King Biscuit Flower Hour

Interview		of Stuart Adamson
		This recording represents what I think was an absolutely incredible year for us. We had started off the year playing in clubs in England just trying to kinda build a following up as a band. And kinda get out there and let people see what we were doing and what we were about. At that time in England most of the music that was being successful was a kind of synthesizer-orientated pop music, which is kind of really very lightweight and very kind of—just kind of sort of artificial sounding almost. I had always wanted a band that played loud rock music but did it without having to wear spandex trousers and have explosions on stage and all that kind of stuff. I wanted to make a kind of rock music that had integrity and that was about subject matters that rock music normally didn't deal with—songs about real people and about the way they lived and the frustrations they felt and their hopes and fears and how things went for them. And the year as I said kind of starting off playing in clubs in England, and suddenly with the release of the first album we just kind of broke everywhere in the world. People jumped all over the first record and we went from kind of being a band who was trying to build up a following in clubs to suddenly being in demand everywhere at once. Things kind of just went crazy—the whole year was kind of a blur of touring and doing promotional work and just kind of an endless round of that. We did a first major tour of the United States towards the end of that year and it was just absolutely fantastic. Audiences reacted unbelievably towards us and people just seemed to really catch up on the spirit of what we were doing and what we were trying to achieve, and musically and lyrically I think that guitar music has always been a kinda real source of rock and roll, and we were a guitar band—and still are. And this show—in fact it was two shows in fact—at the Barrowlands Ballroom in Glasgow in Scotland. The Barrowlands Ballroom, to let you know, is like this kinda really old place from when going out dancing was going out dancing, has a big huge sprung wooden floor, which means that when the crowd starts getting into the music the whole building just rocks out. It's a fantastic place to play—maybe one of the best rock venues in the world. The people there really get into the music and the whole scenario is just really exciting and sometimes you get so caught up in it you forget you are actual on the stage in a band and you just think you are part of this whole atmosphere that's going on. It's an unbelievable place to play. So we felt that at the end of the year it would be great to capture that kind of spirit—the spirit that had followed us around during all of our touring. We decided that we were going to not only tape the show for a live recording, but it was actually going to be videoed to. So I guess there was kind of a lot of pressure on the band to perform that night. We actually decided because of the licensing laws in Scotland that we would do two shows—one in the afternoon for kids who were under the legal drinking age so they could get in and see the band, and then one at night to kind of celebrate the new year and be the one that would be showed for the video. So the day was a real, real long day, we had just come back from a fairly grueling American tour and the day itself seemed to take forever to go by. It was a really long soundcheck because we had to check not only for the sound in the hall, but for the sound going to video and the sound going to the live recorder. By the time it came time to actually go on stage I think we were so keyed up that it was a real release for us to actually get out there and to actually make the recording. The new year in Scotland is a real special time. I think it has always been a time when people take stock of where they've been and what they've been up to and where they hope to go to in the future. It's always seen as a real time of rebirth and a real time for being hopeful and being optimistic and just kind of celebrating that, well, thank goodness that's that year out of the way—let's get on with the next one. The actual scenario itself was fantastic—the crowd was really up for the gig and we were really up for it, and we had a kind of special thing going on where we had a pipe band come in just after the bells had rung in the new year, and kind of played some real traditional Scottish tunes, and the crowd really got up for that. I remember coming off stage after the show and just kind of feeling really drained. Quite often when you come off stage after a show you are kind of pumped with adrenaline and you are still really up and excited about it. But I remember, even this far after the time, feeling kinda really drained thinking about the year that we'd had and how unbelievable it had been and just that for me it had been the culmination of a long period of kinda of wanting to put this band together and what the style of the band was going to be and the music that we wanted to make. And I really look back on that year with a lot of satisfaction and a lot of pleasure. Subsequent to the Barrowlands show we were to go back to America and tour again and be nominated for the Grammy's and actually appear on the Grammy's show and perform there and it was just an absolutely unbelievable period to have so much happen to us in what seemed like such a short space of time.