Left to right, Simon, Steev and James
Thanks to the extraordinary and downright awesome, third album, Have Some Faith in Magic, Errors have already had an incredible start to the New Year, even after a highly strenuous 2011. With the departure of their guitarist, Greg Paterson in October, followed by their studio roof collapsing months before the release date of their new track, it’s easily guessed that tensions ran high for the Scottish threesome. I meet main-brain, Stephen ‘Steev’ Livingstone, to sit down and find out what it was really like for them behind closed doors.
It’s important to highlight that Have Some Faith in Magic is the start of a new beginning for Errors. The time it took them to get to this point is certainly disheartening, considering they formed an extensive eight years ago. Yet, it is also a great escalation from the viciously unbending comparisons of label bosses; Mogwai. Have Some Faith in Magic wasn’t exactly the album fans were waiting for, more so the album they had hoped would eventually come along. The album that would at last, collapse the boring and indolent shadow that unfairly loomed over the undervalued band. Did this cause frustration or relief? Steev happily explains.
‘To me, I’ve always thought we were different, right from the start. There are elements of Mogwai in our music, but there are also elements of loads of different things. For me, it just seemed like people were being lazy because they’d see the link between Rock Action began by Mogwai and us. The music we make has never seemed like it was a Mogwai album. It is good that people are hopefully starting to forget about that. It has been a slight burden, every review would begin with Mogwai, but they’ve helped us a lot so I don’t want to criticize them.’
The breakthrough of this appears to be the transformation of taking their musical image and talent more proficiently. It’s Not Something But It’s Like Whatever and Come Down With Me, could be described as the two ‘experimental’ albums - music from a band still in the process of defining their own sound. And now- after developing from ‘post-electro’ to ‘pop-electro’, the birth of a braver, tighter and most significantly, distinguishing album is born.
Of course, along with this charismatic, new sound comes the string of overwhelming, kind words. In fact - it’s almost impossible to find a bad word to describe the album. The question was raised whether or not attention is paid towards these reviews. Are they essential, valued or merely brushed aside?
‘It’s really encouraging. We get sent every single review that ever gets written, even down to little regional things, so I see everything and I choose to read it all. I care about what people think about our music. I think it would be weird to be doing things and being ignorant about it. That would be foolish.’
The most enjoyable part of the album is the use of vocals- not that anyone is likely to sing along. Smartly created as part of the music, the Gregorian style chants and heavily distorted effects are beautifully synced with the floaty keyboards and complex guitar passages. Curiosity overcame of whether this was planned, or naturally generated.
‘We kind of made the decision before.’ Taking a thirsty gulp of his beer and pushing his trademark, oversized, round glasses up his nose, Steev carries on. ‘There are little tiny bits of vocals in the last record but its way in the background, you can barely hear them so we kind of toyed about with that. Until recently we hadn’t found a way of using vocals that we were happy with because we didn’t want to have prominent vocals. I don’t really like the idea of people being able to tell what the lyrics are. So yeah I guess we were waiting for that point where it felt right and it fell in place for this record.’
So can we expect actual lyrics in forthcoming albums or will their lyrics always be a part of the music? In his notable Glaswegian accent, Steev persists. ‘I can’t really say how that’s going to go at the moment because the next record won’t be until the next two years or so. I wouldn’t like to say we’ll never do that because originally, when we first started, I said in an interview we would never use vocals. You should never say never because who knows what’s going to happen. We’re always going to be trying something different...we’re never going to settle with doing one thing and that’s why every record has been different.’
The saddening departure of Greg had a shattering effect on the band as Steev reminisces. ‘He would always be the one on the bus making us laugh and now we’re dealing with him not being around.’ Instead of mopping around and missing a friend, Steev took it upon himself to seize control to ensure their music didn’t lose its quality. This led to Steev juggling between playing the keys and guitars, as well as performing vocals...a daunting prospect for any professional musician. ‘Yeah the touring thing has been difficult but he didn’t necessarily leave. It was more of a case of him having other commitments and not being able to be in a band as well. There are no hard feelings, he’s still a pal but we are slowly adjusting and its getting easier.’
Fortunately, their hard graft, endeavour and commitment in the previous year, has rewarded them massively. Have Some Faith in Magic is a liberating, explosion of organic sounds, blended perfectly together with swallowing vocals and ever-changing tempos, making a delicious cocktail of mind-blowing music that sounds even more captivating live. As they take to the stage, Steev is endlessly thankful towards the audience, maintaining his modesty and gratitude. They are truly fascinating to watch. The audience latch their eyes onto Simon, who is in a world of his own, drowning himself in the music and lapping up the invigorating atmosphere. James’ aggressive, drum playing is striking to say the least as he gives his absolute all with nothing but his bare hands, a pair of wooden drum sticks and whole load of hair whipping. As for Steev’s multi-tasking between a variety of instruments (without misplacing a single beat)- it can only be described as something astonishing.
The whole performance is dazzling and the audience leave mesmerized with more respect than ever before for Errors. From this point on, regardless of whatever else is thrown at them it’s clear to see that Errors, are in complete control and can no longer do any wrong.
Have Some Faith In Magic available now.
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