Singer-songwriter Beerjacket on dreams, pseudonyms, and writing an album that can be sold in a bookshop

“IT was a daydream that lasted for three years,” laughs Peter Kelly as he discusses his latest project, itching to finally release it into the world.

It’s been five years since the Glasgow-based singer songwriter last released an album, and a lot of that time has been spent working on the next one.

Except this time around Peter, who has been self-releasing music under the name Beerjacket since 2004, decided it wouldn’t be worthwhile to release just another album.

Instead, he’s turned his attention to his most ambitious undertaking to date – a collection of 12 new songs accompanied by 12 short stories; intertwined with the music, intended for consumption alongside it.

Now complete, he can’t wait for the launch of the collection, titled Silver Cords, next month – and he seems to still not quite believe it’s all come to fruition.

“It’s the longest I’ve ever spent doing anything,” he tells The Sunday Post. “I’ve read stories my whole life and never actually written them before.

“I’ve always had them in my head but this gave me a reason to put them into a home and gave me a sense that they were mine to write.

“It’s as close as I could manage to creating something experiential, something you can involve yourself in.”

Praised as “one of Scotland’s finest singer-songwriters” and “the finest exponent of this genre around in Scotland (if not the whole of Britain)” by critics over the years, Peter could potentially be adding “pioneer” to those accolades, as he reckons his new project is something pretty unique.

“I’m a voracious reader and I would have probably come across this if it combined songs and stories,” he says. “I’d have definitely found this and been really angry that I didn’t think of it first!

“Why would you not want to do it as long as you’ve got somebody to make it possible and can see it through and not fail at your own idea?”

Backed by Neil Wilson’s independent label Scottish Fiction, Peter has seen the project through and is making the three-year daydream into something real.

And speaking of dreams, Peter has a lot of them – indeed they’re exactly what a lot of the project is based on.

“When I sleep I dream immediately and writing stories is definitely something that’s come out of that,” he says. “The lyrics are half at home in the real world and half at home in things that just make sense to me.

“Dreams always resonate with me, a dream will stay with me for years. There are things in the stories that come from dreams I’ve had. It’s the same with songs, dreams have permeated those.

“Putting the whole project together I suppose was some way of reconciling these dreams and ideas that have been connecting subconsciously already. I’ve got a head full of all these images – they need a home!”

Describing his songwriting process as ‘chaotic’, Peter says the writing of the stories followed a similar pattern.

“I’ve allowed them to write themselves a little bit then organised them into shape,” he explains. “I had to allow them to percolate and come into being the way that songs do. I followed my gut and wrote the things that came out.”

While there are some parallels to his life contained within the stories  – for example he admits he does talk to spiders when rescuing them – they are, like his songs, not autobiographical.

“Being the kind of songwriter that I am where I don’t write about my life, although there might be parts of my life that would drift in, I took the same approach to writing stories,” he says.

“When I was reading the stories back I was trying to read them like I hadn’t written them. As it started to emerge as something I was enjoying, I became a lot more confident that I was along the right lines.

“It took a few times before I wasn’t being really really critical. I’ll never forget how much work I put into it and it’s a thing I’m happy I’ve done. I’m really proud of it, and I’m notorious for not liking things!”

Putting in the extra effort to go above and beyond just releasing an album of songs has spawned a lot more too.

“It’s probably good for creativity that you have to work so hard now to pass muster as a creative person,” Peter admits.

“I get a lot from it. There have been times when you lose your direction and don’t have that feeling for it.

“It’s been really good for me – I don’t think there’s many other things in my life that I could say took that amount of time and was worth it.

“I’ve given everything to it and it’s giving back. It’s a bit of a curse but I think I’ve written another album at the same time…”

---

Silver Cords is Peter’s sixth album as Beerjacket. Dating back to 2004, his career under the name (a beer jacket being the feeling of warmth due to intoxication) has seen him share the stage with the likes of The National, Frightened Rabbit, Kristin Hersh and Arab Strap.

When asked why he chooses to perform under a pseudonym, he explains: “I think it’s more imaginative. You’re doing something creative, I think all of it should be creative.

“As soon as you call it by your own name it puts you on stage. It’s not a distance.

“There are a lot of things that are honest and confessional about playing acoustic music, whether or not you’re playing autobiographical songs, the fact you’re up there on your own or very little accompaniment is a way of sharing something honest.

“Calling it by your own name – and no criticism to people that do that – is maybe a missed opportunity to involve everybody and anybody else there in what’s happening.

“I’ve got all the respect in the world for people that use their own names but I feel that it’s  an opportunity to create on top of what you’re already doing, and to make it almost like a world belonging to the entity that you’re feeding into.”

While he admits if there was a time to go by Peter Kelly, it would be when writing a book, he reckons: “I think the only reason people would want to read this from the outside is that it’s in alignment with the other creative thing that there’s an audience for.

“If I was to use my own name I’d be a little cagier about putting myself in that position. You are on your own.”

Known for intimate gigs, where he often takes a foray into the crowd to play a song, Peter confesses a surprising fact – he’s ‘utterly mortified’ when asked to sing.

“If my wife asks me about one of my songs, I feel embarrassed to sing it,” he admits. “I’d be more inclined to go on the internet and play it to her!

“Who does that? Who puts themselves in a position where other people can listen to them performing and they could get it wrong, play something that they don’t like as much as the last thing…”

 

Peter cites what for some may be a surprising source of inspiration – nineties grunge rockers Nirvana.

“From when I was a teenager they were the band that really woke me up. I don’t think a lot of people would see those parallels!” he laughs.

“In terms of how I’d think about approaching making an album I still think about how I first felt when I listened to Nirvana and obsessed over every detail of each of their records.

“That was what I always aspired to, even if it’s changed shape, the kinds of music I’d be inclined to make. I’d describe it as absolutely nothing like Nirvana… but in the same way absolutely like Nirvana.”

Listeners will be able to draw their own conclusions when Silver Cords is released, with Peter currently going through the nervous, anxious wait for the album’s launch nights at King Tut’s in Glasgow and Edinburgh’s Sneaky Pete’s.

He’s had a hold of the physical copy of the book, which he also illustrated with the help of friend and fellow performer Julia Doogan, for the past few weeks, saying: “The first time it hit me how beautiful this thing is was when Julia sent over a little sample of the book and cover.

“I was shaking when I saw it, it looked so real! After such a long time to be seeing it almost in reality… it’s not like it’s the first book I’ve ever seen but it’s like waking up from a dream and your dream is still there.

“I feel like this has given a lot to me and I feel incredibly fortunate to have been given this opportunity. There’s no way I could have done it by myself and had the belief.

“The sheer exercise of being creative has been incredibly rewarding for all involved. People appreciate that this is something different, a new idea and support it.

“It’ll be the only record for sale in a bookshop. That’s special. I’m awful proud of it!”

Silver Cords by Beerjacket is out on November 23, visit Scottish Fiction on Bandcamp for more details