Good morning,
We hope the weekend was everything you’d hoped for and more. In today’s edition we have a good old chin wag with Jack Cochrane from Scottish indie rockers The Snuts. We thought the conversation was going to largely be about the band’s forthcoming second album, Burn The Empire, but instead found Jack waxing lyrical about everything from veteran Labour MP Tony Benn to the pros and cons of Scottish independence and the unheralded genius of Adam Sandler. It’s a conversational rollercoaster, so strap yourselves in and enjoy the ride. First though, make sure you click the button down there to subscribe and receive every edition of The New Cue straight to your inbox three times a week. Safety first, yeah?
Enjoy the edition,
Ted, Niall and Chris
Start The Week With… The Snuts
Formed in Whitburn, West Lothian by schoolmates Jack Cochrane, Joe McGillveray, Jordan Mackay and Callum Wilson, The Snuts earned themselves a reputation as one of the most exciting new live bands in Scotland, winning over a small army of devoted teenage fans in the process. Their 2019 debut album, W.L (short for Whitburn Loopy) went straight to number one in April 2021 and in October they’ll be releasing their second, Burn The Empire. Chris spoke to frontman and chief songwriter Cochrane recently to find out about that and whole lot more besides…
Hi Jack.
Yo, man, how’s it going?
Not too bad thanks. Whereabouts are you?
I’m at home in Glasgow. It’s nice to be home, but it’s pretty miserable in Glasgow at the moment. This is our summer.
Did the unprecedented heatwave circumnavigate Glasgow, then?
We get one or two days a year and then everybody loses their fucking minds for the day. It gets pretty feral.
Sounds fun. Have you had much time off this summer?
Not really. This is the first time we’ve had any time off this year. We’ve been doing a lot of support shows which is nice, it gets us excited for the headline shows.
You supported Louis Tomlinson recently, how was that?
It was great. It was such a great opportunity for us as a band. We always like to try and get out there to different types of people. In my opinion, indie music can be kind of pigeon-holed and you find yourself playing in front of the same people all the time and at the same festivals and in the same venues. It’s been a great opportunity for us just to go out in front of a different crowd of fans and play all the different places that we would never do. In Belgium, we played in front of 10,000 people. What an opportunity that is. Louis’ been great, man. He’s a great guy. He’s done a lot for us.
Do you reckon you won over quite a lot of One Direction fans, then?
Yeah, man! It’s nice because I think can open their eyes up a bit. We play pretty heavy music at times and it was getting great reactions. I don’t think there has to be a specific genre or a specific audience for things. We can play in front of One Direction fans and still feel that energy. It’s nice to break down some walls.
Your first album came out in April last year and went to number one. You’ve just gotten off tour supporting it and now the next one is coming out in a few weeks. Would it be fair to say you didn’t suffer from ‘difficult second album syndrome’?
I think it was probably precisely because we grew up watching other bands make that transition from the first record to the second that we were expecting to feel that pressure instantly. As soon as that record was out, we were thinking about the next one. But we went in with the attitude: ‘Let’s just make a record’. This doesn’t need to feel like a second record, it doesn’t matter how the first record did or how it sounded, we’ll just go in and make a record and let it be free-flowing. I think it worked out pretty well. It was more enjoyable to make compared to the last fucking one anyway!
You recently described your last single, Rodeo, as like the Daniel Craig film Cowboys And Aliens…
Yeah, man. That’s a fucking classic.
If you were to describe the new album as a film, what would it be?
That’s a tough one. It’s definitely an emotional rollercoaster of a film. I’d say if every Adam Sandler film ever was made into one film, then it would probably be that. There’s some humour in there, some serious stuff, there’s a lot of self-doubt and self-reflection, a lot of hope in there. There’s also a lot of hard-hitting political stuff…
I’m going to have to stop you there, Jack. What Adam Sandler film features a lot of hard-hitting political stuff?
The one that’s not out yet! His next one.
I’ll take your word for it.
Adam Sandler is incredible, man. He’s so underrated. He’s got an empire of some of the greatest films ever made. I actually don’t think there’s a bad Adam Sandler film. I even like that one where he’s got a remote control and can go backwards and forwards in time [2006’s Click in case anyone was wondering].
In the video for Rodeo, you went to an actual rodeo.
Yeah. When we were playing that song in the studio, I didn’t have any words for the chorus so just as a placeholder I went: La, la, la, la – olé! Almost as a joke. Our producer went – Stop the tape! Did you just say olé? So we got this Spanish themed song out of nowhere, then by chance we found ourselves about to have this single out while we were on tour in Mexico so we thought, ‘Fate has brought us to this moment, let’s go to a rodeo and shoot the video.’
Was it your first time?
In Mexico?
No, at a rodeo.
Oh yeah, 100%. There’s definitely no rodeos in Glasgow. A few gunfights though.
So next time you go to one you can now legitimately say to people: ‘This ain’t my first rodeo…’
Exactly!
You mentioned the album having some hard-hitting political stuff in there and the first track starts with a speech by Tony Benn. Would you say this is your political record?
There’s aspects of that in there. I think this time around, instead of trying to hide our opinions or where we are in our lives in the lyrics, we’ve been a lot bolder and braver in the places where we’ve had something to say. It felt easy and more comfortable just to be able to say it. There’s a nice balance of political and feel-good or sad songs. It feels important to be able to say as an artist, ‘these are the things that we believe in’.
Were you political people outside of music before?
I think everybody has opinions that ultimately stem into their politics. Everyone has these frustrations that things could be better for everybody. I don’t think you have to be a super political person to have these opinions and that’s something we’d like to encourage more. We’d like to be more inclusive in that want for change. And Tony Benn is a G, man. I’ve been reading his diaries. It’s such an unusual thing with someone from his background of privilege. It would be nice to have more people like that, people who come from a background of privilege but want to make change for everybody.
We might have a new Prime Minister by the time this comes out. I’m guessing you’re not a fan of either of the candidates?
It’s horrific. How do we keep ending up in this? Coming from Scotland, I feel that we never really have a say on who’s going to be the Prime Minster. But, in the last ten years, no one’s really chosen. It feels like we’ve just moved from one guy who’s given up to the next guy who gives up. It doesn’t feel like a democracy. It doesn’t feel like people are actually getting to choose who is in charge. I’m reading this book at the moment called Chums about what goes on at Oxford College and it’s something like eleven of the last 15 Prime Ministers have come from Oxford. We need to start balancing that out.
Do you think Scottish independence might be a way to have more of a democratic say?
I don’t know. I don’t really have an informed opinion on that. I’m more of a greater good kind of guy. Everyone in Scotland has got so much in common with people in England, I don’t think leaving them behind is the greatest idea, I think we should be in it together. But I don’t really have an informed opinion on it. That’s my honest answer.
Sorry, we’ve veered quite far off-topic.
I know! This is like Question Time.
OK, here’s a gentler one. The other members of The Snuts have known each other since they were three-years-old, whereas you met them when you were ten. Do they still consider you the new guy?
I hope not!
What are the advantages of being in a band with people you’ve known for half your life?
We have faith in each other and we’re always willing to see each other’s ideas through. We work together as a unit, always. And I think you can hear that in our music. It’s not just other people playing along to my songs, we all have our moments to shine. It’s nice to be on the journey and share the ups and downs with people you’ve known for such a long time.
Also, it must be easier being on a tour bus with people who you’ve worked out what their annoying habits are a long, long time ago.
Yeah. Nobody pushes anybody’s buttons.
Thanks for talking to us, Jack
Cheers, thanks very much.
CC