Interview: Idlewild's Roddy Woomble

After announcing plans for a new album in February next year with a full tour to follow, Idlewild gave us a little taster of what to expect with a few select intimate dates last month. Wowing small crowds with their sweeping melodies, profound lyrics and endearing passion, the Scottish rockers certainly proved they’ve still got it. Back home in Scotland, Roddy Woomble chats to Gigslutz about inspirations, favourite venues and stuffed animals…

I was lucky enough to be able to go to your spellbinding gig at The King’s Head – a pretty different set from when I’ve seen you before! Having toured in some pretty big venues in your time, how was it going back to playing somewhere so intimate (and with so many stuffed animals!)?

– I have a small collection of stuffed animals myself, so I quite liked it. I don’t have any tigers or lions though. Just a few owls and a couple of weasels. I don’t care about the size of the venue, as long as it is full of people who are into the music. Idlewild have played some huge places and tiny clubs, and with my solo band we have played in village halls on the remotest islands. I/we have a broad experience of playing every sort of place and it always boils down to the people in the audience.

And what’s been your favourite ever venue to play at?

I don’t know. The Glasgow Barrowlands has always been a memorable place for us, although I prefer the ABC as a venue now.

My favourite album of yours would have to be The Remote Part, although I love them all, that one just has a particular emotional resonance for me. What album have you most enjoyed making?

I’ve enjoyed making the new one the most as it was done in our own time. We had no pressure from anyone and could potter away at it. We also did quite a lot of it up here in Mull, which is always nice. Otherwise, Warning/Promises was my favourite recording experience: 3 months in the Californian sunshine, with a hire car, a rented house in West Hollywood with a swimming pool, recording at Sunset Sound everyday. Good times.

You seem to draw a lot on literary references and your own Scottish heritage in your songs, what would you say are your main inspirations when writing?

All the things I’ve done up until that point. That includes all the books I’ve read, records I’ve listened to, places I’ve been, and people I’ve met. It really is never ending, inspiration, if you keep your eyes and ears open. The one writer I go back to again and again is George Mackay Brown. To me, he is a literary inspiration.

I’m very much looking forward to your new album in February! The new material I’ve heard so far sounds quite a lot more folky than your earlier songs – was this an intentional shift, or have you just mellowed over the years?

Musically, we have just aged naturally. It would be absurd for us to go onstage now and try and pretend it was 1997… It is 2014 and we act accordingly.

Finally… Desert Island Disc: if there was one album you couldn’t live without, what would it be?

The Basement Tapes by Bob Dylan and the band. An endless source of enjoyment and inspiration.

Idlewild’s new album, Everything Ever Written, is out 16th February 2015, you can pre-order it here: www.pledgemusic.com/idlewild

And make sure you catch them live!

7th March – O2 ABC – Glasgow
8th March – O2 ABC – Glasgow
10th March – The Institute – Birmingham
12th March – The Ritz – Manchester
13th March – Roundhouse – London

20th March – Limelight – Belfast

21st March – The Academy – Dublin