ON Record Store Day last month, The National visited Mono, the Glasgow venue-cum-vegan eaterie and bar which houses unmatched record shop Monorail Music. Even on approach, Hairband, the group playing live inside, sounded great.
A month previously, their tender, pretty Flying was released as part of Glasgow Nights, a compilation also featuring the likes of The Pastels, Out Lines, Franz Ferdinand, Mogwai and Sacred Paws in aid of anti-poverty charity Money Advice Scotland.
Inside the venue, they were even better, an indie rock delight of layered guitars, clattering beats and tight melodies, often sung in close harmony.
Standing in a row in front of drummer Emma Smith were three guitarists – Rowan Wright, Simone Wilson and Rachel Taylor – and one bassist – Sephi Lock. They seemed to communicate with each other without the need of words or even glances.
“Sometimes I’m scared that it looks like we’re all in our own world, and we’re not looking at anything,” says Wilson, who explains that the six got together as Hairband around the beginning of 2017. They had all known each other as friends first.
Wright explains: “Everyone was playing in other bands and we met through gigs and seeing the same bands. Sephi was the only one of us who hadn’t been in a band before and she got really into the idea of being in a band made up of women friends. She was key in getting us all together. We jammed for quite a bit when we started, before we ever started writing or properly playing together.”
When the six did begin writing, the process was, Wilson says, “totally collaborative”, with no one musician staking a claim as Hairband frontwoman. The first fruits of those sessions together are to be released soon as their Respect EP, a five-track slab on monorail records.
“I don’t think we could have ever expected our first EP to be on vinyl,” says Wright, after explaining that Monorail’s Stephen McRobbie and Michael Kasparis (who also runs Night School Records) caught the band live and “really liked us, which was amazing”.
Wright continues: “They have done so much for us and they are both very much: ‘Tell us how you want things done’. They don’t want to impede the creative process or change what image we have or anything. They just want to guide you to help make the best thing it can be. It’s very exciting.
“Everything about the process has been really interesting and totally positive with lots of new learning experiences. And we’re so much looking forward to finally getting the EP out.”
A common feature of tracks such as the slacker-rock-tinged Bubble Sword and the coiling, slinky White Teeth are close vocal harmonies, a tricky thing to master over playing an instrument.
“It’s definitely something that is hard,” says Wilson. “It’s really quite daunting to sing the middle bit when everyone else is singing the high bit.”
“We’d be lying if we said it was easy,” agrees Wright. “It’s getting to the stage where we will probably have to add in extra time for practising vocals. Especially as the practice space we currently use makes it difficult to hear everything. Trying to hear three-part harmonies can be difficult when you are hearing a whole other band playing in the next room.”
Wright adds: “It’s very much a case of practice makes perfect with us. There can be points where we’re like ‘are we doing too much here?’. But I feel it’s part of who we are as a band.”
“Yes, we’re messy people!” says Wilson. “Very messy.”
May 20 w/Mary Ocher and Sean Armstrong, The Old Hairdressers, Glasgow, 8pm, £8. Tickets: bit.ly/HairbandMary
May 24 w/Megan Airlie and Moonsoup, The Old Hairdressers, Glasgow, 7pm, £5
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