We speak to Irish band the Scratch at TRNSMT.
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00:00If you'd just like to start by introducing yourselves.
00:08How are you, I'm Daniel. This is Connor, we're The Scratch.
00:12I'm Connor.
00:14No, nice to meet you. So describe The Scratch for me, what are you?
00:18A band of folk-y, metal-y, punk-y music played by four chaps on acoustic guitars in a wooden box.
00:30And sprinkle a bit of crack in there.
00:33Of the phone calling, not doing a crack, you know what I mean?
00:39We all know that, everyone knows that, that's alright.
00:41I don't need to, you know what I mean, everyone knows that.
00:44Yeah? Yes, alright.
00:47No, fantastic, great.
00:49So if you'd just tell me about your set today.
00:51What went on, what were you thinking before?
00:55Like, tell me all about it.
00:57First thing I thought was like, it's a much younger crowd at the festival than I thought it was going to be.
01:03So I was like, God, is there anyone, I don't know if there's anyone going to be at our gig.
01:08But I was surprised to see a few heads, which was good.
01:12Yeah, so that's what I was thinking beforehand.
01:14Yeah, it was just nice to be in Glasgow on a really nice sunny day.
01:18Yeah, the buzz, it's a great buzz at the festival.
01:21The way it's laid out and like it's small, smaller festivals are better.
01:26The King Tut's crew are all sound as well.
01:29There's a lovely buzz going on backstage, so we're just happy to be there.
01:33Amazing, so tell me about your relationship with Glasgow then.
01:39It's a very good relationship, very solid, healthy.
01:44We've played here like five times now.
01:48So yeah, it's been, yeah, probably the best gigs.
01:53It's always the best gig on the UK tour when we do one.
01:56Yeah, it's banging. We did King Tut's last time and that was the best one.
01:59Yeah, that was mighty crack.
02:00That was amazing.
02:01And the crack is just...
02:02The people are great.
02:04Yeah, there's always a good night out after as well.
02:06A dangerous night out.
02:08A couple of heads that just take us out and take us under their wing for an evening of dancing.
02:13And we kill a bit of music.
02:16And some White Russians for some reason every time.
02:19Yeah, what?
02:20What's the crack with the White Russians here?
02:22Okay, you're a White Russian.
02:23You what?
02:24Okay, you're the White Russian.
02:25No, but like, sorry.
02:26Sorry, I wasn't...
02:27No, but like I said, every time we come to Glasgow there just seems to be a deal on White Russians.
02:31A deal, yeah.
02:32Yeah, like in bars, it's just a thing.
02:33There's a specific street that seems to love White Russians.
02:36I don't know why.
02:37Yeah.
02:38There's a bar called The Mouskies and they have a full, like, double-page menu.
02:42Ah, that makes sense, yeah.
02:43So if you like White Russians...
02:45Yeah, that makes sense.
02:46I just, yeah, every time we're here there's just a plethora of White Russians on the go.
02:51Yeah.
02:52And I've just never experienced that anywhere else other than Glasgow.
02:55But I like it.
02:56I do like it.
02:57It's good.
02:58Oh yeah?
02:59Yeah.
03:00No, no, no.
03:01Amazing.
03:02So your new album is quite different from your previous.
03:06It's a lot heavier.
03:08Darker, some may say.
03:09Like, tell me a wee bit about that transitioning and adapting your music.
03:14It was quite confusing initially because we were reluctant to stray from what we'd been doing up until that point,
03:23which was primarily acoustic sound and music and kind of just lively, good crack, good times music.
03:31And so it took a bit of persuasion from a producer we got in.
03:35And he basically just held our hand and was like, man, just do what you want, don't think too much about it.
03:41So we just started incorporating Hampson into it and started leaning into, I guess, the metal side of ourselves.
03:48So it was a transitional type of album for us.
03:51So like the next album, we came away with it a lot more confident and emboldened about what we're going to do in the future.
03:57So we're happy with it, but we're looking forward to getting back in the studio and just going for it
04:03and using all the things that we learned from that album and applying them to this next album.
04:07So probably going to get heavier again, to be honest.
04:11Amazing. So tell me about where yous are from in Ireland. What's the craic there?
04:17I'm from, I was born in a place called Limerick, but grew up in a place called Leigh, about 40 minutes outside Dublin.
04:27A bit of a satellite town and a serious melting pot growing up of all sorts of people,
04:36moving out of Dublin, a lot of people who've moved to Ireland. It was a pretty mad place, but it was good.
04:45When I met Lango in school, he would have come and hung out in Leigslip and we had a good crew.
04:51And then our guitar tech is also from Leigslip. So, good spot, I will say.
04:58I spent the first three years of my life in a student house in Galway with my mum.
05:04Then we moved to Monaghan and lived with my grandparents there for a few years.
05:07Then I moved to Dublin and then I went to school in Dublin and then I met Doc.
05:12And then we just became best buds and shared music with one another and good times.
05:18And it's been a bromance ever since.
05:23Amazing. Any final words for the people of Glasgow?
05:28Get it right up, yeah, baby.
05:33He's beating me to all these answers.