The Skinny On... Sacred Paws

What’s your favourite place to visit?
Eilidh Rodgers: At this point I’d love anywhere that isn’t Glasgow. 
Rachel Aggs: Category Is Books in Glasgow – I have to be careful not to go too often though because I buy too many books.

What’s your favourite colour?
ER: The blue you find in old 60s photos, obviously I wasn’t alive in the 60s but it makes me feel strangely nostalgic. 
RA: Definitely green – I feel like that colour covers a lot of bases, there are infinite different greens just outside my window… My Telecaster is also a really nice sea green and if I find clothes that colour I buy them so I match my guitar.

Who was your hero growing up?
ER: The whale from Free Willy.
RA: Sun Ra, because he said he was from outer space and I often felt like an alien as a kid…and as an adult too!

Whose work inspires you now?
ER: Anyone who did something creative during the pandemic. What a strange time! I especially loved Rachel’s solo tape! 
RA: Beverly Glenn-Copeland, I think his music is totally unique and full of soul.

What’s your favourite meal to cook at home?
ER: My partner taught me to make a delicious dhal. It’s perfect comfort food for winter.
RA: Peanut and kale curry from Bryant Terry’s Afro-Vegan book – cheap and easy.

What three people would you invite to a dinner party?
ER: Someone who can cook and two of my friends.
RA: Mavis Staples, Beverly Glenn-Copeland and Marshall Allen from the Sun Ra Arkestra – I just know there would great stories told and hopefully some singing.

What’s the worst film you’ve ever seen?
ER: A Castle for Christmas, it’s in the name really. I was forced to watch it!
RA: I recently saw Black Widow and was amazed by how unimaginative and boring it was. Even Scarlett Johansson looked bored. I usually have a lot of time for B movies and bad/weird/camp art in general but I think expensive bad films are just depressing.

What’s your favourite album?
ER: This is an impossible question but maybe Arthur Russell's Another Thought because it always feels as beautiful and inspiring as the first time I heard it.
RA: The Raincoats' self-titled album never fails to inspire me and lift my spirits. It is truly uncompromising music made by really talented people, but it also sounds like something you would make with your friends, it makes things feel possible.

What are you listening to right now?
ER: Some songs from the forthcoming Molly Nilsson record. As always it’s amazing!
RA: The album Zöe by Nightshift is a beautiful kaleidoscope of different sounds and feelings, somehow calming and motivating at the same time, highly recommended.

Are there any artists you're really excited about for 2022?
ER: Julie Doiron just released her first record in eight years – I really hope she tours next year! Molly Nilsson’s new record! And the new Big Thief record will be amazing, I’m sure. They were one of the last bands I saw pre-pandemic and they were incredible! 
RA: Glasgow band Comfort have been playing new songs live lately and I'm really excited for their next record.

How have you stayed inspired since the beginning of the pandemic?
ER: I really didn’t. I lost months of my life watching Grey's Anatomy, all 17 seasons.
RA: Honestly it's been a struggle! I have played a lot of video games but also learnt how to use various synths and samplers that lend themselves to different ways of writing music.

What book(s) would you read if you had to self-isolate for the next ten days?
ER: I’d read Ocean Vuong's On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous for the second time because it’s beautiful and it also reminds me of the summer when I first read it and life before winter.
RA: I love comics and at the start of lockdown I got into the Death Note series. There’s 12 in total and I'm only up to book six currently so I’d probably get a few more of them.

Who’s the worst?
ER: It feels like there are too many contenders to choose just one.
RA: People without empathy for the most vulnerable in our society.

When did you last cry?
ER: Post-pandemic I cry at the drop of a hat. [Spoiler alert!] Probably season four of Dexter when his wife is murdered.
RA: Today, watching Maid on Netflix. It's very moving.

What are you most scared of?
ER: The Tories, they’re terrifying.
RA: I'm quite scared of birds but it's not a phobia as such… I know it doesn’t exist but I hate the concept of a human fused with a bird like the mythical harpy, like that’s the most horrible scary thing I can imagine for some reason.

When did you last vomit?
ER: I rarely vomit but I recently got norovirus. It was bleak.
RA: A few months ago, I think I had a stomach flu.

Tell us a secret?
ER: Rachel plays fiddle in a band with their parents.
RA: I play fiddle in a band with my parents.

Which celebrity could you take in a fight?
ER: Someone weak. Woody Allen.
RA: Honestly, none, I'm very weak.

If you could be reincarnated as an animal, which animal would it be?
ER: A baby elephant, they’re so cute and clumsy.
RA: A sloth because they just seem chill and happy.

What was the best thing that happened to you in 2021?
ER: To be honest, it’s been so nice to play shows again. The first one back felt euphoric! Oh and I also learned to drive!
RA: My partner gave me a kayak and we went out to some lochs and paddled about. Scotland is beautiful and being on the water is so calming and blissful.

Do you have any exciting plans for 2022?
ER: Some shows with Fucked Up at the end of March, which we’re psyched for! And a holiday outside the UK, literally anywhere.
RA: Make more music!

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Sacred Paws support Fucked Up at Stereo, Glasgow, 4 Apr

sacredpaws.co.uk