Spotlight On... Boab

When Robbie Houston started Sweaty Palms ten years ago he couldn't play any instruments, but he didn't let that stop him. This Friday, Houston releases Open Wider the Door, his debut solo album as Boab. It sees him continuing to focus more "on feeling rather than technicality", with an unwavering "devotion to intuitive non-professionalism." Of course, now, he can play the guitar.

A collection of songs inspired by Houston's difficult childhood growing up in Kinning Park, Open Wider the Door very much suits this approach to music making. Funded by Creative Scotland, the record is set for release on Friday 6 September and sees Houston tapping into a much more raw and vulnerable side of himself. We catch up with him to find out more, starting by learning more about his youth growing up in the southern suburb of Glasgow.

What was life like for you growing up in Kinning Park?
Looking back, things were very odd and confusing growing up there. There was a real working class conservatism and a general air of hostility in the air. I got picked on a lot for being a bit shy and a bit strange. I lived across the road from the Grand Master of the Orange Order and so they would do a wake-up call with all the drums and flutes before setting off to do the march. I was really fascinated by the whole thing. At home I was taught that the Orange Walk was to be avoided and that it was wrong and evil, so that inevitably made me more intrigued by it. I was told they were bigots, but on the other hand, I was taken to Ranger’s games (I had a season ticket), and I’d hear my stepdad singing sectarian songs.

So as I say, it was all very confusing and contradictory. There was also this feeling of isolation in KP, it was a lot more industrial than it is these days. It felt like I had little option of who I hung out with and for the most part I was bullied quite considerably. I had a high tolerance for unacceptable behavior towards me due to circumstances at home so it just felt normal to be picked on by my ‘friends’.

As I reached my teens I started running about the Gorbals where a lot of my school pals were from. There, I got into drinking and running about with a young team. It felt a lot more exciting than Kinning Park, I felt more accepted there for some reason and I felt a real rebellious camaraderie there. I did battle with this feeling of being an outsider – not being from there they all thought I was posh cause I lived in a front door house and my mum spoke ‘proper’. I was a tramp in KP and the toff in the Gorbals, go figure.

Why did you want to turn these experiences from your childhood into an album?
The experiences from my childhood have informed all of my work because they have defined my character in so many ways. I guess this time it just feels more obvious to me because I’ve been working on these issues in depth the past few years. I have used music as a tool for grieving – I believe making the music I have with my band Sweaty Palms really saved me in a lot of ways by sublimating a lot of anger, and on this album I’ve been exploring a more tender side of myself and getting in touch with the sadness. It felt like a very intuitive and natural shift musically for where I’m at in my life just now. I wouldn't say I explicitly talk about my childhood on the album but it certainly informed what I'm speaking about in a lot of the songs.

On the record it really feels like you've managed to distil true raw emotion into the music – album closer Who Are You is particularly affecting. What was the writing and recording experience like?
I stripped things right back for the writing process of this album. I just wrote all of it on acoustic guitar and added the trimmings after I had a song and lyrics. I was inspired by an interview with Michael Gira of Swans in which he spoke of his writing process. He said, "the song has to be good enough with just the guitar and the lyrics." I liked that idea, it’s a good place to start a song from, it can only really get better from there, unless you overcook it.

I actually thought the album was finished before I wrote Who Are You, I was just tinkering at my studio one day strumming those chords and making noises then out came this weird operatic vocal which was a totally new way of singing for me. That song feels very bold to me, it’s totally out of my comfort zone.

How did the process differ from your other work with Sweaty Palms, if at all?
Mostly just in the raw nature of the writing. I managed to get a lot more vulnerable with this stuff lyrically. In fronting a band, you kind of become the figurehead and I am aware that I’m writing lyrics for the band and those lyrics kind of represent everyone in the band in a way. So I can tend to be more objective with the lyrics in Sweaty Palms. With this album, I was a lot more explicit with it being personal and about my life and recovery.

You received funding from Creative Scotland to enable the making of this record. How vital was that funding for you? Would you have been able to have made the record otherwise, do you think? 
If I’m speaking truthfully, I would have made the record with or without that funding. However, who knows how long that might have taken or how good it would have sounded. I was able to go places a lot quicker with that support – experiment with session musicians and generally just turn over the ideas I had a lot sooner than I would have otherwise. It’s the other stuff like paying people and getting merch – I could have done it but it was nice not being totally out of a pocket at the end of a record for a change. It felt like I could really up my game with it.

I guess it was vital because it was done in a reasonable timescale and I can often get fed up with music if I’m working on it for too long. I’ve been doing music for ten years now and I’ve never had any money behind me and made it work. I prioritize it because it’s so important and fundamental to me. But the fund was a great cushion which gave me a lot of freedom and I feel lucky to have received it. It’s a travesty that they’ve cut it while spending millions on the military but I can’t say it surprised me.

What's next for Boab and this record beyond the release? Will there be live shows or anything special planned around its release, or for later in the year? 
I have a few shows in Glasgow starting with a preview of a music video directed by my friend and collaborator Laura Meek. It’ll be at the Listen Gallery on 27 September and I’ll be playing an intimate show, just me and my guitar, after the preview. Then on 18 October I’ll be playing a big headline show at The Glad Cafe with a band backing me, strings and the rest. I’m hoping to tour France in the new year before eventually vacating there because they actually do pay artists, for now at least. I’m already working on the next album which is taking another direction yet again.

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Open Wider the Door is released on 6 Sep; Boab plays Freakender, Glasgow, 6 Sep; Listen Gallery, Glasgow, 27 Sep; The Glad Cafe, Glasgow, 18 Oct

Follow Boab on Instagram @boab_____

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