Interview: Papa Hotel
Papa Hotel have gone through a few key changes in personnel, and had to balance the perils of working life with the joy of children and other commitments. Yet sitting in front of me in a local pub is the final line-up. If audiences receive them with the same level of enthusiasm and energy they display while together they can expect to become well-known soon.
Lead vocalist, and songwriter Alex “Scrimmy” Scrimgeour and bassist Jordan Patrick are the most talkative when it comes to the actual interview, but throughout the broader conversation, guitarists Steven Smith and Stuart Stitchell, are also brimming with ideas for future recording, and quick to discuss their favourite musical influences.
The band recently debuted at a benefit gig staged in ABC2. Arranged through a contact with another band on the bill, Papa Hotel were due to be part of the warm-up. Yet with home support stuck in traffic or running late, the band were able to delay their appearance until later into the evening. A look at the footage recorded from that night shows that it was worth the wait for the audience.
Reflecting on the performance, Alex and Jordan cannot help but effectively complete each other’s sentences, saying: “We turned up, and they said ‘you’re the Perth band,’ so we then went out with no expectations, but at the same time knowing how well we could play in our practices and jamming sessions.
“When you go out there, all you can really see is shadows, so we just had that mind-set when we went on stage.”
“We went out and played even better than we expected.”
Throughout the interview, the band modestly maintains that their ambition is to just have a good time playing the music they enjoy. Yet reality hit that they may need to aim for more than that, when a member of the ABC2 audience asked for a CD after their gig. Which came as a pleasant surprise to Alex in particular: “I thought, right that’s me happy.”
Alas, they had no CDs done in advance: an oversight which they are unlikely to make again.
Jordan adds: “But at the same time, there’s no point in us just saying ‘we’re in a band and we play alright, in my opinion we are a brilliant band.”
So there is the belief that the band is to be taken seriously in future, rather than being dismissed as a provincial group set to fill a space on the bill.
The less vocal members in the interview are credited with the extra elements which enhance Papa Hotel’s sound. While accommodation is made for baby-of-the-group Steven Smith’s fine guitar solos, Stuart’s contribution is summed up as thus: “We didn’t quite realise we were missing something until Stitchell starting adding these licks on his guitar, which sound fantastic.”
Praise is also reserved for the absent drummer Mikee Robertson: “Mikee is the rock of Papa Hotel. If you ask him to change something or do something, he doesn’t argue or cause a fuss like one of our former members. At the end of the day, if the beat stops, then the band stops, and Mikee never stops.
“Even when he dropped his stick at the gig, he kept playing the beats with his hand.”
However, as the sole songwriter at present, Alex exhibits the most direction and drive when he speaks: particularly when speaking about the next gig. A Facebook post on the band’s page requesting possible cover ideas has been fruitless as none of the suggestions are “quite what we’re looking for.” Such a shame, as this interviewer was one of the first to suggest a cover song.
Alex says of their plans for the next public appearance: “The next gig will be the same set as the last one, with probably two or three new songs, and most likely an early Kings of Leon cover.”
Their upcoming appearance at Ivory Blacks, near the St.Enoch centre, will be their second visit to Glasgow, which is looking like a more suitable city to get on the bill at gigs than the home ground of Perth.
“Here [in Perth], we’re finding it a bit harder to get gigs, because we’re competing with a pretty heavy scene.”
Jordan adds: “To me, we are just a good old fashioned band, I think too many groups need to feel like they’re quirky, or they need to dress in fancy clothes.
“We’re happy with what we play, so that’s enough for us.”
Now it seems the interview is getting somewhere in terms of their plans for the future, as Jordan reveals they expect to record an EP sometime in September, and book as many gigs as possible.
Fans can rest assured that they will be equipped with CDs aplenty, which will be “sold for a pound a pop.”
With recording at Clearwater Studios a key part of the band’s progress up until now, it would certainly add to the appeal of their future material to maintain that link with their roots. Yet there are murmurs between the band’s axe men Stuart and Steven about other venues. However, they seem more ambitious targets, than dead-certs at the moment.
But if the band continue to balance the commitments of life with the humble attitude they express about where the band is aiming, then they may soon be gracing bigger and more luxurious surroundings and cutting their first proper record.
An example of their commitment comes when Alex recalls phoning Jordan to discuss a bass arrangement, only to be informed that he was working. Far from stopping the creative process happening, this just prompts some improvisation, as Alex records himself via YouTube, e-mails the link to Jordan, to then receive a phone call later when Jordan is at home, in which he plays possible bass tracks down the phone line.
Alex says that there are about thirty songs in his book, written with an acoustic arrangement which could be adapted to be played by the band. Thus there is the motivation and material present to spur the band to progress.
Though they are cagey about just how far they can go, it is impossible to ignore the desire and ambition of the group.
The last word goes to Alex: “Nobody puts Papa in the Corner.” Make of that what you will.
