Union Of Knives

"Union Of Knives excite me because they can’t be pigeonholed. Pounding rhythms are married to emotionally charged vocals, soaring guitar lines and an array of sounds and noises that create a dense whole that still gets under your skin.”
John Kennedy (Xfm) in Music Week

Union Of Knives – made in Glasgow: Get a map out and draw a line that joins Canada’s Arcade Fire, Iceland’s Sigur Ros, Norway’s Royksopp and come to rest at Scotland’s Union Of Knives. What do all these places have in common? Short days and long nights. Music and sound born out of extreme environments and cultural diversity. Glasgow and Union Of Knives, two rough diamonds of the north, inextricably linked. You’re going to like them very much indeed.

Union Of Knives are a perfect balance of youth and experience, brutality and compassion, dirt and clinical cleanliness. On stage Craig Grant and Chris Gordon play dual frontman roles, supported, like a see-saw on an axis, by Dave McClean. In the studio each member is autonomous, lyrics, beats, melodies and ideas come from everywhere.

The music they make is steely hard, yet cut through with raw, emotive longing and power. Their guitars are very loud, but they have no room or need for a drummer. “Evil Has Never” is an oily black lament to a love that just can’t work. “Opposite Direction” channels the power of prime My Bloody Valentine, “Taste Of Harmony” steers melody through starkly sculpted electro.

Chris and Dave are from Glasgow, and Craig is from Aberdeen, though now he’s an “adopted Glaswegian.” The house Craig grew up in was situated right by the sea, which might sound romantic, but things are a bit more complicated than that. “I miss living by the sea, I miss being on the beach,” he says. “But I also forget how mad the whole place is.” He lived on a brand new scheme of just three or four houses. From the front window you could see an old, abandoned hotel that barely clung onto the cliff edge. You can even buy postcards that feature that very view. Look to the left and you would see a huge old red and white lighthouse that cast its glow into his room every single night, keeping him awake for years. When Craig moved to Glasgow he had insomnia for two years… Look out the back window and he could see a huge RAF base and the biggest power station in Scotland, a place with a quarter of a mile high chimney pumping out black smoke 24 hours a day. Walking to school, Craig would have to choose either the power station route or the sea route. Usually he simply chose not to go to school at all.

Chris and Dave met in Glasgow’s Nice and Sleazy. Dave was a soundman there, Chris ended up working behind the bar when he wasn’t singing on Dave’s tracks or producing demos of local bands. The pair eventually set up their own studio where they recorded bands and did remixes for Craig Armstrong, Snow Patrol and others. Then, one night, back in N&S, they met Craig. Craig had moved to Glasgow and was writing songs in his bedroom. He had been singing at a local acoustic night and was recording with his band, Close To The Ground, but things weren’t happening very fast. When Chris came to produce some demo s for the band things changed. Quickly.
Chris and Dave’s band, now called Union of Knives, were static. “The tracks were great but we were unsure what to do with them,” says Chris. “There were songs that didn’t have lyrics or melodies, but Craig would come and improvise this amazing stuff over them. Gigs started happening, new recordings were planned. Craig would join them at shows providing vocals and guitar. After a few months, in the summer of 2004, it became clear he should be a full-time member.

What did you think of each other?
“I was the prodigal son!” Craig laughs.
“I thought he was the most talented guy I’d ever met or worked with”, says Chris. “Craig just obviously had it.”
How are you different?
“He’s old,” says Craig. “I’m young!”

Chris says he never thinks it odd that he and Craig are both frontmen: “It seems natural to us,” he insists. “This band is not driven by one personality, we both sing, we both do backing vocals, we need two strong voices. I think it looks great, but then, I can’t see it.”
“People tell me it looks really weird for the first three songs then you get used to it,” nods Craig. “We look odd, but that’s a good thing.”

Dave is a mystery man even within the band. A proper mad professor character. “I think he has a dark secret,” says Chris. “He always makes you think he’s got bigger fish to fry.”
“He’ll be playing keyboards in the studio,” says Craig, “pick up the phone with one hand, speak while still playing, then, when the song ends, he’ll power away on his bike.”
“Dave has golden ears,” says Chris.
“I’d been in the band for six months before I even met him,” says Craig.

Craig says Union Of Knives is about the conflict and harmony of opposites. “There are two sides to everything. At all times. Instinct and intellect sums it up succinctly,” he