Music Q&A: The LaFontaines

You’ve signed a record deal… This must be an exciting time for you as a band.
It feels for the first time that someone in the industry has actually got our back and has the same vision we do for the band. We’ve been doing this since we were at school 10 years ago and there have been a lot of people involved over the years but with no fruit to bear. It’s been a fantastic start with the label and things are looking to get even better.

What has changed recently for the band?
We’ve done loads of great support tours as a band but were never able to capitalise on it by doing our own gigs a few weeks after them. This is the first time where we’ve had the opportunity to go back out and play the same places and create more of a following, especially in Europe. The calibre of songs we’re beginning to produce is stronger than ever too and it’s all finally starting to take shape.

Did you make a conscious decision to make more upbeat music, or did it just happen with the change in line-up?
It’s not a conscious decision to be more upbeat, however the confidence and the optimism that we currently have as a group is at an all-time high. That might just be from the way everything is starting to pan out. Also, the producer we’re currently working with in Glasgow is also the best person we’ve ever used and has let us do our own thing.

What are you up to at the moment artistically?
We’ve got a massively busy few months ahead of us and we’re booked right up until next summer so far. Whenever we are home we get back into the studio even if it’s just for a day or two. There’s maybe another five or six songs nearly finished and the bones of another ten or so. We’re thinking of spending a good few weeks in January doing as much as we can. I reckon there will be another album late summer 2019.

You’ve got the ‘Up’ Tour coming up, what can fans expect? 
For the first time, we are actually selling a good amount of tickets outside the home turf. This is exciting and the venues have all been another step higher on the circuit ladder. This will be by far the best headline tour we’ll have done. We just need to keep going back so the crowds get bigger to the size of shows we’re used to playing in Scotland.

You are going to India in December, what do you have planned?
We cannot wait to go to India! It came about from sitting next to a one of the guys from the label at dinner one night. He had just bought John Lennon’s old flat in St John’s Wood in London. I was telling him that I was a massive fan. He had been in India extensively prior to this meeting, and he was saying how he was working on a new Beatles film about their time in India as loads of new footage had been discovered. I told him I’d always wanted to go and jokingly asked if he could get us any gigs over there. He said he could. And a few days later, we had an offer in for what’s known as ‘The Happiest Music Festival’. It’s going to be something else.

The LaFontaines play The Deaf Institute in Manchester on 20 Sept, Liverpool Arts Club on 24 Sept and Leeds Oporto on 25 Sept.