Bellshill band Teenage Fanclub speak ahead of Glasgow gig at SWG3

The alternative rock band will take to the SWG3 stage for the first-ever time as they kick off their upcoming five-week tour in Glasgow on Wednesday.  

Despite being on the Scottish music scene for more than 30 years, singer and songwriter Norman Blake says there are still some nerves as they get ready to play their “home show”.  

He said: “It’s always great fun playing in Glasgow.  

“For us, we’ve been around for such a long time we’ve played in most places in Glasgow, but we’ve never played at SWG3 so there’s a novelty in it for us playing there.  

“So, it will be fun, there’s always a bit more pressure for the home show in Glasgow and it’s the first show of the tour so we should hopefully be on our toes.  

“There will be some nerves, but it will be great fun.”  

Last year, the band released their critically acclaimed tenth studio album, Endless Arcade, which became their first Top 10 album since 1997.  

Norman says it feels incredible to still have so much support from fans. 

He said: “It’s amazing to still be able to generate enough interest and have enough people want to buy it, it’s great after all these years. 

“It was great to get the album released and have that kind of reception, but what was difficult was not being able to tour it.  

“I think we did five or six shows, we released it midway through the pandemic and it meant we couldn’t go on tour.” 

Laughing, Norman added: “Because we’ve played the new songs on a handful of occasions, we’re getting together this week to practice and I haven’t played the songs for a while so I’m going to have to try and remember what I play.  

“If I spend the next couple of days doing that, I should be fine.” 

After the last two years, Norman says he’s found a new appreciation for performing live shows and says it’s “brilliant” to finally be able get back on the road.  

He said: “As a musician, you’re either making records or you’re touring. 

“They’re both great and you get a lot of satisfaction from both things but really, touring is kind of the lifeblood of bands, that’s where you make money.  

“People don’t buy records anymore and they’re not making the numbers they did in the past.  

“And obviously it costs money to get on the road, tour buses, hotel rooms and then you also want to try and make some money from the tour so you can really invest that in making another record, so like all other musicians, playing live is where it’s at. 

“We’ve got a few festivals lined up for next year as well so hopefully things are starting to happen again.” 

READ MORE: Teenage Fanclub gear up for Glasgow Barrowlands gig

While it feels like things are getting back to normal, the experience of touring will still look a little different for the band this time around.  

Norman said: “We’ll basically be keeping in our little bubble because there’s obviously a lot of Covid round at the moment.  

“So that’s one thing that’s going to be different in that when we tour, and we’ve been around for a long time, we’ve got loads of pals in all different places and normally we’d hang out with them after the show or whatever, but we’re not going to be able to do that so it’s just going to be us sitting backstage playing trivial pursuit or something. 

“Even meeting fans we’d normally do after the show, but we just can’t do it because if somebody goes down we have to cancel a load of shows and it wouldn’t be good.” 

Teenage Fanclub will play SWG3 on Wednesday, April 6.  

You can buy tickets for the gig HERE.