MUSIC: The View settle down for Glasgow date

THE View's Kyle Falconer follows one piece of advice when he gears up for a gig ...

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The View frontman Kyle Falconer
The View frontman Kyle Falconer

'drink responsibly'.

The group are currently powering through a 20-date UK tour, stopping off at the O2 Academy tomorrow night.

They've already played two summer festivals, including T in the Park last Saturday, and squeezed in an in-store performance in HMV in Glasgow's Buchanan Street the following day.

"We've got loads on so I'm concentrating on trying to stay sober," Kyle says. "We've been working like maniacs."

It's a far cry from 2006 when the indie band first burst on to the scene and soon became known for their controversial antics.

Lead singer Kyle, 25, was charged with cocaine possession in 2007, resulting in the Dundee band being denied visas to enter America to take part in their second US tour. But the group seems to have settled down a little now: they all have girlfriends and live in different locations across the country.

But Kyle says they're still quite wild: "We've only got a couple of days off in this tour and I'm just coming to, but I feel like I'm caning it as much as when I'm usually on tour," he says.

The group have a dedicated fan base and, during their recent Rockness stint, the tent became so crowded they were forced to stop the performance.

Kyle, bassist Kieran Webster, 26, guitarist Pete Reilly, 26, and drummer Steven Morrison – known as Mo, 25 – were playing in a venue with a capacity of 2500. But hundreds more tried to squeeze in and almost took the tent down.

"It was a bit scary," says Kyle. "The tent started to collapse. We were four songs in but we had to stop so people would stop pulling the tent down.

"But it worked out for the best because we played the next day to about 15,000."

They then went on to T in the Park with their Saturday slot – playing under the pseudonym, the Dryburgh Soul Band, thought to be due to a contractual clause which stated that the only festival they were allowed to play was Rockness.

"T in the Park has always been amazing," says Kyle. "It's the sixth time we've done it."

He says the band is looking forward to playing in Glasgow again.

"It's always a pure, mental gig in Glasgow," says Kyle, who says the View have performed in various city venues "umpteen times" and enjoyed every one.

"We get a better crowd in Glasgow than we do in Dundee. New Year in George Square was a good laugh.

"We had to go America the next day and they weren't going to let us on the plane because we were a mess."

The group released their fourth album, Cheeky for a Reason, on Monday. It follows their Mercury-nominated No.1 debut, Hats Off To The Buskers, the follow-up, Which Bitch and 2011's Bread & Circuses.

The new album was recorded at Liverpool's Motor Museum Studios with producer Mike Crossey, who has also worked with the Arctic Monkeys.

Kyle says the sound is not far off their signature indie pop anthems and they've tried to keep it "stripped back". The band's influences are Oasis and Fleetwood Mac.

"We've just picked 12 songs and recorded them instead of recording loads of sounds and picking what we want to put on it," says Kyle.

In between the madness of touring Kyle recently moved into a new flat in London with his girlfriend, Glasgow singer Carly Connor.

However, he's still not had time to unpack.

"I've just got a new flat and I keep saying I'm going to get it fixed up but I've just got boxes lying all over the place ..

"I'm trying to avoid it," he says.

He has discovered a way to be in Scotland while living in the UK capital.

"I've found this virtual golf course in Soho where you play St Andrews but it's in a computer," he says.

"You can just sit there, have a couple of beers and play golf. It's cool."

The singer is unlikely to move back to Dundee any time soon. He says "randoms come up wanting a fight all the time" in the city in which he was born, whereas in London he doesn't get bothered at all.

Kyle says if The View hadn't taken off he would still be in the covers band he started at the age of 14.

"I don't know anything different," he says. "We've never really had any time off, so it's a whirlwind and you don't really notice. One of the perks of the job is that you can do what you want.

"That's what you get in a band for, isn't it?"

n The View play Glasgow's O2 Academy on Thursday, July 12, 7pm

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