I've long been a fan of Jamie Keenan, former drummer of La Fontaines and have been fortunate to get to know him a little over the years through a mutual love of Teenage Fanclub, our friends in Vigo Thieves/Saint PHNX and his sister Helen who introduced me to everyone after we met on a charity hike many years ago. Keenan has a natural charm, ear and a knack for melody and is a brilliant storyteller. At some point in time, I hope Jamie releases an acoustic album and publishes a book!
Maybe that will happen one day. In the meantime, Keenan has stepped from behind the drums and the ashes of the Fonts to pick up his electric guitar and blast out his love for indie guitar pop music with new band Glass Cheques.
The Dardanelles, their latest single bursts into life immediately, warm guitars and Keenan sounding super positive.
I love waking up in the morning
And catching the waves
This is glorious sunshine guitar indie pop. Keenan's rich and soulful voice sounds full of joy. Lead guitarist Darren McCaughey (also formerly of La Fontaines) adds fizzing guitar behind the rhythm. The Dardanelles wouldn't sound out of place on a Lemonheads album with guest vocals by Kelly Jones of The Stereophonics.
Glass Cheques have just returned from the joy of touring Spain with the legendary Edwyn Collins! The play The Glad Cafe on Sunday 31st May. TICKETS.
I caught up with Jamie to learn more about Glass Cheques and their future plans. Watch the video for The Dardenelles (good band name for someone!) at the end.
1. Why, how, where and when did Glass Cheques form?
Glass Cheques formed at the beginning of 2025 from the remains of my old group The LaFontaines. We had about eight songs recorded before we had done our first gigs, which was opening for the aforementioned band's last ever performances in London and Glasgow. The idea of the band was simply to make unpretentious "guitar music" and write songs that were different from the hip hop sound we had before.
2. Who is in the band and what do they bring to the sound?
Myself and Darren McCaughey are the two writers within Glass Cheques. I sing and play the guitar and he makes it all sound coherent. I'll play the drums in the studio while Darren plays the bass, but when we play live, our two good pals Callum Brand and Liam Shaw (who also play in "A Sudden Burst of Colour") step in to compliment us, arguably playing all the parts better than we could.
3. You've just released your second single, which is a real burst of guitar pop brilliance. It sounds super positive. What was the inspiration behind it? Did it form pretty quickly?
That song was written really quickly. It came out of nowhere, really. It's loosely about a soldier/sailor going off to fight in World War 1 but having a real air of optimism and naivety about what it is he's signing up for. However, the song isn't too graphic, so the lyrics are ambiguous enough that it's just an enthusiastic song about life.
4. Where have you been recording? How has the experience been?
We've recorded our EP at Chem 19 in Blantyre with Martin Johnstone (Vukovi drummer). He's been wonderful to record with as we've known him for years and he gets where we are coming from. I'm exceptionally happy with his recordings. He's got the same surreal sense of humour as us both, and some of his favourite bands are My Bloody Valentine and Neutral Milk Hotel, so he's able to accommodate some of the more "out there" type of sounds that we're after.
5. You're just back from Spain, where you had a run of dates with the legendary Edwyn Collins. I know you love travelling. How was the tour? Did you get a chance to explore - any recommendations? And what was it like seeing Edwyn up close every night?
I've been involved in dozens of tours but can safely say that was by far the best one. All of the crew that were on the run of gigs were exceptional. Every venue/hotel/city was incredible. The audiences were brilliant too - maybe a bit older than we had been used to playing to, but they were all just fans of indie music so we seemed to go down really well, selling loads of our vinyls and t-shirts.
Of the ten dates we done, Barcelona was the only place I had been before, so as a lover of travelling, it was tremendous being able to see a good whack of Spain. Some of the cities had long drives so there was a couple that we never had too much time in which to explore, but a notable mention to San Sebastian which was probably the best overall. We had a full day there beforehand and were able to go to the beach and try lots of the food. I had a life-changing chorizo in Bilbao as well.
Every night, watching Edwyn Collins was a dream. His band were unbelievable. You'd think watching the same set ten times would get old, but his songs are just that good. That being his last ever tour as well made it all the more special.
6. You then play The Glad Cafe to launch your EP. What other songs will be on it?
The six tracks that are on the 12" vinyl are called (I'm not sure of the order at the minute):
Seeking Adventure
The Dardanelles
Crocodile Done Deal
Blue Ragdoll
Confucius
Shame
Seeking Adventure and The Dardanelles are both released on Spotify etc., and we'll roll them out over the next few months.
7. Are you working towards an album? Is it too soon to say when that might come out?
Yes and no. We're just constantly writing and recording at the minute. I guess we're still trying to figure out the "sound" at the minute. The plan at the moment is to release this EP at the end of May and then probably another one at the end of the year and then maybe an album at some point next year that would likely include some of the best tracks from both. It's still early days yet though.
8. What music are you listening to just now? Have any bands influenced the sounds you're creating with Glass Cheques?
I've been on a deep Hank Williams dive as of recent. Added on to my playlist are quite a few bands from Edwyn's pre-gig playlist that I had heard of but never explored: The Mekons, Modern Lovers, and some of the other tracks from the roster of Postcard Records.
A lot of the bands that have heavily influenced our sound so far have been Scottish indie guitar groups such as Idlewild, Teenage Fanclub, Mogwai, and the Jesus and Mary Chain.
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