Few have heard the riotous folk-infused music of the John Knox Sex Club, and it’s little wonder. The unsigned five-piece from Glasgow are seldom seen on the live circuit, they don’t do band photos, and – unheard of these days – they don’t even have a Myspace page. Yet all that could be about to change because something unexpected is happening: people are noticing them. Their rare but incredibly raucous live shows have attracted a dedicated following, and Frightened Rabbit frontman Scott Hutchison is a fan. Now planning to record and release material, the John Knox Sex Club are shaping up to be a proper band with all the trimmings. Guitarist Liam O’Shea spoke to The Music Magazine about how they intend to get their act together…

Why haven’t you marketed yourselves as a band?
We’re quite happy picking and choosing what gigs we play. We play much better when it’s something a bit rarer. We all work at other things and everyone is creative outwith the band, or at least tries to be, so it can be quite busy. The band is just one outlet. The logistics of getting five people together at one time can be quite difficult but when we do we work quickly and write songs quickly, and we don’t dwell on things.

How are things changing for the band?
We’ve been lucky: we’ve not really put ourselves forward but people have approached us. The Scottish Arts Council gave us a grant to record for two days at Chem19 studios (owned by record label Chemikal Underground). We plan to release something in February. It’s going to be a catalogue of everything we’ve ever done, including a live and studio CD. We’ve been making our own boxsets out of stacked cardboard at the kitchen table; our friend Mike is doing the cover art, which I know involves dead animals and a skip; and another friend is doing us some very phallic t-shirts. It’s all being made by hand as we’re on a very tight budget. We’re also really keen to hit the road and will be touring with Three Blind Wolves in the new year. I guess it would be more productive if we didn’t sleep in till three in the afternoon most days so I’ll make it one of my resolutions to change that.

Scott Hutchison named you as one of his bands to watch for 2010 – who are yours?
We feel very privileged to have been namecheck by Scott. Andy Monaghan from Frightened Rabbit has always mixed our CDs so maybe he heard of us through that. They’re such an awesome band. Collectively we have a really eclectic taste in music and we learn a lot from each other. My favourites right now include Holy Mountain, a drummer and guitarist: it’s a live thing, a real shambles of a gig. Also Wounded Knee – just one guy with a loop pedal – and a friend of ours who I think will be massive once he releases stuff, Andrea Marini. He used to be an acoustic artist but now has celloists and violinists and they’ve really brought out the best in him. The thing that always strikes me at his gigs is the silence and concentration of the crowd.

Do you want the band to make it big?
If I could do this for a living I would. We certainly wouldn’t say no to a record deal but I think we’d get more support from a smaller label. FatCat definitely have the monopoly on good bands. At the moment though we have much stranger ambitions. We want to go to Iceland because they really support their musicians over there. Iceland Air sponsors bands to come across – it doesn’t matter the size of the band, they’ll pay for their flights so that they can tour. That shows a real passion for music.

What does the John Knox Sex Club experience involve?
We get really riled up for our live shows: it’s a big event because we don’t get together that much. We want people to leave either loving it or hating it. You have to work hard to polarise people’s opinions otherwise you’re just another one of those bands stuck in the middle. Sometimes the crowd is wary if they don’t know what they’re in for – at one gig we did recently, two guys stood with their hands over their ears. Sean [Cummings, lead singer] wanders around hugging people, and some people back off because he’s usually quite sweaty by that point. But mostly it’s a positive reaction and the crowd get really engaged. Rory [Anderson] has broken two £600 guitars because he went a bit wild and the crowd joined in and helped him smash it. He got them fixed by a guy known as the Guitar Doctor, who came straight up to us after a show, handed us his card and said “I think you’ll need this”.

The John Knox Sex Club play the 13th Note in Glasgow, 28 December 2009. Visit the tribute website (created by a fan) to listen to demos: www.myspace.com/thejohnknoxsexclubtribute

Picture by Son of Groucho