I'm not gonna lie; when I sat down to chat with Nigel (trumpet) and Gavin (bass guitar/autoharp) of Glasgow's Camera Obscura I could hardly decipher their thick accents, a task that proved even more trying on audio tape with the background noise of a popular Portland bar prepping for a busy Friday night. Though a bit got lost in the transcription, here is the majority of our conversation, for your reading pleasure:

SARAH STEDMAN: Am I correct that this is your first tour in the US?

CAMERA OBSCURA: Yep

SS: And you're still in the early days of tour?

CO: Yep, we came over last Sunday and this will be our fourth gig of seventeen.

SS: Awesome, is it going well so far?

CO: Yeah, it's great, it's great; it took a day or two to get acclimatized, but all the gigs have been great. The first gig was a smaller gig, a warm-up thing, and then we went up to San Francisco and they were both great.

SS: So I get the impression that the scene in Glasgow where you come from is a tight-knit communal effort, is that an accurate interpretation, or is that just how it seems over here reading about it?

CO: I think it can be; it kind of goes through cycles, I guess. There are two or three main places where bands play and everyone around there just kind of gets to know one other well. I mean, secondly, the bands all can play at the same time... It's not a big city, really, it's big in Scottish terms, but obviously it's only 750,000 or 650,000 or something like that. It's not that big of a city, so everyone does pretty much know everyone else. Even from different kinds of styles of music, it doesn't change it; we still know all the other bands even if it's not, like ya know, a scene as such that you all play the same music, you tend to know everyone and there's a bit of crossover a bit. People are always playing with and helping out other bands.

SS: Have other bands that Camera Obscura members been in had similar sounds as we currently hear from you? Has anything been completely different?

CO: It's actually been quite different, cause there's a few of us, even now, who play in other bands. Gavin, now, plays in a couple other bands. Lee used to play in a metal band.

SS: Did you know that there is a hardcore/metal band in Southern California that share your name?

CO: Totally, we get the odd e-mail on the website, and, ya know, folks saying, "Are you guys the same as this other band?" I think somebody wanted one of our records and must have walked into a record shop and bought Camera Obscura; so they picked up this record and of course it's this thrash-metal thing goin' on, and it was like, "Shit! This can't be the same band, no way man." So occasionally we get that. Four or five years ago they (the other Camera Obscura) actually e-mailed us and told us to change the name, but we've had it longer and they actually threatened us. They said that if we were ever in San Diego they would fight us, but we turned up and they weren't there. It was our first gig, in San Diego, and we were getting kind of excited that they were going to turn up, but they didn't.

SS: So has it gotten to the point that you guys are bothered by all the Belle & Sebastian comparisons?

CO: To be honest, you've got to look at it as a compliment in many ways. I think there's an element... it's difficult, ya know... I mean, I don't think we're bothered at all, cause I mean we know them, they're good friends, and I think we all like what they've done. I mean everyone in the band, we're all fans of Belle & Sebastian, there's no doubt about that, and so, you know, we can't be annoyed about the comparison, but, I'll tell you, ultimately when it keeps popping up, you kind of say, "You know, we're not the same," but we know it's going to happen because there's obvious comparisons, with even just the line-up and nevermind anything else, you know, people are automatically going to say, "You're from Glasgow and you've got similar line-ups," and there are connections. But, no. No is the answer. Not annoyed, not at all.

SS: Have you guys toured in Europe a lot? How have your shows here in the US felt in comparison?

CO: Mainly Spain and Ireland, not much other countries; our record label is a Spanish record label in Europe, so that's why we have toured Spain a few times, and obviously the UK and Ireland. We've never really toured much in Europe, we were only barely getting by in the early days. Our first tour was really only a year, year and a half ago, we did Spain then, drive up and to Dublin. It's a lot hotter here. The response has been great; if the first few gigs are anything to go by, then we're going to have a great time. The crowds have been really responsive.

SS: Good, I'm glad. So I guess I should ask when you guys are recording next... I know the album just came out a few months ago, but what are your plans after tour?

CO: Well it just came out over here a few months ago, but it was actually released more than a year ago, finished over a year ago. We have a bunch of new songs and we're basically in the stage where we're ready to go in and record. We're going to go back home next month and we're going to be taking studio time to work on the next album. There's always the danger that you end up concentrating and touring and promoting an album and you forget about getting back into the next one, you know, so we're hoping to get back in the studio by the end of the year and get something out next year.

Camera Obscura released Under Achievers Please Try Harder in the US on Merge Records earlier this year.