The Yawns on their 'HTA' work ethic and embarking on a European tour

If you'd like a revealing glimpse into the Pollokshields world in which The Yawns work, rest and play there’s no need to pace up and down Melville Street searching for the flat its five members share; instead, simply watch the video for their single Full of Admiration, released in February this year. In it you can view the bedroom – ordinarily occupied by guitarist Stuart McIntosh – with mattresses pressed against the windows, which doubles up as their recording studio. There are also several amusing scenes shot in their humble abode's bathroom – although anyone with a weak stomach may wish to turn away, given the colour of the bath water in which Stuart and frontman Sean Armstrong can be seen floating.

Away from the yucky stuff, in less than a year The Yawns have recorded, produced and released their self-titled debut album. Initially released online as a free download last October, the laid-back, distorted surf rock sound of songs like Summer Wasted, delivered with a sure-footed swagger, quickly found many admirers, leading to its re-release by London-based label Records Records Records and Manchester's Giant Hell imprint, a second wind for the LP that caught the band by surprise. “Considering it was recorded in a bedroom, we weren’t really sure how it was going to turn out,” explains Stuart. “Then someone mastered it, and we were like ‘wow! listen to that!”

“The reaction was a lot bigger than anyone of us expected,” confirms Sean. “I don’t think we expected any label to step in and release it on vinyl. We just wanted to play live. Before we did the album, we only played one gig, at Nice 'N' Sleazy's. We wanted to have songs to show people.”

Guitarist Gavin Will, who runs the Electropapknit digital label on which the album was initially released, agrees. “It had been planned over a long time. We sort of realised we all had a lot of ideas, and once we joined them together we realised we had an album’s worth of stuff.” His brother, drummer Rikki Will, sums up the reason for the group’s speedy working practices. “We couldn’t take long recording because Stuart would start to complain about us being in his bedroom.”

Although they were taken aback by the level of response, The Yawns’ relative early success was also the result of some astute forward planning. “We worked hard emailing blogs and labels,” adds bassist Emma Smith. “We weren’t afraid of letting people know the album was out there.”

The Yawns consist of five folk who all made the move to Glasgow, becoming friends as they played in various bands and collectives based around the city. They each continue to divide their time between a remarkable number of other projects, and their faces will be familiar to any regular attendees at gigs hosted in many of Glasgow's well-known subterranean venues over the past several years.

“We couldn’t take long recording because Stuart would start to complain about us being in his bedroom” – Rikki Will

There’s Rikki and Gavin, who, when not on Yawns duty, make up two-thirds of party rock terrorists Battery Face. They’re joined by Emma, formerly of Household, alongside Stuart and Rikki of Copy Haho – both of whom previously played in Project: Venhell with Gavin. Then there’s vocalist Sean, who runs the small independent CATH label with Phillip Taylor and Josh Swinney of PAWS, old school friends and fellow Tain natives. Those familiar with Sean’s prodigious output as a lo-fi solo artist, very much in the same tradition as early Ariel Pink recordings, may be surprised to see him reinvented as the twirling singer that stars in the Full of Admiration video.

It’s a sticky July evening when The Skinny meets The Yawns in a city centre bar, across the river from their spiritual home in Pollokshields, in an attempt to fully understand what makes this particular group that bit more special. 

“We all met going to gigs... or more accurately, going to each other’s gigs,” Sean explains. “Basically any gig that we could get guestlist for,” adds Stuart. “We were in other bands, but we wanted to do something together, and then Sean moved in. He played bass to begin with.” Sean smiles. “It was never my dream to be a frontman.”

“I don’t know if I believe you,” retorts Gavin. “I think when you moved in, one of your only possessions was a picture of Morrissey.”

“I do have other possessions. That picture was a gift...”

Given their singular, self-produced sound, if any member of The Yawns was to flit from Melville Street, is there an unwritten rule that the group would then come to an end? “Well, Emma can play drums, so if Rikki goes then that’s cool,” laughs Stuart, as Rikki shakes his head at such impertinence. “And last week they played a gig without me.”

“We could always have a Skype band practice,” suggests Gavin. 

“There’s no unwritten rules. I guess we’ll come to that bridge when...we cross that bridge...” Sean trails off as his bandmates dissolve into laughter.

Despite achieving greater recognition than any of its members had envisaged, The Yawns are unlikely to become a full-time operation. The quintet remain firmly committed to their other groups and projects. “This has taken a front seat, almost unintentionally,” says Gavin. Sean agrees. “I don’t have the attention span to concentrate on one thing. We try to make time for all our stuff.”

Regardless, it’s clear the band very much enjoy each other’s company, a quality that lends itself well to any musical collaboration. “For me, it’s the most fun I’ve had in a band,” says Stuart. “Which is maybe why we’ve dedicated a bit more time to it. And because there’s been a better response from people.” The Yawns are now busy working on their second album in Melville Street, utilising the same recording techniques that worked so well for them first time around.

Surprisingly, the band insist they have received few noise complaints from their neighbours. Instead, one man living downstairs was so enamoured that he requested Rikki join his son’s hip-hop band. “I signed Rikki up for it... but the next time he saw me he wasn’t that happy about it,” says Sean. Rikki considers this. “I think if he asked me again it would be hard to say no – because he’s asked twice now.”

The as-yet-untitled album, which Sean insists he wants to call Karaoke, much to his bandmates displeasure, is likely to be released in September, coinciding with The Yawns' first European tour, which they are organising themselves. Such a logistical challenge would be beyond most bands under a year old, but not The Yawns. “The hardest bit is finding a van,” Gav states. “It might sound a bit arrogant, but we wanted to get the European dates fixed before we organise a UK tour,” adds Sean.

As the result of an incident involving a banana, in the aftermath of a Sean solo show, The Yawns are however unlikely to return to one certain venue in Edinburgh. There’s a collective groan when prompted for further details; it falls on Rikki to explain. “It was my fault. Someone put a banana down, and the guy who owned the venue got out of his Mercedes and said: ‘I’m the owner of this place! What’s this banana doing here?’ and chucked it under a car.” Stuart continues. “Then I got back from the toilet and asked 'where’s my banana?' So I fetched it, and we all burst out laughing because we were drunk.” Sean nods. “To be fair, we were all quite drunk. We tried to go in later, and he told us that we were banned and that he was calling the police. Rikki called him a cunt.” Rikki cuts in. “Because he told us to fuck off! He told us to go drink somewhere else, and then he was like ‘I fucking own this street!” Stuart laughs. “It’s more fun when you end the story with the banana.”

But Rikki is on a roll. “Battery Face also got banned [from another Edinburgh venue] as well. But that was because [Battery Face frontman] Al complained about the drink prices and told everyone they could come backstage and drink our rider. The management were not happy. They told us we couldn’t come back.”

With the summer evening light beginning to fade, it’s time for The Yawns to have their picture taken. As they begin to move outside, Sean makes a final point. “Just don’t mention that we’re supposedly ‘DIY’. It’s true that no one else does anything for us. But that’s nothing to be embarrassed about. If people did want to do something for us, we would be happy to accept.”

Rikki considers this. “I don’t know if that has an abbreviation. ‘HTA’?”

Sean nods. “HTA.”