Kyle Falconer is in the car. The chat we had arranged slipped his mind, but he’s not driving and parked in a safe place so we can begin.
Yes, that’s Kyle. A law-abiding father of two, who for the past few weeks has been shaking your radio with the high-octane pop of Stress Ball, from the upcoming album No Love Songs For Laura.
It’s hard to believe that Kyle is still just 33, having lived several lifetimes.
It’s been a long road from the manic days of The View at The Doghouse and Dryburgh Soul to a family man in Broughty Ferry, being playlisted on Radio 2 and managed by Alan McGee, who was responsible for the meteoric rise of his childhood musical heroes Oasis.
Even taking the three years since the release of his debut solo album No Thank You, which won best album at the 2018 Scottish Music Awards, he has been on the move, trying to find his place in music and the best place for his family – partner Laura and two young daughters Wylde and Winnie.
The last time I saw Kyle, he ran straight past me with a nod of recognition, but no sign of stopping.
Running has become something of a passion, something that he puts down to his addictive personality.
Last year he put it to good use when he ran 300km in 30 days to raise cash for Rock Peru, a Maggie’s Centre trek to Machu Picchu.
“I run every day,” he says. “It’s really good for me but you’re right, I just don’t stop.
“I can see folk thinking ‘he’s blanking me’ but I’m really not. I’m just in a kind of zone.
“It will definitely be a marathon next.”
Quiet life before an American adventure
In 2018, when Kyle released No Thank You, he moved his family to the quiet of Monifieth in Angus from Dundee’s West End.
The peace paid off and he couldn’t stop writing.
He says: “I was going to tour the album but I felt I was never there and the kids were so small.
“I didn’t want to miss it so I decided not to do any more shows.
“Then about six months in, I was asked to go to LA and do some songwriting with other people. It sounded like a good option.
“I wanted to see what it was like just to write, and maybe I would do that as a job rather than perform again.
“I worked with Alex Greenwald of Phantom Planet, MNDR that I played with in Mark Ronson’s band, and Anthony Rossomando who wrote Shallow, for the soundtrack to A Star Is Born.”
‘We wanted to give it a go but it wasn’t for us’
Kyle says it was something to try, even though sometimes he had to bite his tongue because the level of chat was a bit more pretentious than he was comfortable with.
The family home in Monifieth was sold and the family moved out to try this new life.
“We wanted to give it a go before the girls started school, just to see if it clicked, but it wasn’t for us.
“Then after three months the pandemic happened and we were definitely coming home.
“I found it pretty scary when the pandemic hit there too. The gun shops were queued out the door. It felt like Armageddon.”
The songwriting scene also felt a bit cliquey.
He found it hard to let people in to what he was doing and “always thought it would be better if I just wrote it myself”.
Here's a preview of the first video in a series taking a look Behind The Songs from my new album, starting today with 'Stress Ball'!
Just pre-order any item from my official No Love Songs For Laura store to see all the video updates in full.
▶️ https://t.co/GJCzgInPdc pic.twitter.com/vHprd8xpIv
— Kyle Falconer (@KyleFrancisFalc) March 29, 2021
Kyle did start missing performing, particularly in the past year when going out was an impossibility anyway.
Coming back to Scotland, the family spent a short time in Auchmithie, before finding the right place back in Dundee.
He says: “I had hoped to find the right manager in LA, but it didn’t happen.
“So I had all these songs and I didn’t know what I would do with them.”
LA wasn’t for us…I found it pretty scary when the pandemic hit there too. The gun shops were queued out the door. It felt like Armageddon.”
Creation management boss Alan McGee had taken on The View but with no potential activity there, he listened to the songs that Kyle had been writing and was keen to take him on.
“I need a good manager,” he says. “I realise that now. I‘m a bit scatty when there’s nobody there to guide me.”
Kyle had come across the name Frankie Siragusa in LA and back in Dundee spoke to him on a Zoom call about potentially producing the album.
“I had a really good feeling about him. I had some cash, so wanted to fund the record myself and he agreed to do it for a really good price.
“His studio is called TheLAB in LA, but he came over here and we recorded it in Margate instead, at The Libertines studio.”
‘This is me now’
Kyle and Frankie played everything on the album, with Dundee guitarist Stevie Anderson putting extra guitars on later.
He adds: “We recorded 30 songs and I just wanted to put them all out there, like The Beatles’ White Album but that was where Alan McGee came in and said, ‘no no no – you have to make it edible’.”
The single Laura in January was well received and now Stress Ball has been Jo Whiley’s Record of the Week on Radio 2 and a favourite of Chris Evans who invited Kyle on for a session on his Virgin Radio morning show.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been on the radio. I think I’ve been forgiven for my past mistakes,” he laughs.
Interviewers still bring up the uber-hedonism of The View and the times he found himself in situations he doesn’t care to (and sometimes just can’t) remember, but he politely brushes off all chat like that now.
“I just try to talk about something else and say that’s in the past, I was really young then.
“This is me now. Alan McGee was great with that too.
“I wanted to call the album How to Avoid a Second Chance but he said I shouldn’t, that it was defeatist and it was time to look forward rather than back.
“For a time I felt the mad stories were all I had…”
The next single from the album (which can be pre-ordered from kylefalconer.tmstor.es) is Rake It In, released digitally a few days ago, and Kyle promises an extravaganza of a video soon.
“With Stress Ball, they just said ‘do you want to go and smash things up?’ I said ‘that sounded brilliant’.
“It feels weird when someone hands you a baseball bat and lets you loose with it. I was trying monkey wrenches and everything…
“The Rake It In video we’ve been working on for months. I can’t wait for everybody to see it.”
From studio to stage
Once live music is back up and running, he’s looking forward to getting out there again.
“I can’t wait to get the band together and tour,” he says.
“It’s been tough going for a bit, but I’ve definitely got my act together.”