There are not many Scottish bands that have played more gigs that We Were Promised Jetpacks in the past 9 months. And we should know because we’ve listed them all. Following a sold out coast to coast US tour, the band are heading out to Europe once again.
When the band were in Austin last month, they were asked by Mike Taylor from WOXY how many songs they had written for a follow up album to ‘These Four Walls’. Jetpacks singer Adam laughed and said he wouldn’t be answering that question in case their label Fat Cat were listening. In other words, they needed some time off.
Well the band have had a couple of weeks off since then, but Fat Cat are sending them back out to France, Germany and the Netherlands later this week for 9 more gigs. However, with nothing else on the schedule yet, except for an appearance in Glasgow at the Stag and Dagger Festival in May, let’s hope the band get a chance to unwind a bit soon.
The band spoke with the Austin American Statesman newspaper last month about being on the road and Scottish bands:
What have you learned being on tour?
We’ve learned to look after ourselves on the road, eat well, try to get a good night’s sleep. We’ve learned a bit more about what kind of band we want to be and how we want the next record to sound. When you play the songs all the time, there’s parts of it that you get tired of.
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What kind of band do you want to be?
We don’t want to be so intense all the time, with all of this dense sound. We want to let the music breathe a little more on the next record.
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Your new EP is pretty dark, though.
When we were on tour in the UK, we visited our label and they said it would be a good idea if you had an EP to bring out. We had two weeks, and I had two new songs that I hadn’t completed at all. We didn’t want to do a rubbish version of our album as an EP. We wanted something that sounded a bit more elegant, where we tried to use some different instruments.
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Have you noticed a difference between touring in Europe versus the United States?
Playing in the UK is not very good for us. We play (expletive) venues and don’t get paid very much. We come to New York and play the sold-out Bowery Ballroom and it’s pretty much chalk and cheese.
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There are a lot of Scottish bands here this week.
It’s great. There are a lot of good bands playing music that’s a bit more honest, and not so centered on wearing skinny jeans and playing dance music for clubs with people on ecstasy.
Austin 360 Interview with We Were Promised Jetpacks by Pete Mongillo, March 17 2010
More at www.myspace.com/wewerepromisedjetpacks
The band’s new EP is available on iTunes buy clicking : 
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We Were Promised Jetpacks – Live in Italy
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwwpcJaA3_U
Photo Credit: cshimala