A Glasgow-based band have opened up about the ‘amazing’ experience of working with a renowned producer.
Wojtek the bear, who burst onto the scene in 2016, recently partnered up with Stephen Street (The Smiths, Blur, New Order, Morrisey) for their new album, Shaking Hands with the NME, their first record in three years.
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Tam Killean, lead singer of wojtek the bear, said: “It was amazing being able to work with him.
“He was just so cool and relaxed, and just positive about everything.
“I think sometimes when you get to this stage of making a third record, it can feel like ‘oh god, we really need to do something different here’, but working with Stephen gave us the confidence to feel like we didn’t need to go in and completely re-invent the wheel in terms of what we were doing.
“He made us see that what we are doing as a band is actually good enough, it was like validation.”
But, for Tam, how the experience came about wasn’t the ‘amazing story’ he hoped it would be.
He joked: “I would love to have this amazing story about him approaching us, but it was the complete opposite.
“When we started working on the album, we had this dream list of people we would have liked to work with, and Stephen was top of that list.
“I just sent him an email one day and amazingly he replied within about an hour saying he liked what we were doing.
“It was a really bizarre afternoon.
“I’m not going to lie; I initially thought it was someone pretending to be him but within a few days we had set up a Zoom call and I could see he was in fact Stephen and not someone who was going to ask for my bank details and my mother’s maiden name.”
The first single of the upcoming album, entitled Second Place on Purpose, will be released on October 20.
The new material, which was recorded in a tiny studio in Blantyre previously used by mega house bands like Mogwai, is something members, Becky Cheminais (Vocals/violin), Scott McCutcheon (Drums/percussion), Graham Norris (Guitar) and Paul Kirkwood (Vocals/bass) are ready to share with the world.
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Felling the support from fans already, Tam said: “It feels good to get some stuff back out there again.
“People have already pre-ordered the record and it’s great to have that support out there.
“The way the music industry is now, it can feel so instantaneous, like a few years away can feel like a lifetime. So, it’s nice that people are still there, and they seem to care and are engaging with our stuff.”
To celebrate the album, which will be released in April 2024, the band will play a launch show on Saturday, April 13 at the Glasgow University Debate Chamber.
And following their first-ever gig at Govanhill Baths seven years ago, the band are hoping to tour in the city and around the UK again, once the record is released.
You can listen to wojtek the bear's music on Spotify.
To preorder the new album, click HERE
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