In anticipation of the Great Western Festival, a new multi-venue music and arts festival taking place across Glasgow’s West End on Saturday 23rd of November, The Evening Times will feature exclusive interviews from headliners and local acts who will take to the stage. First on, Sacred Paws...

“It’s such a random time to have a festival, but I like it” Rachel Aggs laughs. “I always associate festivals with summer, but there’s something nice about a wintery one.”

Rachel has just returned from a holiday in Marseilles where her partner is studying, and is still battling the sleepiness. It’s been a busy summer for Sacred Paws, who released their second album, Run Around the Sun, earlier this summer.

“We’ve just finished a tour around America, so for the first time this year we’re having a bit of a break” says Rachel. “The festival will be our first show since we’ve come back.”

I caught up with Rachel earlier this year, and she had just made the move to Glasgow from London. Their debut album, Strike A Match, was recorded whilst Rachel lived in South London and Eilidh lived here, in Glasgow. “I mean, it was always a bit silly, but we managed”, Rachel said. By the time that the Great Western comes around, Rachel will be celebrating her year’s anniversary of being a bona fide Glasgow resident.

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“It feels kinda effortless, in Glasgow. People can be really modest and self-deprecating but they still get loads done, somehow, and I think that’s really great.

“Also, I just think the way the music scene or community works is really unique in that you just bump into people, be it a member of Belle & Sébastien or Stuart [Braithwaite, from Mogwai]. No one has an air or something, it’s just really normal.

Indeed, their involvement in the Great Western has come through the band’s proximity to The Pastels, who are also playing the festival: the other half of Sacred Paws, Eilidh, works alongside them in Monorail Music.

Collaboration is a big part of the music of Sacred Paws and this much is evident from the track listings of Run Around the Sun, which drips with collaborations.

I asked Rachel if she thinks that the music community has something to do with making those special relationships.

“I don’t think it’s unique – every city has its community, and musicians have a way of making a community for themselves”, Rachel explains.

“I do think there is something about Glasgow, though, but I can’t quite put my finger on what it is. The independent record scene helps, but I think it’s more the attitude of musicians who live here. They are very together.”

Sacred Paws will play on the 23rd of November with Great Western Festival.

CARLA JENKINS