‘‘I LOVE it here,” says William Reid, peering into the Arizonan desert night and pondering how far he’s come from the East Kilbride estate where The Jesus And Mary Chain were born four decades previously. “I love looking out of my window and seeing giant cacti and the animals. I’ve got security cameras around the house. I can see mountain lions, skunks and bobcats. I moved to Los Angeles 24 years ago and then out here in 2020. I’m an American citizen, I feel American – as strange as that sounds when you hear my accent. I always had this thing about the desert landscape and retiring here. So here I am, though not really retired. Last summer it was 112 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s mental, but it’s dry heat. When I go to East Kilbride in the summer, somehow your balls are sweaty. I mean, what the fuck?”
Early in 2023, William found himself back on his home patch for the longest spell in years. Along with his younger brother, Jim – who moved to Devon in the early 2000s – they took up residence in Mogwai’s Castle Of Doom studio to work on Glasgow Eyes. The second Mary Chain album since they reformed in 2007, it comes during an intense retrospective period for the Reids. As the band gear up to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their debut single “Upside Down”, they have also co-authored an as-yet-untitled autobiography, digging deep into their roots in East Kilbride and beyond, from their explosive debut Psychocandy to their violent break-up on stage at the House Of Blues in LA in 1998 and eventual reunion nine years later.
At the same time, this process of reflection has allowed them to recalibrate what it means to be The Jesus And Mary Chain as they enter their fifth decade. Serendipitously, addresses both strands of the Mary Chain’s current narrative. Although it retains the outlaw spirit of , musically finds sickly, glistening synths frequently replacing the guitar noise. “A lot of bands who started a long time ago don’t make the effort to change their music at all,” says Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite. “But
