Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Major milestone
Rockers to celebrate a decade of music
FROM playing caravan parks in Arbroath to touring the globe, Dundee’s biggest band The View has had a tumultuous decade.
Like a typical biography of a rock band, there have been stories of assault, police call outs and a lead singer who has spent time in rehab for drug and alcohol abuse.
The group has been through many highs — including playing at festivals such as Reading and the Isle of Wight Festival — and also many lows.
None more so than two years ago when lead singer Kyle Falconer was fined £300 after a disturbance on West Marketgait.
Several years before, in 2007, Falconer was convicted for cocaine possession and the frontman was refused entry to America.
This ended the band’s chance of embarking on an eight-date US tour starting that year.
One of the band’s highs, in addition to selling hundreds of thousands of albums, was shooting one of its music videos at various spots in Dundee, including a pub in Whitfield, a shop on Perth Road and flats in Fintry and Mill o’ Mains.
The clip for the song Standard, off the band’s Seven Year Setlist album, was praised by the group.
Now, after a decade of thrills, the Dundee rockers are hitting the road to celebrate the 10th anniversary of debut album, Hats Off to the Buskers.
The band — which consists of Kyle, Kieren Webster, Pete Reilly and Steven Morrison — had a string of hit singles from the breakthrough album, including Same Jeans, Superstar Tradesman and Wasted Little DJs.
Released on January 22 2007, the album rocketed to number one of the UK Album Chart days after its release.
The band will be performing a series of special gigs in May.
Shows are planned for the iconic Barrowlands Ballroom on May 4, The Garage in Aberdeen on May 5 and the Liquid Rooms in Edinburgh on May 17, along with additional dates in London, Manchester, Liverpool, Cardiff, Sheffield and Carlisle.
However, there will be no Dundee homecoming for the Dryburgh quartet who formed during their time at St John’s RC High School in 2005.
The View took the indie scene by storm in 2006, building a rapid underground following in small venues across the country.
Prior to the first album even being released the band performed in front of around 30,000 revellers at Camperdown Park as part of Radio 1’s Big Weekend in August 2006.
Enigmatic frontman Falconer quickly rose to prominence as one of the most recognisable figures on the British indie music scene.
The 29-year-old has previously stated he became too famous too quickly.
Falconer’s tumultuous life off-stage has often sidetracked the band from reaching even greater heights.
He previously told the Tele: “There’s definitely something in that. There’s been too many incidents over the years. I’d even go as far as to say we were signed too early.