Old guy here, been a fan for nearly 20 years. I mainly wanted to say thanks for the memories - you lot have put on some great live shows and were an important band in my formative years. I’ll try and keep the questions short so anyone reading can skip the rambling anecdote if they want to, since it’s based on memories that only a couple of people care about.
1) Do you remember playing a place called The Axiom in Cheltenham around 1995 or 1996 when you were first starting out? Do you miss playing tiny places to crowds of 20, and the buzz of starting out, or is that just romanticising a time when you were struggling and had no money?***
2) I watched you put all / most of your guitars in dustbins full of water at Reading Festival (I’m going to say it was 1997) – do bands do that because their record label buys all new equipment for them, or did you quickly realise that, cool as it might be, you couldn’t afford to do that stuff very often?
3) How did you get involved in the Zidane film, and what is it the best soundtrack ever?
4) Years on, has your opinion changed? Complete this t-shirt slogan… “BLUR : ??????”
***This was my first experience of Mogwai, either live or on record, and I nearly missed out. I was a student in Cheltenham; The Axiom (now closed down) used to do student gigs on a Tuesday or Wednesday, I think, and it was always £3 to get in and watch some rubbish student band with some lame speccy guy in an ill-fitting second hand suit playing watered down “clever” Brit Pop. We went because, eh, it was live music (occasionally it was good) and it was very cheap. One week, this band “Mogwai” was playing, and it was something like £6 or £7 for a ticket. £6 or £7?!?! Double the price?! A new friend of mine (well, they were all new, I’d just started Uni) said we HAD to go and see this band, they were amazing (he was a couple of years older than me) and like Slint. My reply was that I had no idea who Slint was, and no way was I paying double the usual cost to see some lame band in some tiny, smelly venue. My friend practically had to beg – in the end I went because he was older and cooler than me, and knew about music, and I wanted to appear “cool” too… but man did I begrudge paying that £7. The gig blew my mind. I immediately went out and bought Ten Rapid. Nearly 20 years on, that guy is still one of my best friends, and Mogwai is still one of my favourite bands / Cool story, bro.
EDIT- well, I guess after checking back every couple of hours thinking "maybe avowed Redditor BB will nudge fellow Mogwai SB to answer the top question, and he's just taking his time thinking about the answers" it's time for me to accept the truth. Ha, I can't believe how genuinely disappointed I was about this, I'm a grown ass man with real world problems! Glad this wasn't 17 year old me asking questions, I'd have been fucking crushed! Anyway, I made the edit cos I saw someone replied "if they don't answer they're dicks"...it's GAME OVER MAN! And they're not dicks. Only half of them are. [shuffles off to play Godspeed! records - always preferred them anyway]
Legface587 karma
Hi Mogwai,
Old guy here, been a fan for nearly 20 years. I mainly wanted to say thanks for the memories - you lot have put on some great live shows and were an important band in my formative years. I’ll try and keep the questions short so anyone reading can skip the rambling anecdote if they want to, since it’s based on memories that only a couple of people care about.
1) Do you remember playing a place called The Axiom in Cheltenham around 1995 or 1996 when you were first starting out? Do you miss playing tiny places to crowds of 20, and the buzz of starting out, or is that just romanticising a time when you were struggling and had no money?***
2) I watched you put all / most of your guitars in dustbins full of water at Reading Festival (I’m going to say it was 1997) – do bands do that because their record label buys all new equipment for them, or did you quickly realise that, cool as it might be, you couldn’t afford to do that stuff very often?
3) How did you get involved in the Zidane film, and what is it the best soundtrack ever?
4) Years on, has your opinion changed? Complete this t-shirt slogan… “BLUR : ??????”
***This was my first experience of Mogwai, either live or on record, and I nearly missed out. I was a student in Cheltenham; The Axiom (now closed down) used to do student gigs on a Tuesday or Wednesday, I think, and it was always £3 to get in and watch some rubbish student band with some lame speccy guy in an ill-fitting second hand suit playing watered down “clever” Brit Pop. We went because, eh, it was live music (occasionally it was good) and it was very cheap. One week, this band “Mogwai” was playing, and it was something like £6 or £7 for a ticket. £6 or £7?!?! Double the price?! A new friend of mine (well, they were all new, I’d just started Uni) said we HAD to go and see this band, they were amazing (he was a couple of years older than me) and like Slint. My reply was that I had no idea who Slint was, and no way was I paying double the usual cost to see some lame band in some tiny, smelly venue. My friend practically had to beg – in the end I went because he was older and cooler than me, and knew about music, and I wanted to appear “cool” too… but man did I begrudge paying that £7. The gig blew my mind. I immediately went out and bought Ten Rapid. Nearly 20 years on, that guy is still one of my best friends, and Mogwai is still one of my favourite bands / Cool story, bro.
EDIT- well, I guess after checking back every couple of hours thinking "maybe avowed Redditor BB will nudge fellow Mogwai SB to answer the top question, and he's just taking his time thinking about the answers" it's time for me to accept the truth. Ha, I can't believe how genuinely disappointed I was about this, I'm a grown ass man with real world problems! Glad this wasn't 17 year old me asking questions, I'd have been fucking crushed! Anyway, I made the edit cos I saw someone replied "if they don't answer they're dicks"...it's GAME OVER MAN! And they're not dicks. Only half of them are. [shuffles off to play Godspeed! records - always preferred them anyway]
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