Café Disco

Glasgow’s Café Disco is made up of Clare Gallacher, Fraser Welsh, Paul Swinton and Rachael Swinton.
This is how the band describe their music - ‘we like to make music which some may call alt rock with an angry pop attitude. We take these sounds to those who want to hear them, and have lots of fun doing so’.


What makes ‘Terra Nova’ a pretty special song is the jangly and intricate guitar lines all topped off with vocals from a man who isn’t scared to sing in his native Scottish accent. This is pop punk with an indie twist – imagine The Futureheads and Jimmy Eat World formed a super group, we would imagine the sound they would produce would pretty much sound like ‘Terra Nova’. What’s also is a pretty big attraction to the band is the fact they are a 50/50 split of males and females (a female drummer – who is pretty damn good!). The song doesn’t sound a million miles away from Razorlight’s ‘Rip it Up’ – it’s pretty much all down to the jangly guitar and the production. The chorus also contains interesting guitar lines that sound off kilter and complex but that has been written in such a way that it flows perfectly. These guys are a force to be reckoned with and will surely break out of their Scottish bubble in the not so distant future. - Boost the Music

No-one likes oversized egos - they’re irritable little buggers that just ruin things for everyone. So, when a new band rears its head that is so down to earth down they probably don’t even know what the sky looks like, it is wholly refreshing.

Glasgow’s Café Disco first appeared on the local music circuit earlier this year a little like a doe-eyed animal about to take its first steps into the wild, but their music - a rich mixing bowl of dynamic, well thought-out poppy alt-rock - belies their somewhat youthful age. Runs at perhaps less distinguished venues in Glasgow quickly morphed into trips around Scotland, support slots and single launches.

For all the band’s supreme tightness on stage, there is still a somewhat endearing rawness to Café Disco, but that will no doubt morph into true potential-has-now-been-filled quality in 2012. - Radar Scotsman

Café Disco. What’s that then? Are we on the brink of a revolution in clubbing/dining?
Actually, it’s an excellent pop-rock four-piece from Scotland’s west coast, although they have said that the band ‘is actually just a way in which we hope that one day we’ll be able to fund our burgeoning careers in the catering industry.’

We salute a band with creative ambition. That’s good forward planning. Seriously, though?
‘It was a nightmare trying to come up with a name but then as luck would have it Clare [Gallacher, drums] and Paul [Swinton, guitar] independently watched the ‘Café Disco’ episode of The Office one night, and when we next met up and were spit-balling names again, that was one that we all liked.’

Fair enough. What do they sound like then? You’re not really giving much away with this ‘pop-rock’
We’re not, but that’s because they’re a fairly broad-ranging band – great guitar hooks courtesy of Paul and twin sister Rachel; tight, driving drums from Clare, with singer Fraser Welsh’s charming Irvine brogue weaving through it all. ‘We are not afraid of pop,’ they say. ‘We love nice melodies, we are all fans of Jimmy Eat World, as they’ve got great pop melodies which is something we look to convey in our music. We like the balance of something quite rocking that you can still sing along to.’

Sounds good. Where can I see them?
‘Just now, because we’re quite new, we’re just trying to play live, free gigs, work on our own stagecraft type of thing,’ says Fraser. ‘We’re doing that just for ourselves at the moment, then in October we’ve got a single launch, so we’ll take a break after playing these shows, then focus on getting as many people along to gigs as possible.’ - The List

If catchy pop songs were easy to make, everybody would be at it. Sadly they’re not, so it takes a special kind of magic to rattle out the sort of riffs Café Disco dream up, thanks in no small part to the Swinton twins on guitar, Paul and Rachael. - The Pop Cop