An Interview With The Indie Scottish Rock Trio, FATHERSON!

The indie rock band Fatherson is back with a brand new record!

The Scottish trio will be releasing Sum Of All Your Parts on September 14th! They have already released two songs and videos from the collection; “Making Waves” and “Charm School.” The album was produced by Claudius Mittendorfer, whose previous credits include Weezer, Interpol, Franz Ferdinand, and more.

Fatherson have established themselves as a potent force, having sold out Glasgow’s Barrowlands as well as London’s Scala on their previous run of dates. Together with blistering shows and a rabid fanbase, Fatherson operate in a distinctly Scottish plane of sentimentally – it is no coincidence they have previously toured with the likes of Frightened Rabbit, Biffy Clyro and Idlewild.

“Making Waves” is indicative of what to expect from the next Fatherson LP. According to Ross Leighton (guitar/vocals), the song “defined how the album would sound” as well as being a “heart on your sleeve slacker tune with a tonne of groove.” The single does mark a change of direction for the band – the rousing and anthemic choruses remain but there is a newfound edge.

Connect With Fatherson Here:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/fathersonband
Twitter: www.twitter.com/fathersonband
Instagram: www.instagram.com/fatherson

Learn more about Fatherson in the following All Access interview here:

Thanks for your time! What is on tap for the rest of your day?

Hey hey! Today is a little stormy so I think I’ll just take it easy for the rest of day and make a ramen or something!

All Access Music is currently compiling a list of our artists favorite songs this summer so what is YOUR song of the summer?

Oooh good question! I think it’s tied up between Oso Oso – reindeer games and the new 1975 tune – Love It If We Made It. They have both been stuck in my head since I heard them.

How has 2018 been treating you all? What is one musical goal that you have had for this year?

Yeah it’s been excellent – a real game of two halves. The start of the year was spent locked up in a studio recording our new album. I think that getting to record an album totally live is something that we have all dreamed about since we started this band but were never brave enough to do! This second half of this year has/ is going to revolve around touring as much as we can and take our new record to as many people as possible

Can you recall the moment when you thought you could be in this group together? Has anything surprised you about this ride so far?

I can actually! We started this band when we were 13 years old – I remember speaking to Marc about finding something to do because none of us were any good at football which was the main pass time at our school. At the time it was really just an excuse to go skateboard and make a lot of noise at each others houses but it was always such good fun! I think that’s what I still love about it the most, just getting to make music with my two best pals. I still love doing it as much as I did back in the music room at school like 12 years ago.

How do you think your hometown has influenced the sound and how you all carry yourselves in this group?

I think that growing up in a small town outside of Glasgow definitely shaped the sound of our band. The local scene was very bustling and supporting of all the bands that comprised it, which was a really great place to start out. I still remember a lot of our first shows as some of the most raucous we’ve ever done so that shaped our early sound for sure. The big lights of Glasgow were never far away and it was always a goal of ours to move up there one day and see if we could make a mark on the scene up there as well.

Later this month, you will be releasing your album, “Sum Of All Your Parts.” Can you talk about what it was like making this collection? Did anything surprise you about the overall process?

After finishing the last album touring cycle we were all super motivated and inspired to start working on another album as soon as we could. We were lucky enough to be able to rent a small studio studio space for ourselves to work full time on writing SOAYP. For 9 months we spent all day writing and recording as much music as we possibly could. it was a really freeing time where we could write and record whatever we wanted without anyone needing to hear it or pass judgement on what we made. What surprised me most about the whole process was that the most simple 3 piece style songs were the ones that made it onto the record. I think that we learned on this album that you can have all the fancy studio equipment you want but if the song doesn’t sound good played live in a room then it probably won’t sound much better with a full “bells and whistles” production over the top of it.

What was it like working with your producer Claudius Mittendorfer on it?

It was a total dream. In my experience it’s a very rare thing to click with someone as quickly as we did with Claud, he just got what we wanted to with the record. We knew we had to make the record with him as soon as we finished our first phone call with him. It was also really refreshing to have the same person produce, record and mix the album – it created a really consistent vision of what we were all trying to create. I really don’t think that this album would have been the same without him.

Do you remember what it felt like the first time you heard the whole album from beginning to end? How will you celebrate the official release of it on September 14th?

I remember sitting down with the rest of the boys and Claudius on the final day in the recording studio where we tracked most of the record and listening through to it in silence and just feeling dead proud and a little emotional. It had been a hell of a lot of work to get to that stage and it was still our little secret, no one else outside of the 4 of us had heard it yet and that’s quite a special feeling! I’m SOOOO excited for everyone to hear it on the 14th, I imagine we will all be together and probably celebrate over a little dram or two of whisky with Ross and Marc and some close friends and family!

How did you go about writing the songs on this album? Do you all work on them together or separately first and then together? How did the track “Making Waves” become a part of this collection?

As I said, we spent a long time in the studio working on music as a collective – Ross usually came to Marc and myself with the basis of a song and we would work on the production together until we had a song that we were all happy with. Making Waves was actually one of the first songs we wrote for this album. it was written live in the room and only took us about 20 minutes or so to finish! It’s just got that laid back slacker feel that could only ever come from playing together in a room.

Where do you think you are all happiest- in the studio recording new music, on stage performing or elsewhere?

The heart will always long for what it doesn’t have. During the ‘Open Book’ tour we were so excited to get home to start working on new music. Now that we have finished writing the record we are so ready to be back out on the road playing shows again. For us I think that both inform each other in ways you might not expect- SOAYP wouldn’t exist without all of the touring we had done before writing it and I think the music is all the better for it.

Do you have any upcoming tour dates this summer or into the fall that you would like to tell our readers about?

We’re heading out on tour in the UK & Europe in October and November, then hopefully heading over to the US in 2019. All our dates can be found over on our website – fathersonband.com/live

How do you think being musicians and in this band gives you all the most joy in life today? What would you say is the most challenging part about it?

I think the biggest joy of music is knowing that you mean something to someone you’ve never met before.

The hardest part about it is that the lifestyle can take a real toll on the people you surround yourself with who you care about.

We are currently living through a very trying and politically charged time right now so I am curious to know how your own music is reflecting this time period? If you don’t think it is, why is that? Would you say that other musicians are making music that has been influenced by this climate?

It is certainly an interesting time to be alive. People are more polarized politically than they have ever been. For us, politics and world views don’t cross over too heavily into our music – I guess overarching ideas of respect and decency do but we have never directly writing a song about a political event. Having said that, we all really love artists who do write about those issues, some of our favorite bands are heavily influenced by current affairs and have written really really poignant lyrics about issues that affect everyone.

If you guys were all going to be stranded on a deserted island, what musical item would you want to take with you and why?

Does taking my laptop with Spotify count? Because I’d totally offline loads of music and just listen to that.

What do you hope is the message of your music? What do you hope people continue to take away from your songs?

When listening to “Sum of All Your Parts” I really feel like the message is about speaking your mind. Treading on eggshells around situations can only ever get you so far. Don’t be afraid to speak your mind if you think you are right about something, and if you turn out to be wrong then don’t be too arrogant to admit it. To me the record is about not being afraid to stand up and be counted when you think it matters.

(Photography provided by Big Picture Media)