It was 2012 when Glasgow three-piece PAWS released Cokefloat!, an album that we believe to be one of the best things to come out of Scotland since…. scotch. Ok, so we’re not really sure what other great things have come from Scotland, but we do know that Cokefloat! certainly earned the right to include an exclamation point in its title.
PAWS are now getting ready to release their new album Youth Culture Forever on May 6th, and they’ll preview new material at Brighton Music Hall on April 19th (that’s this Saturday, for those of you without access to a calendar). We spoke to lead singer Philip Taylor about the show, the new record, bears, and heroin. Check out the interview below.
Allston Pudding: Since you are from Scotland, I would be remiss if I didn’t start this interview by asking about your favorite haggis ingredient
Phillip Taylor: To tell you the truth Allston Pudding, I’ve never eaten haggis. True story…
AP: The majority of our readers are probably in the same boat and have no idea what a haggis is. Can you please describe the haggis and the Robbie Burns Day festivities in your own words?
PT: I’m not sure I even know fully what the heck it is? I know its full of sheep’s organs and oatmeal/vegetables. Not really my scene! Although, Robbie Burns day is pretty great. It’s a celebration of a great Scottish poet that usually involves quite a lot of whisky and dancing…
AP: The title of your new album is Youth Culture Forever. Is that even possible? Wouldn’t youth culture mature to become adult culture at some point?
PT: I think the idea of youth culture forever is that there will always be youth. There will always be a new generation of young thinkers doing it for the kids and keeping it real. I’ll have my youth culture forever because even when I grow old, it’ll be my youth culture that moulded me into that haggard guy.
AP: The album is set for release on May 6th – which will be the 332nd anniversary of the day Louis XIV moved into the Palace of Versailles, and the 77thanniversary of the Hindenburg disaster. Which had a greater influence on your new songs and why?
PT:Probably the Hindenburg disaster. The relationship I was in at the time of writing this record felt a bit like the Hindenburg disaster. Up in flames.
AP: The white substance on the cover of the new album – is that cocaine?
PT: No. It’s heroin.
AP: If you needed to choose one child actor to play every member of the band in a low-budget, made-for-TV movie, who would it be?
PT: I’d need a time machine to go back to when these people were child actors. But, I’d say Macaulay Culkin and Mary Kate and Ashley. Because that would be absolutely terrifying. Fabulously terrifying.
AP: You find out that your band has been selected to be on the cover of Cigar Aficionado Magazine, but due to the camera the photographer is using, only one member of the band will actually make it to the cover – which member is it, and why?
PT: Josh. Because he looks damn good with a cigar. Regal and lord of the manor.
AP: Your album Cokefloat! made us wonder – what is your favorite food and animal? Are they one in the same?
PT: Almost every interviewer asks this and I’ve never answered. As much as I FUCKING LOVE ALLSTON, I’m not gonna start spilling the beans now…
AP: I hear the band had a run-in with a real live bear during the recording of the new album – why?
PT: True story. We were sitting watching a movie (The Deerhunter if I recall correctly) after a long day in the studio and a fucking black bear came right up to some open french doors of the house. He probably just wanted to watch the movie with us, but he scared the shit out of us instead.
AP: And to finish up the interview, why is Youth Culture Forever the best album of 2014?
PT: Because you kind of just said it is in a round about away? Aw shux Allston pudding! We love you!