Glasvegas life and biography

Glasvegas are an alternative/shoegazing band which formed in Glasgow, Scotland in 2003, the band is composed of James Allan (vocals, rhythm guitar), Rab Allan (lead guitar), Paul Donoghue (bass guitar) and Jonna Löfgren (drums). Caroline McKay (drums) left the band in March 2010 and was replaced by Lofgren later that year. Their music is influenced by artists such as Wall of Sound producer Phil Spector and other, more recent, bands which share that same aesthetic such as My Bloody Valentine and The Jesus and Mary Chain.

The band’s line-up came together in early 2003, and later that year were seen for the first time by Scottish music industry mogul Alan McGee at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut club in Glasgow. Former Creation Records boss McGee would go on to become one of the band’s most vociferous supporters. In May 2004, the band released their debut single I’m Gonna Get Stabbed. The band’s original drummer Ryan Ross left in 2005 and Caroline McKay was asked to replace him.

On 30th October 2006, the band released their first self funded limited edition 7” single, Go Square Go!. Following the release of their second limited edition 7” single, Daddy’s Gone in November 2007, Glasvegas found themselves at the centre of a bidding war from several major record labels. Later that same year, Daddy’s Gone was voted #2 single of the year in an end of year poll by the NME.

After releasing their third limited edition 7” single, It’s My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry on 14th February 2008 the band opted to sign for Columbia. Exactly two weeks later at the NME Awards, the band won the award for best new band: the prestigious Philip Hall Radar Award.

The band signed released two further singles – “Geraldine” and “Daddy’s Gone” (a re-release of their third single) – which reached numbers sixteen and twelve on the UK Singles Chart respectively. The band’s debut album, Glasvegas, was released in September 2008 and reached number two on the UK Albums Chart. A mini-Christmas album, A Snowflake Fell (And It Felt Like a Kiss), followed in December 2008, which failed to chart in the UK although it reached number fifty-nine on the Swedish Albums Chart.

On 30th March, it was announced that drummer Caroline McKay had left the band. Frontman James Allan explained that it had been McKay’s decision to leave the Glasgow four-piece. He said that the remaining members were “really sad” about her departure.Glasvegas wrote and recorded their second album in Los Angeles during the summer and autumn of 2010.

In January 2010, Glasvegas decamped to California and set up a studio in a multi-million dollar beach house in Santa Monica where for over five months they demoed, tracked and recorded most of the album Euphoric Heartbreak. Santa Monica and its location on Southern California's West Coast had a massive influence on the sound and feel of the new songs.

During this period in Santa Monica, Caroline McKay chose to leave the band before demoing and any recording began, officially leaving on 25 March 2010 citing personal reasons.

In July 2011, the band toured Australia for the first time playing three sold out shows at The Rosemount Hotel in Perth, The Metro in Sydney and The Hi-Fi in Melbourne before making a festival appearance at Splendour in The Grass held at Woodford 45 miles north west of Brisbane. The band also made their second trip to Japan to play the Fuji Rock Festival and then rounded off the summer by headlining the first ever Famous Grouse Music Festival and playing the V Festival for the first time.

Discography:
-Glasvegas (2008)
-A Snowflake Fell (And It Felt Like a Kiss) (mini album) (2008)
-Euphoric Heartbreak (2011)

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