Skinny-dipping with Errors

Steev from Errors has been on a booze sabbatical. He hasn’t touched a drop for a week and a half, which is astonishing for a 24 year-old member of a band who also works in a pub. They begin a UK tour to promote their forthcoming remix EP in October and are conscious of the heavy boozing that this will entail. “It’s because you get a big rider and feel obliged to drink it all,” Steev explains.

But tonight, thanks to The Skinny, they’re back on it. As a kind of pre-tour warm-up, the Errors boys take their favourite magazine’s art editor on a trip round all their old student haunts – some of Glasgow's best pubs amongst them – getting mashed along the way.

We start off in Mono, a bright and spacious bar in King’s Court on the very outer reaches of Merchant City. Steev works here, which means he spends an inordinate amount of time enjoying its unique ambience. It also houses one of Glasgow’s best independent record shops, Monorail, and serves vegetarian food daily.

Before long, the band start talking about the mental crap they get up to on tour. At this year’s Faraday Music Festival, Barcelona, for instance, they were the most pished they’ve ever been. Not on stage until late, they had all day to fire into the free bar and at one point changed a barrel themselves rather than waiting for staff to do it. "This led to James [the drummer] being naked on stage for the last song," Steev explains. And afterwards the whole band went skinny-dipping in the Med: "The sun came up as we were in the sea, pure bollock-naked, pretty pished – fucking hilarious."

Next up is Stereo. One of Glasgow’s most interesting music venues, it caters for cool dudes and suited city types alike, and offers an appropriately eclectic food menu that includes tapas and haggis fritters. Ignoring the mantra “eating’s cheating”, and agreeing that stomach ulcers are perhaps worse, we get in some food and talk about the good old days, and that.

The band formed when the three original members were studying in Glasgow. Steev studied Fine Art at The Glasgow School of Art, while Simon did Mathematics and Greg studied Dentistry at Glasgow University. They were later joined by James who, like all good drummers, only knows how to drum.

Their first ever gig was at The Glasgow School of Art’s student union, The Vic, where they used to all hang out on Thursdays, listening to the Record Playerz DJs, honing their already attuned electro sensibilities. "Aye, the Art School," Steev interjects, "a really great place."

At The Halt Bar on Woodlands Road somebody’s put on a Depeche Mode CD in apparent foreknowledge of the band’s tastes, and we find ourselves hanging about for a second pint. Someone pipes up: "I forget how much I like Depeche Mode."

As two of the skinniest men in Scotland we nonetheless removed our specs in preparation for a wrestle with some of Strathclyde University’s weediest louts.

Last up is Glasgow mainstay Nice 'n' Sleazy. Open until 3am every night, it’s the place to be if you want a cheeky half on your way home after a bit of school-night drinking. We’re joined by Andy from The Phantom Band just as I’m losing the ability to speak, and I soon leave them to it.

They assure me I didn’t miss much. Just a full-on bar brawl and a bit of skinny-dipping in the Clyde.