Glasgow’s Logan have been around for a while now, with four albums under their belts and tours with the likes of Alter Bridge we probably shouldn’t have been surprised when they packed out the Red Bull tent at their recent Download performance. We caught up with guitarist Mick Coll to find out how it was from their side of the stage:
R13: Let’s start pretty broadly, what’s going on with Logan right now?
MC: Right now Logan are in a pretty complex situation: we are in negotiation with several labels which is a time consuming process. The rest of our time is spent writing and demoing songs for the new album and taking time out from that to do the occasional tour or show. It's very busy right now!
R13: You must have a pretty strong idea of the direction in which Logan is headed: how do you see things developing over the next few years?
MC: Over the next few years we're going to become one of the most successful rock bands in the world!
R13: Good answer! What has been Logan's biggest achievement so far?
MC: Our recent set at Download was definitely our biggest achievement so far. We exceeded everyone’s expectations with that performance; it was definitely a landmark show for us.
R13: With it being your first Download appearance, were you surprised by the turnout and crowd reaction to your set?
MC: Yeah, for sure. We had no real idea of what to expect. I was fairly optimistic, but what actually happened blew my optimistic expectations out of the water. It confirmed what we already knew as a band; that we should have been on a bigger stage.
R13: You must have so many stories to tell about Download, what were some of the best bits both on and off stage?
MC: The craziest thing was simply being around so many famous rock icons. Our dressing room was in between Shinedown and Sevendust, so that in itself was surreal! The best bit off stage was hanging around and playing football with people who only last week, to me, were just characters in magazines and on television. The best bit onstage was definitely the crowd reaction.
R13: You mentioned that Logan are going to become one of the most successful rock bands in the world, potentially putting you on the same level as your idols one day - how does that make you feel?
MC: It's exciting; I don’t think that there's any other word for it. The more we get into the business the more we realise that it isn’t a non-stop party: at this level it’s incredibly hard work and incredibly stressful. It's an emotional rollercoaster with severe highs and even more severe lows. The scary thing is that I know as we progress, it's only going to get harder; the highs will be higher for sure but so will the lows.
R13: But do you feel that you are reaching the point where the highs outnumber the lows?
MC: Difficult question to answer... depends how the next few weeks go (winks).
R13: Watch this space, eh? Moving on, you recently headlined your own tour, can you tell me about some of the highs and lows of that?
MC: Touring is pretty horrible: no-one will ever understand that unless they do it. It's one big low, but the time onstage is such a high that it far outweighs all the bad stuff. The high of touring is the performance, the low is everything else.
R13: Finally, can you tell me something random about the Logan lads that not many people know?
MC: Hmm we're all big time movie buffs. Sometimes we can converse entirely in movie quotes for hours at a time!
R13: Oh dear (laughs)... thank you for your time! All the very best for the future.
MC: Cool.