Scotch on the rock

>> Mogwai's Stuart Braithwaite is ready to testify

by LORRAINE CARPENTER

When the too-cool, London-centric Britpop scene imploded and reconstituted itself as Oasis-core, Glasgow seemed to be the new sonic beacon for U.K.-obsessed indie kids. Though their stylistic differences were too great to form cohesive scene, Belle and Sebastian, Arab Strap and Mogwai all emerged in 1996 and earned rabid followings with their first couple of albums. In Mogwai's case, their two double discs, Mogwai Young Team and Come On Die Young, were deeply mired in the droning magic that is post-rock, "a lazy term" according to guitarist and part-time vocalist Stuart Braithwaite.

While Belle and Sebastian and Arab Strap have triumphed over the years with little substantial musical evolution, Mogwai surprised their public this year with Rock Action. While it's neither the traditional Scottish folk album nor the Led Zeppelin rock-out they threatened, it's well under an hour long, four songs feature vocals and the instrumentation is relatively vast and varied.

"The new songs have a lot more structure and textures than we've had before," says Braithwaite, fresh off the stage from a "heavy-handed" show in Switzerland. "It was just to be different from our other records and to make sure we're still doing something that's worth doing."

And worth doing right. Apart from the dark rock soundscapes, Mogwai are known for their merciless shafting of bands who, by their own unbiased logic, are not doing it right, most notably Blur. When the two bands simultaneously headlined the U.K.'s T in the Park festival in 1999 (Blur on the main stage, Mogwai on the indie stage), Braithwaite and co. had special T-shirts made simply stating "Blur: Are Shite." In a June '99 edition of the New Musical Express, Braithwaite said: "We decided to proclaim our dislike of one of the weakest bands on the planet by putting out these shirts. If there's any legal problems about it, I'll go to court as someone who has studied music, so I can prove they are shite."

"We just don't like them, there's no real story in it," says Braithwaite in 2001. "I'd really like it if they split up, but I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't just to spite us."

Their cranky reputation may lead one to believe that this Scots quintet only listen to their own music, but the members of Mogwai are music lovers who all share a fondness for a certain warbling longhair.

"We're planning to do an EP of Guns 'n' Roses songs. It's one of the band's favourite groups," says Braithwaite quite seriously. "We're gonna do 'Patience,' 'Civil War,' 'It's So Easy' and 'Don't Cry.' It'll probably never materialize--well, it may materialize, you never know. I wouldn't bet against it."

Braithwaite's unique views also scored him a gig last year as a columnist for the late, great music mag Select.

"It was totally freeform. I just used to ramble. I got my arse kicked 'cuz my spelling and punctuation were so bad. The magazine folded and I think I was the only person sad to see it go, to be honest. I miss the money."

With Bardo Pond at Club Soda on Saturday, May 26, 8pm, $18