Walt Disco: "The stage is our natural habitat"

The Glasgow-based art-pop outfit will play Edinburgh's Sneaky Pete's on 1 July, a venue that occupies a special place in the band's story. For drummer Jack Martin and guitarist/synth player Finlay McCarthy it's a return to where it all began.

Formed in 2017 by singer Jocelyn Si and guitarist Lewis Carmichael while studying at university in Glasgow, Walt Disco emerged with a theatrical blend of glam rock, post-punk and synth-pop. The current line-up came together in 2019 when Martin, McCarthy and bassist Charlie Woods joined the fold, creating the version of Walt Disco that would go on to release acclaimed debut album Unlearning and build an international following.

Ahead of their Edinburgh show, Martin and McCarthy spoke about the band's roots, life on the road, Glasgow's creative community and the themes driving their next chapter.

Sneaky Pete's feels like a fitting place for Walt Disco to play. Does it still mean something special to you?

Jack Martin: Absolutely. Sneaky Pete's is where me and Finlay played some of our first ever gigs. I played my first ever gig there. We both really came out of the Edinburgh scene, so it means a great deal to us.

Finlay McCarthy: That place means a lot to us.

Jack: We've played all kinds of different venues since then, but nothing really compares to that intimate venue setting. There's something about those small rooms where everything feels immediate.

Walt Disco has been around for a while now. How do you tell the band's origin story?

Jack: The original members, Jocelyn and Lewis, started the band with some other people back in 2017 when they were at university. The rest of us joined a bit later. Me and Finlay came in during 2019 and Charlie joined around then too.

Finlay: We basically got poached from other bands.

Jack: That's true. The band as it exists now really formed through the scene.

Finlay: The debut album came out four years ago and we've had this line-up together for about five years. Even though the name has existed longer, this version of Walt Disco feels about five years old.

You're widely regarded as a tremendous live band. Is the stage still where Walt Disco feels most at home?

Jack: Totally. We've spent a lot of time recently writing and preparing new music, so we're excited to get back to playing. The stage is our natural habitat. It's where we can communicate what we're about in the most instant way possible.

Your audience now stretches far beyond Scotland. How important has the Scottish scene been in making that possible?

Jack: The Scottish scene is really unique. It breeds creativity and individuality. The thing is, a lot of brilliant bands come and go. You have to work incredibly hard to make it from Scotland because there's less industry presence here. You end up travelling south all the time and it's expensive.

How does songwriting work in Walt Disco these days?

Finlay: We don't really write on the road because we're usually absolutely knackered. But as soon as you finish one album, you know another one is coming.

We all write together and songs can start in lots of different ways. Jack and Jocelyn are probably the more traditional songwriters, so they might bring in something that's just vocals and guitar. Then the rest of us build around it. Other times it starts with synth experimentation and we construct the song from there. Everybody contributes.

What are you listening to at the moment?

Jack: The new Feeble Little Horse album. They're one of our favourite bands collectively and it's brilliant.

Finlay: I've been going back to Black Country, New Road recently. There's also a band called Shaking Hand that we saw at The Great Escape in Brighton. They're incredible - quite post-rock, very sad, lots of intricate guitar parts.

Jack: We've also been listening to the new album by Conscious Pilot. They're another Scottish band and their debut record is amazing.

If you were drawing a map of Walt Disco's story, what locations would be on it?

Jack: That's a good question. Some of the flats we've lived in would definitely be there. A lot of the first album was made in Jocelyn and Dave's old flat in Dennistoun.

Our rehearsal studio in Glasgow would be on there too. That's where a lot of the magic happens.

Finlay: Dennistoun has been a huge part of it.

Jack: A couple of us still live there. Pretty much for as long as I've been in the band, Dennistoun has been where we all hung out, spent time in Alexandra Park and generally existed together.

Can you tell us anything about the new songs you have been working on?

Jack: One of the big themes is cost. It costs something to be a young person and it costs something to be creative. It's not just about money either.

It's about the impact on relationships, on your time and attention. There's an inherent cost to being yourself and trying to exist in the world, and that's something we've been thinking about a lot lyrically.

Finlay: Sonically, a lot of the material actually started with modular synth experimentation. That sounds a bit counterintuitive because we wanted this to be the most raw, band-focused record we've made.

A lot of ideas came from loops and electronic experiments, but we wanted guitars and the live band to remain at the centre of everything. We didn't want the production to take over.

Touring can look glamorous from the outside. What's the reality?

Jack: Overall, we love it. Some tours are longer than others and you end up in some strange places, but we're lucky because we genuinely enjoy spending time together.

When things get difficult, whether you're missing home or something's happening back home, we all support each other.

It's one of the reasons we do this. You get to spend time with your best friends, see incredible places and meet people who connect with your music. It can be exhausting, but it's still amazing.

Your music now reaches listeners around the world. Do you ever think about how far Scottish music can travel?

Jack: It is pretty wild. You can look at your streaming stats and discover people are listening to you in places you'd never expect.

Finlay: One of our biggest cities for a recent release was a place in Kazakhstan.

Jack: Yeah, that was pretty surreal.

But it feels good that we're still radiating outward from Glasgow and Scotland. A lot of people think you need to move to London because that's where the industry is. People have told us that ourselves.

We don't really buy that. Scotland has an incredible history of pop music and we want to contribute to that tradition rather than leave it behind.

Walt Disco will play at Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, on Wednesday 1 July.