Tuning Into The Dials

Quick, head for the hills! The record industry is dying! Read the headlines and you'd conclude that all bands everywhere would starve to death tomorrow without the cocoon of a prosperous record industry. So what if they fleece everyone else involved, from the artists through to the punter? They mean well, and without them, we'd never get to hear music, right? What's a little corporate greed between fans eh?

One band not subscribing to this at the moment is The Dials. In fact, sitting with singer Joe, you get the impression that he's not really that big a fan of record labels at all.

"We probably won't end up talking to a label for a couple of years, which is the way I want it. A fanbase for us is leverage, and if we did sign now, all we'd be doing is the same dates in the same places and giving all the money to a label. I used to think there was a line in the sand, signed and unsigned, but it's just not like that now.

"Our EP actually came from a chat we had with Idlewild, who were DJ-ing at a Cabaret Voltaire show we did - they said to call a guy named Marcus, said he'd be perfect for a band at the stage we were at, and it worked out brilliantly.

"I really wanted someone to be able to criticise and to say that's not working, but this is, or someone who wasn't afraid to say 'that's shite'. As a result, the EP's been a great learning experience. So the EP's all made, the tour's set up and basically we're doing exactly what we'd be doing if we were signed to a label."

The aptly titled Keep Me Running EP sounds a lot bigger, more polished than their earlier, urgent tracks of the last few years, and a truckload more Rock than you might expect, taking its cues from mid-period Paul Westerberg, Bob Mould, and Dave Grohl. Joe's voice has come on in huge great leather-trousered strides, and couldn't be further from the stuttering, arched eybrow indiepop that Scotland often gets tagged with as its national artform.

"Every few years, the NME - not my favourite magazine - will say how Scotland's the place to be. It's weird. Nothing ever changes up here, but it's like they only notice it every now and again.

"It's a bit tougher in Edinburgh, but Scotland as a whole is a great place to be if you're in a band, it's pretty easy to get access to people who've done it before.

"We were in the studio just finishing it all off, and Johnny ran into Gary Lightbody. On the way home that same night, we're in the chippy and it's Barry from The Fratellis. Johnny just piles up to him all 'Alriight, Bazzah', we get chatting, and end up going round to their studio they've now got set up. I'm not convinced that would happen anywhere else but Scotland."

It looks like The Dials are getting it all pretty much their own way. DIY tours, an EP, exposure via Xfm and Radio 1, a growing reputation and all this with youth still firmly on their side. But chasing the stars doesn't always yield good results.

"One night we were out with Hot Hot Heat, and I was trying to get them to say something nice about us, and they wouldn't - having not even heard the demo yet - and I'm saying 'C'mon, give me something', and the absolute very best I could get was 'I like your jacket'. Not really one for the press release is it?"