How did you spend your lockdown?
The usual stuff, right? Watching lots of Netflix, trying out new recipes, attempting to land the #1 album on the UK album charts. . . oh, not that last one? Suppose you're not a member of Mogwai, then.The Scottish post-rock veterans released their excellent tenth studio album 'As The Love Continues' in 2021, and with it came a campaign to get their first-ever #1 album.
In their classic Glasgow style of humour, the band were doing the whole thing with a bit of a wink – but, in perhaps the funniest punchline possible, their joking ways actually pulled the feat off. "It still kind of blows my mind," Stuart Braithwaite says, one of the band's two guitarists and a founding member of Mogwai.
"A few of our friends were joking about it after the fact – we got a #1 album for the first time in our career after 25 years or whatever, and we couldn't go on tour for it.
"A friend of ours put it best: 'It's the most Mogwai thing that could have ever happened.' Not that I'm complaining, of course – we've been making up for the lack of touring like crazy ever since."
Indeed, Mogwai are firmly reacquainted with the road as they head into 2024. They've got what Braithwaite describes as "a pretty hectic six months" ahead of them, which can be broken down into three parts.
The first is finishing their world tour in support of 'As The Love Continues', which will bring them to Australia for the first time in eight years this month. The guitarist is quick to assure they're not in the business of playing the same show every single night – if not for the audience's sanity, then certainly their own.
"We usually rehearse two sets of songs and then change it around every night," he says. "Otherwise, it just kind of drives us nuts. We also know that when we go on big tours, there are always a handful of fans that will see us multiple nights.
"We'd never want one of them to come up and bemoan seeing the same 14 songs as the night before. My philosophy is that every show should be a little different in its own way, anyway."
The second part is the impending release of their new documentary, 'If The Stars Had A Sound'. Directed by Antony Crook, who has previously worked with the band on several music videos, it follows the band through the pandemic recording of 'As The Love Continues' and the hurdles faced therein.
"It was just going to be a 10-minute thing for YouTube, but it just grew and grew," Braithwaite says. "[Antony] was gonna come film us recording in upstate New York and playing some shows, but then everything obviously got cancelled.
"He'd already started making the film though – and besides, everything became a lot more interesting after that anyway. It presented a lot of challenges, and I think Antony really portrayed just what a weird time it was for us all. I'm looking forward to people seeing it."
Lastly, and crucially for fans, Braithwaite confirms that Mogwai will begin proper work on album number 11. Even with a lot going on, the guitarist is looking forward to bunkering down to go deep on the recording process.
"I'm pretty excited with where it's at," he says. "I'd say it's about 80 per cent written, and what we've got is some pretty excellent music. We have definitely been less prepared this close to recording an album, I'll say that much."
Mogwai 2024 Tour Dates
Wed 14 Feb - Rechabite Hall (Perth)Thu 15 Feb - Rechabite Hall (Perth)
Mon 19 Feb - Forum Melbourne
Wed 21 Feb - The Tivoli (Brisbane)
Fri 23 Feb - Mona Foma (Hobart)
Sun 25 Feb - Hindley Street Music Hall (Adelaide)
Tue 27 Feb - Enmore Theatre (Sydney)
