Marking three decades together, Mogwai have transformed a difficult period into a blazing post-rock extravaganza. The Bad Fire finds them in fine form and taking unexpected inspiration from King Crimson and Jan Hammer – with, perhaps, Pink Floyd to be added in the future.
In 1995, when Stuart Braithwaite, Dominic Aitchison and Martin Bulloch formed a band in Glasgow, nobody could have had any inkling that a group playing mostly instrumental post-rock would make it to the top of the UK charts with As The Love Continues in 2021. Mogwai’s success is as surprising as it is heartwarming – and proof that independently-minded artists can prosper by sticking to their musical principles.
The band have had a good run from almost the beginning, charting from the off with 1997’s Mogwai Young Team, while their homespun label Rock Action has proved durable,boasting an ever-expanding roster that includes Kathryn Joseph, Arab Strap and Bdrmm. How does Braithwaite feel about the fact that Mogwai are still here, and seemingly going from strength to strength?
“Oh, I’m definitely proud,” he says. “I’m proud that we’re still making music, and I’m proud that people still want to hear the music we’re making. I’m pretty chuffed about it.”
One imagines a No.1 album at the start of their career would have been downright dangerous, given their propensity for hedonism. “It would have been, yeah,” he agrees. “I don’t think we would have lasted too long after that. It’s probably quite good that it happened when we were well into our 40s.”
How did it feel to have the best-selling album in Britain, keeping pop artists like Dua Lipa and Ariana Grande at bay – for a week, at least? “It was lovely. The only unfortunate thing was that it happened during the pandemic, and we couldn’t do a big celebratory tour. But we eventually managed to get out and play the songs. I think the kind of support and warmth we received around that time gave us a lot of confidence going into this record.”
He means The Bad Fire, Mogwai’s remarkable 11th album, which hasn’t been without tribulation. Barry Burns, their auxiliary multi-instrumentalist who’s been with the group since 1998, was put through the wringer when his daughter became seriously ill just as they started planning the record in early 2024. Thankfully, she’s responded well to treatment and has been on the up since then.
While that brought a dark complexion to proceedings, it also consolidated the unit in their creative endeavours. The Bad Fire is as emphatic and dynamic as you might expect, with plenty of peaks and troughs and surprises, too. Mogwai, it seems, were surprised themselves when the significance of the title of the album – a Scottish schoolyard expression for Hell – eventually dawned on them.
I think we only realised the title’s relevance in retrospect. We just thought it was funny
“I think we only realised its relevance in retrospect,” says Braithwaite. “We just thought the title was funny. And then we’re like: ‘Oh, that’s actually kind of heavy.’ It was a hard time; but it just felt really nice to be able to all get together and make some music after not being able to be together, and knowing that Barry was going through a really awful time with his family. It kind of made the recording feel even more special than usual.”
The group worked with the American producer John Congleton, whose credits include St Vincent, Swans and Sparks, to name but three. “He’s an absolute workaholic,” says Braithwaite. “He’s probably made 20 records since he made this one. I met him and I got on well with him, and he’s also made some records that we really like, like All Mirrors by Angel Olsen, and he’s done records with our friends Explosions In The Sky.”
Congleton flew into Glasgow for the recording. “It was the first time we’ve ever had a producer come to Scotland. It was a good experience. John had a ‘let’s just smash out some takes’ energy, which I like.”
While that might suggest there are rough edges to The Bad Fire, it’s polished in a poppy way in places, such as lead track God Gets You Back, while Hammer Room is ambitious and even proggy, with notes reaching into infinity, sounding almost virtuosic at times. “It’s definitely unusual. It’s very busy for a Mogwai song,” says Braithwaite.
Another, Pale Vegan Hip Pain, reminds Prog of Jan Hammer’s Crockett’s Theme, which Braithwaite takes well. “I love Crockett’s Theme! That’s actually the tune Kenny, our sound guy, always checks the PA with.” As for the unusual title: “My wife was at the doctor for a sore head. She looked over the desk and saw that ‘pale vegan hip pain’ were the only words written on the doctor’s notes.”
Barry uses different equipment for every record, which helps change the sound up. I’m a bit too lazy for that
Thirty years into their career, Mogwai are still evolving. “I don’t think we would like to just keep making the same record. We always try to do something new. Barry uses completely different equipment for every record, which helps change the sound up. I’m probably a bit too lazy for that, but I like to have some new toys and do something different. There’s definitely some songs that wouldn’t get on any other records.”
Which ones? Braithwaite mentions the axe-wielding Lion Rumpus, God Gets You Back and the brilliantly-titled Fanzine Made Of Flesh. The latter aches with pathos, with lyrics sung through a vocoder such as, ‘My heart breaks with every beat’ and, ‘See the stars and know they’re dead by now’ that hint at turmoil. Arpeggios drift into space like cosmic escalators as perspective is sought in the most trying of times.
It’s perhaps not surprising that Mogwai have a concomitant career as soundtrack composers, with their cinematic music scoring momentous big- and small-screen pictures like Mark Cousins’ Atomic: Living In Dread And Promise. Mogwai played it in Hiroshima, which Braithwaite describes as “probably the most intense experience I’ve ever had with a band.” Then there’s the recent true crime miniseries, Black Bird. “It’s always the cheery stuff with us!”
Across the Channel, there was the soundtrack to the lauded TV drama Les Revenants in 2012, and most famously, Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait from 2006, an arty on-field portrait of French footballing genius Zinédine Zidane where the camera follows him around for an entire match. A fine concept, slightly let down by the fact he had a lacklustre game. “I think that’s why he got sent off,” chuckles Braithwaite. “Just so there was something to remember.”
Hawkwind are a really important band… the glue between punk rock, prog rock and krautrock
Mogwai have always had their heads in the clouds, with a style of music that’s perfect for accompanying the viewing of great expanses or staring longingly into the empyrean and wondering what’s out there. Braithwaite’s late father made astronomical telescopes, which makes Prog wonder if that had an influence on the music?
“One hundred per cent,” he agrees. “I grew up around astronomers and sci-fi people. I’m not a big label person, but one of the few labels that I’m totally comfortable with is ‘space rock,’ because I can’t think of a band described that way that I don’t like. It’s a kind of music that connects us with the universe.”
Are Mogwai secret Hawkwind fans, then? “I love Hawkwind!” he confirms. “They’re a really important band, aren’t they? They’re the glue between punk rock, prog rock and krautrock. Dave Brock did the liner notes for Neu! back in 1972, and then there’s Lemmy, who’s a punk-rock icon.”
Braithwaite’s 2022 memoir Spaceships Over Glasgow recounts his time as a fan of The Cure and Sonic Youth. He recalls the tribalism of the 1980s and 1990s that seemed so important to him at the time. These allegiances often led to arguments and even some scrapes. Now, however, that pursuit of post-punk authenticity seems to have fallen by the wayside in an internet-dominated world.
“Nothing matters any more,” he reflects. “The concept of cool and uncool is completely gone. Which is good and bad, you know? It’s bad when people are unashamedly listening to Rick Astley. You’ve got to draw a line somewhere!”
The guitar part in Lion Rumpus is me trying to play like Fripp. If Fripp was pretending he couldn’t play
The punk-rock doctrinaire of old has even come around to the idea that what he does isn’t a million miles away from progressive rock. “We’re prog curious,” he declares with a laugh. His wife, the singer Elisabeth Elektra, has helped lead him there.
“I went to see Roger Waters last year, mainly because my wife is a Pink Floyd fan, and I loved it so much. I even bought The Dark Side Of The Moon. I’d never listened to it until three months ago. The music fans I grew up with all thought Pink Floyd disappeared after Syd Barrett left – but I’m realising that there’s some good stuff after that.”
And that’s not all: he’s also become obsessed with King Crimson, turned onto the band by Toby Amies’ In The Court Of The Crimson King – King Crimson At 50 documentary. “I’m working my way through all of the records, which are just so good. I think the guitar part in Lion Rumpus is me trying to deconstruct Robert Fripp’s guitar solo from [Eno’s] Baby’s On Fire. It’s me trying to play like Fripp. If Fripp was pretending he couldn’t play!”
Braithwaite and his wife took part in a sonic experiment as Covid restrictions began to lift in 2021. They and some stir-crazy musicians they’d met online embarked on a ferry to the Outer Hebrides to record at the Black Bay Studio on the Isle Of Lewis. The unanticipated result was a brand-new band, Silver Moth, with a critically-lauded debut album Black Bay.
Braithwaite said at the time the project had unleashed his “inner prog.” Did that experience influence the new Mogwai recording at all? “It may have done,” he considers, “because there definitely was a prog element to that. I really enjoyed making that record, and I really enjoyed going on the tour as well. It was nice remembering those experiences of fear when you’re first in a band.
“We’re definitely going to make another record. We’ll be back in the wilderness [of Lewis] again. The guy that recorded us [inhouse engineer/owner Pete Fletcher] is a really nice bloke as well, so it’ll be good to spend more time with him again.”
