The Stagger Rats Interview: "We've learned the limits of our livers and minds"

Edinburgh 5-piece The Stagger Rats share some lessons in life, festivals, and Hungarian ahead of their Wickerman appearance next month.

Jayne Robinson

Date published: 28th Jun 2011

Edinburgh 5-piece The Stagger Rats share some lessons in life, festivals, and Hungarian ahead of their Wickerman appearance next month.

Imagine learning the limits of your liver and mind? Sounds like a pretty hefty lesson; maybe even life-changing. After teaming up with producer Owen Morris, The Stagger Rats learnt many things including the art of time efficiency. They may not be pros, especially if they were busy learning the limits of their livers, but they’ve certainly grasped the basics.

Signed to Budapest label WP Ents, the Edinburgh 5-piece is putting the finishing touches on a 13- track debut recorded in the Hungarian capital. This is one rock ensemble that wears their hearts on their sleeves. They’re not too bothered about the visual aesthetic but are realistic in their approach. After turning down a bassist in his fifities, the band had to deal with the consequences. “He started giving us a hard time and saying 'it's not a fashion show', ” - and as much as The Stagger Rats agree they’re also aware of the unwritten rules. Ahead of their Wickerman show The Stagger Rats share their life lessons and then some.

Your impending debut was produced by Owen Morris, how did that collaboration come about?
Our manager Bob was hounding Owen to come and see the band for a while and he eventually came, like over a year later, and thought we had some potential, so he came to a couple of practises and we took it from there.

Does the album have a name as yet?
So far we haven't agreed on an album name yet, there are a few options floating around but nothing is concrete at all yet.

What’s one thing you learnt while working with Owen Morris?
We've learned the limits of our livers and minds, and not to push the limits of either one. We also to be much more professional as musicians, both in the studio and on stage. We've learned that you have a time frame in which to carry out tasks and you do it within that time frame to the best of your ability.

What compelled you to start creating music and what’s compelled you to continue?
I think when you're younger you try out different things and abandon some while you stick with others, be it golf, knitting, drugs, horse riding or in our case, music and I think we stuck with it initially because we seemed to be doing okay with it and enjoying it. Now I think we're sticking with it because we have no imagination to do anything else and no transferable skills with which to succeed in a different industry.

You’re signed to Budapest record label WP Ents. Did the Internet play a large role in promoting your music?
I think nowadays the Internet has to play a large role in every band's promotion, you can't live without it these days and it certainly is an effective way to get your name out there but having said that, there will always be a place in music for all the other more traditional methods because people will always go outside.

You spent two months in Budapest recording the album. Aside from the language difference how greatly did it differ from your home-town of Edinburgh? Did the location have a big impact on the sound of the album?
There are a few similarities although the water of Leith is not quite as notable as the Danube. Both Edinburgh and Budapest are very picturesque cities and very rich in culture. Though I don't think that Budapest made any difference to the sound of the album because all the songs were written long before we even considered going to Hungary.

Did you learn any words in Hungarian? If so, teach us one.
We learned a few, but the only one I know how to spell is tej, which is milk. The noun, not the verb. We didn't have to say the word milk as a verb when we were there. No need.

Describe the writing process. Was it a shared one?
Well it differs from song to song really. Sometimes Callum writes a song and brings it to the group to complete or sometimes I will, or sometimes Craig will come to me with a riff and we'll build the song together from that. Sometimes the idea begins with a riff or a poem or even a drumbeat.

How important is visual aesthetic to the band?
I'm not sure how important it is, like if Kai was maimed in an acid attack, we wouldn't throw him out of the band. But then again, you do have to think about how you are being perceived when you're on stage in front of people all the time. One time a guy emailed us asking to be our bassist but we turned him down because he was in his fifties, and he started giving us a hard time and saying 'it's not a fashion show' and stuff like that, and he's right, it's not a fashion show but at the same time, how you look is important. It shouldn't be, but it is.

Festival season is underway. What’s one thing you learnt from summer 2010?
At festivals? Well we learned that using a corner of your tent as a toilet is counter productive but we probably should've known that anyway and we learned that frisbees aren't cool and neither are flip-flops on men unless you're next to a pool or possibly a lake.

Interview by: Jasmine Phull
Twitter.com/j_fool

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