MOGWAI – DOCUMENTARY – RAINDANCE FESTIVAL – “IF THE STARS HAD A SOUND”

Film made and directed by Anthony Crook.

The Scottish cult Indie Rock band Mogwai once dissed Sir Paul McCartney and failed to stand up for him at an awards ceremony, and nearly got into a fight with Shack. Record producer Arthur Baker had to intervene sayubg they were young and bratty.

The music of Mogwai is broadly described as Indie Rock and Post Rock and the band was formed in Glasgow in 1995 – named after creatures in the feature film “Gremlins”. One of the founder members is Stuart Braithwaite who appeared at the festival screening at Genesis cinema and he observed, “Music is bigger than words”. Mogwai is mainly an instrumental musical band who have
made 10 albums. “Circumstance” made the film happen and involved a series of 6 short films being brought together which were originally for Screen Scotland. The 90 minute film embraces the music of the band and coverage of making an album during lockdown. 2 Gold Pro 360 cameras were used in the making of the film, which Anthony Crick described as “liking them a lot”. The resulting album is “As The Love Continues.”
“Feeling my way through the edit and just dipping in” included showing scenes of landscape and interviews with performers and fans. Mogwai played at Glastonbury in 1999 and have played all over Europe and worked with Arthur Baker and Lee Cohen. They have also recorded in The States.
Stuart described the starting days of the band as like a Paradox – to get experience is so important and looking for a chance to get it is vital. He told the audience “I bought my first effects pedal with my first giro.”
They have won the NME award for Live Act of The Year and the band consists of Stuart Braithwaite,
Barry Burns, Dominic Aitchinson, John Cummings and Martin Bulloch.
Penny Nair Price