Introducing Interview: Model Aeroplanes

Having received airplay from the likes of BBC Radio 1’s Annie Mac and 6Music’s Tom Robinson, and with festival appearances at T In The Park, Liverpool Sound City and The Great Escape already under their belts, Dundee band Model Aeroplanes are back with their uptempo new single ‘Lover’.

We caught up with the band to find out more…

Hi Model Aeroplanes! Can you tell us how you all first met and started creating music together?
We met at high school, around thirteen. It was the right age to think starting a band would help us with girls and money, and way before reality struck.

What’s your new single ‘Lover’ all about?
‘Lover’ is about a dysfunctional relationship. Both protagonists want the other but not to sacrifice their own individuality and freedom. Technology, as a theme, seemed important to telling a full story due to its huge part in how we experience love in 2017. The porn sounds are just in there ‘cause they’re cool.

How do you find the music scene up in Scotland at the moment?
There’re loads of amazing bands coming out of Scotland right now, we’re way better at music than sport. Glasgow has its ‘scene’ and it seems really healthy and fun, but I don’t think the same can be said for places like Dundee and Edinburgh, which is a real shame. Good venues have dropped like flies in the last few years – it might be coincidence, but it’s fact and without good venues that care about music, there’s no scene. Get behind original music. People listen to the same songs on the radio, over and over and over again, all day and kind of accept that they’re getting the cream of the crop but it definitely isn’t. There’s some band in your hometown that, given the right opportunities and support, will go on to do great things and it’s up to you to help make that happen. Also, if DD city council or whoever’s calling the shots ever noticeably supports music as much as visual artsy stuff or games design I will eat my hat, my shoes and a copy of Vice City.

You’ve previously played at festivals like T In The Park and The Great Escape, but what would you say your favourite gig to date has been?
It’s hard to say. Any show can produce special moments but TITP is always a safe one. There’s something about the mud and booze that gets soaked into our brains and stays there.

If you were to describe your sound in three words, what would they be?
R’n’B, Rock, Indecisive.

If you could collaborate with any band or artist, past or present, who would it be and why?
Q-Tip ‘cause he’d probably be up for it; the boy loves a collab. Busta Rhymes would be a pretty mental shout though, we would seem a lot more badass after that.

What does the rest of 2017 have in store for Model Aeroplanes?
More releases, more touring, more sick interviews and more cowbell.

‘Lover’ is out now via Spinnup (Universal Music).