Euan McMeeken by Lis Ferla (lastyear'sgirl_)
The third in this series of interviews is with another multi-talented creative type, Euan McMeeken, who is not only lead songwriter and vocalist in Edinburgh band The Kays Lavelle (who have just released their debut album Be Still This Gentle Morning on the Wiseblood Industries label), but also writes the excellent blog The Steinberg Principle, where you will also find links to his two other enterprises, the tireless gig promotersTrampoline and record company mini 50 records (phew!).
I sent him a wee email interview asking what motivates him to do so much, and how he manages to fit it all in – here are his answers which I found very inspiring because he truly does what he does for the love of it and it’s made me pick up my guitar again for the first time in ages.
Q: Hi Euan. Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions- I know you’re busy with the recent launch of the new Kays album Be Still This Gentle Morning. Can you tell me a bit about how the album came about e.g. the writing & recording process?
well graeme and i decided it was about time we got our fingers out and released something, is really the jist of it. what that was to be, we really were not sure at the time, but we had enough songs at the time to consider an album. the plan was simply to record a certain number of songs then figure out what worked with what. if that resulted in an album great, if we could only piece together a couple of eps then that would have been ok too. fortunately it all came together nicely as the recording sessions took shape. the biggest problem we had then, and have now, was that we were struggling financially so where and how we were going to manage to record was unclear. after a gig we did with meursault i’d mentioned the situation to neil pennycook and he said he’d happily record it for us. i don’t think he really knew at the time just what he was taking on but he was kind enough to be involved at the beginning and for most of the project. it took from november 2008 until february 2010 to complete, with help from alex fenton who finished recording when neil got too busy with meursault stuff. it was a much longer process than i had planned, but i’m very glad it panned out the way it did and i’m very proud of the result. the songs had been sitting with me for 3 years. it was nice to finally give them a home. i am now excited to get cracking on new songs. hopefully it won’t take 4 years to get the next record out there though!
Q: The Kays are another Edinburgh band to build a much higher profile in recent months. Do you think it’s set to continue? It seems like the Scottish scene as a whole is incredibly strong right now.
it’s been weird. we’ve had a lot of ups so far this year but then something negative comes along and it kind of knocks your for six. just when you feel like you’re getting a bit of momentum somebody comes along, in the form of the skinny in our case, and knocks the wind from your sails. the music industry seems a bit like a game of snakes and ladders in a sense, i guess. i’m honestly not going to complain though, this is the first time in six years that i’ve been able to read anything about the kays, good or bad, so it feels pretty great to finally be getting recognised within the scottish music scene. i hope it continues and gets better and better for us. i really do. i’m greedy that way!
As for the scottish scene itself, i don’t necessarily think it is any stronger than it has been in the past. there are just more blogs, podcasts, radio shows and people who love music out there promoting and supporting the artists these days. avenues which were perhaps not so readily available in years gone by are now plentiful. so whilst the music coming out of scotland at the moment is unquestionably of a high calibre, i think the vibrancy of the scene is more to do with accessibility to the music than simply the quality.
Q: Also did you have any specific aims in mind that you wanted to achieve with this release and how easy do you find the promotional side of putting a record out?
there were no real aims in mind when we started recording other than finishing a record that we were proud of. we achieved that. now we live with the thoughts of others. but i’m not one to sit and say i’m not ambitious. because i am ambitious. in everything i do. so i see where i want the band to go and i’m quietly confident that i can guide us there. it might take a little longer than for other bands but i’d rather be a slow burner that got to where i want to go in the end than have 5 minutes in the spotlight, because i did what others wanted, then disappear.
in terms of promoting the record. well, daydream our management and pr company have handled most of that. but at the same time, i don’t really like it when bands hide behind management and agents etc, so i am very conscious that we should retain a human element and be involved in the whole process. it’s not a big ask when you are passionate about what you do.
Q: I’m ashamed to say that though have probably been at a few of the same gigs over the years, we’ve never properly met – but then I’m an antisocial hermit. You however are an active member of the local community with the Steinberg Principle blog and having run Trampoline gigs for a long time now. You’ve also been organising a wonderful tribute to a trio of great songwriters, Smith/Chesnutt/Linkous. How do you balance your time so you can do your own creative stuff as well as all the support you give to other artists?
who ever told you i was social??! i think you’ve been misinformed sir! nothing could be further from the truth. i love silence and the feeling of being alone with my thoughts. i love my books. i might be an active member of the community but i do it all from my steinberg lair surrounded by test tubes, notebooks, books, cds and far too many thoughts!
i also know for a fact that i take on too much. but i need to be active. i need to have things to sink my teeth into. the kays and my own music are my primary focus and always will be. however, i know how hard it is to get noticed and heard. i know how important a good review or the right person liking you can be. when I started trampoline and my blog the aims were similar: to support artists that i love and that i think deserve to be heard. the same applies to my label mini50. i want to put out music by artists I love and i think deserve wider public attention. and projects like the smith/chesnutt/linkous tribute. well i just wanted to raise awareness about depression. it’s a very dangerous illness and it affects lots of people who you’d never think were depressed. those artists were so important to me, especially mark linkous, so i felt compelled to raise awareness of their music and their illnesses through the project. i hope it’s working.
Q: As a writer you are very honest and wear your heart on your sleeve which makes your blog very readable. Your music is also very heartfelt. Do you ever worry that you are putting too much of yourself out there?
i like writing that says as much as possible, using as little as possible. i always have. i like short sentences. i like to not use capital letters (you might have guessed). i like breaking the rules. i think as an artist or a writer you must always wear your heart on your sleeve. for me writing, of any form, is a release. why would i want to hide that? i do mask most of the lyrics but I’m not afraid to address the things i think about or the subjects i write about. i think again, it adds a human element to the music and the blog. you tell me?!
Q: As a musician you probably have the same concerns I put to Bart Owl recently about the ability to make money from music. What motivates you to keep making music and doing the things you do, even though there is not always a guaranteed monetary reward?
it’s very simple. i love to make music. i love the feeling you get when you get it right. when you create something that you know is right. that you know is what you’ve been searching for. more often than not, it comes when you least expect it. and i love that feeling too. i don’t do this to make money. i don’t write music to make money. i don’t run music nights to make money. i don’t run a record label to make money. it’s all about the music for me and it always will be. if i get lucky enough to sustain a life because of my music or my label then i will be very thankful and ultimately, it’s what i want. but i’ll never stop making music. you cannot place a price on the feeling of sitting at the piano with a bottle of red wine. even in my darkest moments, i still feel at peace with a piano and bottle of red. if i stop feeling that. then i’ll stop playing music. i don’t know if that answers your question though!
Definitely, thanks for answering the questions Euan.
Be Still This Gentle Morning is out now. Photo by Lis Ferla
