Positive Punks: Bridal Shower Interview

"Great bands in Glasgow appear to come in waves. We are very lucky to currently be on a particularly good one just now," says Iain Gillon, drummer of Glasgow's latest post-punk noiseniks Bridal Shower. Gillon should know; he also runs a monthly club night at Bloc+ called Repeater, which cultivates some of the best punk, indie and noise bands Glasgow has to offer. However, it is not all positive: "Glasgow is a great city but can be quite segregated in terms of its various music scenes," he goes on to explain. "In our scene though, the bands and people we play with have always been very supportive and encouraging which makes it a great city to play in. It's what [our] song Attention is about."

Bridal Shower have a vested interest in Glasgow's alternative music scene. Aside from Repeater, Lewis Glass – the band's lead guitarist and one of two frontmen – runs the Glassworks Recording Studio in Glasgow's southside, a full-time operation now that some of the city's best and brightest are queuing up to record there. "It's very demanding work, but very rewarding too and especially when I get to create my own music there," Glass enthuses. While the Glassworks wasn't finished in time to record Bridal Shower's debut Negatives, which comes out on 9 Jun via their self-created label Glasseater Records (Glassworks + Repeater), they were able to mix the album entirely in their own studio. 

Bridal Shower recorded their debut with Ewan Grant (of WOMPS fame) at 7 West Studio in central Glasgow and, as rhythm guitarist, Scott McColl adds: "It was really useful to have an objective pair of ears listen to us recording, even if Lewis kept naturally wanting to interject." When the mixing sessions were completed, the band sent the album off to Matthew J Barnhart, who has mastered the likes of Metz and Pissed Jeans (both major influences to the noisy-quartet) at the Chicago Mastering Service.

"We waited for the right offer in terms of releasing the album, but nothing we received really suited us, so we decided to take matters into our own hands and self-release," McColl explains. Given the fierce DIY ethic of the band's members, specifically within Glasgow, it makes sense for them to take control of the releasing of their debut record too.

Musically, Negatives is a monster. It shifts and slides and is incapable of sitting still at any moment, to its credit. "We went through about three phases as we were writing the album, which probably explains our constantly shifting sound," Gillon recounts. "We started off as a shoegaze band, then as a noise act, before finally settling on post-punk, which incorporates those earlier, noisier elements into something more melodic and palatable."

William Clapperton, the band's bassist and other frontman, who completes Bridal Shower's line-up, elaborates: "We all love hardcore punk music, but wanted to create something that used the energy from it without all the needless aggression, like an organised chaos." McColl concludes: "It's too easy to hide behind a wall of noise, so by turning the gain down and exposing ourselves to more melody, we improved as songwriters as a result." 

This shift in sounds is consistent with one of the album's major themes, anxiety. "The album is largely reflective of how modern society is full of creeping anxieties at every turn and how we as people rarely find an outlet for all that concern, imagined or otherwise," Glass explains. "The music doesn't sit still because we can't in our daily lives," Gillon adds, mentioning how the band's lead single Negatives was inspired by the creepy thriller film One Hour Photo. Even the band's use of duelling vocalists is a platform in which to explore this idea of anxiety and paranoia. Clapperton tells us: "I mostly do the more shouted vocals, while Lewis tends to do the softer spoken lyrics. It's a balance we really liked being able to take advantage of and I think [it] works especially really well on [the band's latest single] Tapeworm."

Live, Bridal Shower are an entirely different beast, pushing all the nervous energy their punkier references expect while finding an outlet for the feelings of anxiety that permeate their debut record. As a result, the band have already supported such notable acts as Qui, Slowcoaches and most recently LVL UP as a result of their impressive live performances. "We have had some strange live experiences too," Gillon tells us. "We played a show in Aberdeen with two completely different sounding acts to us, one was a folk act if I recall, where we had to work the doors in order to get paid. We were told to keep our amps turned down due to recent noise complaints and most people wandered in looking for the toilet, so it's not always easy sailing." 

Ultimately there's a bright future ahead for Bridal Shower on the basis of their first year of existence, which Negatives will only cement. The four-piece are looking forward to launching their album at the band's studio space-cum-occasional-gig-venue, the Glassworks, as it will be a celebration of a year's hard work. Gillon beams: "We are proud of the record and can't wait to have it out there having been involved in its creation every step of the way." Adding: "If it's a success then maybe I can stop spending money on scratchcards just in case that funds us. One day."