboards and backing vocals) are out there and doing it – while some people are knocking out a guitar solo, this lot have run through three songs and are already in the bar.
Their debut ‘Hats Off to The Busker’ was a number one smash containing 5 hit singles and the follow up ‘Which Bitch?’ got critical acclaim but failed to light up the charts as much – the Summer and the festivals will show where’s next for one of the bands closest to our hearts but we reckon it’s full steam ahead for more emotionally charged 3 minute gems for Scotland’s finest.
Three more “pashfroomools” bartender!
Words by Alex, XOX Magazine / Same Teens
i saw these chiefs after their first record came out and they were pissed as farts. crap gig, but they have it in them to be great