With the release of their second album Ancient Astronauts, Glasgow based Holy Mountain unleashed another album full of psychedelic 70’s inspired heavy rock. Martyn Coppack was very impressed when he reviewed the album (see here) and asked drummer Pete Flett a bunch of questions.
(((o))): First up, can you introduce yourselves and give us a mini band history, please?
Pete: I'm Pete. I'm the driving force behind the band. Literally ... I'm the only one that has a license. Andy [McGlone] plays guitar and farts, Allan [Stewart] plays bass and travels the world.
I suppose the band history properly starts when Allan joined. That's when things definitely took a turn for the worse, and here we are now...
(((o))): Let's get straight to the new album Ancient Astronauts. There's a very vintage feel about it, how was it recorded and was this the aim?
Pete: Cool. The production approach was fairly modern. Multi-miked drums with plenty of room mic options, combinations of different heads and cabs for guitars, through a SSL AWS948 desk and some choice outboard into Pro Tools at Chem19 Studios.
I think the vintage feel probably comes more from our state-of-mind when we were writing and the type of gear we play. I've got a '65 Ludwig kit, Andy plays through some pretty cool amps (a '73 OR120, a Dynacord from the '50s) and Allan has a 70's Rickenbacker through a Laney Supergroup. Straight away, that's subconsciously going to make people think of older recordings, even if they know nothing about gear or recording techniques.
As with the last album, the aim was to get live band takes that felt right, which we did in about 8-10 hours. No point fucking about doing hundreds of takes so that everything is note perfect and bang on time. That's not what it sounds like when we jam or play gigs, so why make an album that is a false representation of how we sound?
Then Andy spent a couple more sessions doing guitar overdubs/solos/weird shit, Graeme Smillie added some cool keys, and I think I engineered the vocals on 3 or 4 songs while Paul Savage started the mixing.
(((o))): Where do the ideas for songs come from, do you just jam them out or do you all come in with your own pieces?
Pete: Some of the songs were around from just after we recorded the first album, which was actually about 3 years ago now, maybe longer. Others were written, refined and in some cases ditched as we approached recording Ancient Astronauts. In fact, my favourite song on the album is one we pretty wrote the day before we recorded it.
(((o))): What about the lyrics? What inspires you?
Pete: There were a few inspirations, mainly stemming from stupid conversations we have about mythology and time-travel, completely unaided by smoking weed. Seriously.
(((o))): the album seems to work as a whole rather than a set of songs, was this the plan and is this how you like to work?
Pete: It wasn't planned, but there is a thematic arc that runs throughout the album. As it happens, I noticed when I started to listen to the mixes, a clear progression suggested itself. We were hampered by the running times of 12", but one small change to running order actually made it flow even better.
(((o))): How does this transpire in the live show? Do the songs become extended jams or is there a set structure to it?
Pete: It really depends on the gig. At the album launch in Glasgow we just played the album start to finish, with a couple of sections with looser jam sections, mainly in ‘Luftwizard’. That's a 100% jam number.
(((o))): What has been the reaction of the audience to the new songs and how do you see the live show progressing as you (hopefully) move to bigger venues?
Pete: It's hard to gauge really. Put it this way, we've never come to the end of a song and been greeted with a wall of silence.
(((o))): Have you got any takes of rock and roll excess on tour?
Pete: What happens on tour, stays on tour. Except for all the weight you've put on and the dirty laundry
(((o))): What does the Glasgow scene have to offer these days? In the past it was all Orange Juice and jangly indie...
Pete: Glasgow has a very rich and diverse range of music, from the jangly indie you refer to right through to lo-fi punk, chart bothering pop, black metal and singer-songwriters. I'm not going to lie and say that everything that comes out of Glasgow is great, but there is definitely a lot to be celebrated. I should probably drop names of some of our friends; The Twilight Sad, Rungs, Halfrican, Chvrches, The Phantom Band, RM Hubbert, Admiral Fallow, Remember Remember and of course, the mighty Mogwai.
(((o))): Hometown gigs or playing in front of a new crowd?
Pete: Both please.
(((o))): With festival season approaching, what would be your perfect line up?
Pete: Jimi Hendrix '70, Black Sabbath '71, Deep Purple '72 and Led Zep '73. And us opening to no-one
(((o))): Talking of your favourite bands, who did you grow up listening to and who do you listen to now
Pete: We all have very different backgrounds. For instance, Andy listened to a lot of Meat Loaf when he was really young. I was more of an indie kid in my early teens until I bought Pantera’s Far Beyond Driven, and that was that. Our taste as a band changes quite a lot. We listened to a lot of Deep Purple running up to the new album, but on recent tours we've been listening to more proggy-fusion type stuff - Return to Forever, Mahavishnu, etc.
(((o))): What do you think of Metallica headlining Glastonbury...is this somewhere you would like to play and can you see your music being accepted there?
Pete: It was just a matter of time. They're probably the most accessible of the big 4, and they're definitely going to cater their set to the crowd I reckon. Loads of Sandmans and not so many Dyer's Eves. I'd advise people to go see Mogwai instead.
You can forward our email address to the Eavis's.
(((o))): If you could go back in time...what gigs would you have liked to have been at?
Pete: I wish I could go back to our first gigs and laugh at how mental we were. Drum kits on top of tables, Andy outside playing in the street, playing 3 gigs in a night, one of which being in a van between the first and last gigs. Idiots...
(((o))): Whats your favourite biscuit?
Pete: The Seabiscuit.
(((o))): And finally...do you have a message for our readers?
Pete: Do as we say, not as we do and smoke fucking weed.
