Django Django's Tommy Grace looks forward to Stag & Dagger and RBS Museum Lates gigs
Glasgow city festival Stag & Dagger returns in a lower-key format than usual this May, but there’s abundant quality nevertheless, from Death Grips to White Denim, the Phantom Band and Bear in Heaven. And Django Django, whose uncategorisable distillation of rockabilly, surf, pop and psychedelia has yielded one of 2012’s most acclaimed debut albums – the unique product of a band born of the ‘cosmopolitan sound’ of their East London base, but with one foot placed firmly in Scotland, where they formed at Edinburgh College of Art.
Temporarily ensconced in a house outside of Pittenweem during second album writing sessions, keys and electronics boffin Tommy Grace reflects on a whirlwind and occasionally weird year that’s taken the four-piece from bedroom project to favourites of, um, Karl Lagerfeld. ‘We played the Chanel party at Paris Fashion Week; it was quite strange,’ Grace reports, ‘he’s a cool dude.’ Stranger still – meeting Chris Isaak on French TV. ‘For a moment I literally thought I was dreaming.’
The Djangos approach touring cautiously – ‘we’ve all got girlfriends’ – by trying to pick their live shows and keep them interesting with playful visuals (apt to incorporate all from venetian blinds to medieval smocks). Something special is promised when they precede Stag & Dagger with a set at RBS Museum Lates at the National Museum of Scotland, as arranged in conjunction with The List. ‘When I lived in Edinburgh my flat looked right into the museum,’ Grace enthuses. ‘It’ll be very much a homecoming, Edinburgh’s where we all met – it’s the birthplace of the band, even if we had our adolescence in London.’
Django Django play RBS Museum Lates at the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, Fri 18 May; Stag & Dagger, various venues, Glasgow, Sat 19 May. See the PCL Presents Facebook page for line-up info.