Kids in Glass Houses have spoken of their love for Scotland and Glasgow as they prepare to launch their comeback album with a special show in the city.
Named for a Glassjaw song and having supported the likes of Manic Street Preachers, Thirty Seconds to Mars and Fall Out Boy, the Welsh group split in 2014 after only moderate chart success.
The advent of streaming left the group pulling in around £300 a month by the time they went their separate ways, with the members going on to have families and careers.
Last year though they reunited to celebrate the 15th anniversary of debut album Smart Casual by playing two sets at Slam Dunk festival, with a first LP in 11 years, Pink Flamingo, an 80s-indebted pop-rock record to be released on October 25.
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Guitarist Iain Mahanty tells The Herald: "Since we split up, Ben Ray the promoter of Slam Dunk has been messaging Al every year asking if we’d get back together, and for one reason or another we kept saying no.
“When we split up that was definite in our minds, I don’t think anyone really envisaged this happening again.
“In that moment it was done, and in the immediate aftermath all of us wanted to find our feet and discover ourselves, start careers and start families and all that sort of thing.
“It felt like everyone had arrived to a really good spot in their personal lives, then Ben Ray did his thing and asked Al, saying ‘it’s 15 years since the record came out, the stars are aligning’.
“No-one said no, and you could go into the details of why and how everyone was feeling but the fundamental thing is that everyone just felt it was the right time, it felt like a collective decision without too much thought or arm-twisting.”
Led by funk-tinged single 'Have A Good Time', Pink Flamingo represents something of a departure for the group as they dial up the 80s influence in their songwriting.
Mahanty says: "Aled had been writing some songs and whether he had the band getting back together in mind or not I’m not really sure. He probably won’t admit it but maybe he did.
“As we did the reunion shows last year, everyone was feeling really good about being back in the room together and being in a really good spot.
“We initially spoke about maybe doing one song, but because we had this body of work lined up as a jumping-off point we just thought, ‘shall we work on these tracks?’.
“We got in the room together and played Aled’s demos, or demos Aled and I had done together, as a band and it really started to feel like a Kids in Glass Houses record so we just decided to do that.
"With our writing process, it starts with one person demoing it so that will always mean the idea leans more toward that person’s idea or sound, then as soon as we all start playing things as a band we bring our own influences to the table and that’s how it naturally occurs.
“It takes all of us to make it sound like Kids, and I think that’s the beauty of the record, some of these songs were written before the band got back together but they feel like Kids In Glass Houses because we’re playing it as a band.”
“Sonically we’re all really proud of it, we think it’s our best work.
“It really feels like us, it encapsulates all our influences: Prince, The Strokes and all that sort of stuff but then also everything we’ve picked up over the last 10 years.
“It’s really nice to be back making music and being able to share new songs with people.”
Following the release of the new album on Friday, Kids in Glass Houses will play a live show at St Luke's in Glasgow to celebrate.
Mahanty explains: "We’re really looking forward to it, we’re doing a collab with Assai and a special vinyl release with them.
“For us Glasgow and Scotland has always had a real place in our hearts, because it’s one of the places we’ve always really loved playing outside of Wales and London.
“We’ve always had a good response up here and always had a good time after the shows! Right back to when we’d play in King Tut’s and The Garage.
“We’re grateful to be able to come up and celebrate our new record with people. It’s going to be a lot of fun, we’ve loved our time in Glasgow.
“I think the Scots remind me of the Welsh a little bit – we’re all headcases really, aren’t we?”
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