Guitars, electronics and visuals outfit Indian Red Lopez are of the brightest prospects from round these parts right now, and last year’s Castles Incomplete EP turned more than a few heads on its release. With an appearance at the Fence Homegame festival on the horizon, we asked frontman Mike Chang what they’re up to at the moment and to introduce a cool little video edit they’ve been working on…

We’ve featured IRL on the site a few times now, but for the slower ones up the back, tell us a bit about yourselves:

We’re just 5 lads from Aberdeenshire and one from the arse end of nowhere (!!), who’ve come together to make music and art,  put it all together and present it as (hopefully) an all-round audio/visual experience.  It’s what we’ve wanted to do from the very beginning,  it’s just taken us a while to get where we are musically, and into our frame of mind (whatever that may be).  Incorporating the visual relevance of it all can take time too, we’re always trying to figure out better/more effective, interesting ways of presenting our visual ideas.

Photo: Neil Henderson

You’re demoing some new stuff at the moment, right? How’s that going?

It’s going well.  The tracks are slowly coming together, but we’re a thorough bunch so we’re taking our time with it all.  We’re lucky to have such good people around us whose situations reflect those we need in order to sustain the momentum we had from last year.  We want to be as productive in the studio as we can, but at the same time play some really good shows.

I’m really happy with the way the new stuff is sounding, and just itching to get it out.  Our cohorts Craig (Union Of Knives/Song Of Return) and Sam (45-A-Side records) are involved in the sessions in Glasgow and our good friend Ian (Bedford Records) has been helping us out with things closer to home, so a few different perspectives (from a production point of view) help mould the ideas into solid pieces of music.

It’s great news that you’re playing Homegame this year, how did the hook-up with Fence come about?

Well to be honest, that had nothing to do with me.  Our drummer Scott kind of sorted all that out.  We were lucky enough to be asked to play at One Up Records’ 30th Birthday, where the big man himself (King Creosote) and his band were playing too, and it all just happened from there, Scott kind of initiated the whole thing.  They began talking back and forth and he managed to persuade them to let us to play the Sunday.  He bullied them basically!  Gav(OnTheFly), who also drums live for KC, did the remix on the EP last year, so it seemed like the next thing to do!  We’re feeling the vibe and are all pretty excited to play, if not just for the opportunity to go see a whole heap of amazing music!

…and finally, tell us what this video we’re about to watch is all about:

Well, it’s just a bit of fun and games really, all the while letting those who give a shit know that we’re busy and in the midst of putting together the new tracks, one of which we hope to release as a single (wink wink, nudge nudge).  The others will be part of a new EP we’re working on for later this year.  It basically tracks our progress with these recordings so far and everything else in between.  Mainly, my shit banter I have with a kitten. You’ll see….and cringe.

… and here it is (warning: includes the odd sweary word alongside the aforementioned shit kitten banter)

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/9692487]

Indian Red Lopez play Aberdeen Warehouse on Sat 27 Feb (with Fenech Soler & Cast of the Capital) and the Fence Homegame festival on Sun 13 Mar (Sold Out)