A Sunny Day in Glasgow got its start in Philadelphia when founders Ben Daniels and Ever Nalens returned to their home city after living in the United Kingdom for several years. The band earned some early acclaim when indie music site Pitchfork Media gave the band's debut album, "Scribble Mural Comic Journal" an 8.0 out of 10, high praise from the notoriously stingy review site.
This week ASDIG has a new EP, "Nitetime Rainbows," and a gig in Des Moines Thursday at the Vaudeville Mews. Daniels answered a few questions via e-mail while on the road.
Q: On your fall tour the band got in three car accidents in three days. Was there any worry that the entire tour might be problematic, or that you might be cursed?
A: Haha, those first three car accidents were all very minor and more funny (can a car accident be funny?). I actually felt like the last tour was charmed or something. There were no massive problems. We did get in a "proper" car accident in New Orleans where a guy ran a red light and drove right into us on the driver side. It could have been a lot worse than it was (as the driver could have easily been killed). And then, on a positive note, the shows were all fantastic.
Q: Tell me about the "Nitetime Rainbows" EP. Was this material that was worked on while making "Ashes Grammar," or more recent compositions?
A: This is all stuff that we started with "Ashes Grammar." We started recording close to 35-plus songs and after about six weeks Josh (Meakim, guitarist) and I realized we needed to cut back or else the album would never get done. So these songs were all put on hold. There's another whole album's worth of songs from this time as well. We're working on getting these done for later too.
Q: You're playing Glasgow in May. Has the band played there before, and if so what kind of reaction have you gotten?
A: We've played in Glasgow twice and it's like playing in your hometown or at your best friend's house. They are so nice to us and we love playing there. The first time we played there, there were only three of us and we had to borrow instruments and play with drum beats on an iPod. It was a terrible show, but the crowd was so nice and they even made us play an encore and then everyone just hung out with us for the rest of the night.
The next time we came back with the full band and played a sold-out show that was attended by Stephen Pastel and members of Teenage Fanclub, which was kind of mind-blowing.
A Sunny Day in Glasgow
With: Wolves in the Attic, Asteroid Marian
When: 8 p.m. Thursday
Where: Vaudeville Mews, 212 Fourth St.
Cost: $10
Info: Go to Midwestix.com.
