Neil Hannon, frontman of The Divine Comedy, told our sister title the Glasgow Times that At The Indie Disco was written after a night out Hannon had with Belle and Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch and Murdoch’s wife, Marisa Privitera.

(Image: Picture credit: Kevin Westenberg) (Image: Belle and Sebastian performing. Picture credit: Tim Mosenfelder) Hannon, who hails from Derry, told the Glasgow Times: “I wrote the song after a night at an indie disco with Stuart and Marisa in Glasgow.

“It was like a proper disco and I’d never been to one before. I’d only been to crap clubs in provincial Northern Ireland growing up, which played Funky Town.

“I owe Glasgow a lot.”

After becoming friends with Murdoch, Hannon said he would come to Glasgow quite often.

He added: “I enjoy the city very much.

“When we started touring in the mid-’90s, I was always more of an Edinburgh man. But as time went on, I grew to love Glasgow more. I got into the whole vibe.”

(Image: Picture credit: Kevin Westenberg) Hannon will be performing a sold-out show at the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow on October 20 after an acoustic gig in the city’s Oran Mor on September 17. The Oran Mor show is for Assai Records customers and tickets can be bought HERE

The gigs will celebrate the release of the band’s new album, Rainy Sunday Afternoon, set to drop on September 19.

Recorded at the famous Abbey Road Studios, the record, which is the band’s 13th since their formation in 1989, was written, arranged, and produced by Hannon.

“I think it’s impressive to still be making records that people want to talk to me about,” Hannon joked as he dived into the inspiration behind the band’s upcoming release.

(Image: Picture credit: Kevin Westenberg) “If you think of the Divine Comedy at its most orchestral, melancholic, poignant, and thoughtful, that’s what this album is,” the 54-year-old said.

He continued: “I just make the records that I feel I have to make for my own sanity.

“When it came to this album, I spent a long time working on music for Wonka (Musical fantasy film starring Timothée Chalamet), so I needed to go back to myself.

“My father died, my favourite dog died, and we were renovating the house. I couldn’t live in my own home for a year and that was really s***. I just wanted to go home.

“When it came to making the album, I wrote and selected songs that suited my mood. I grouped them together, and they work well.”

Hannon – who also did theme music for sitcoms Father Ted and The IT Crowd – went on to hail the experience of recording in Abbey Road as wonderful.

He said he decided to make a whole album in the studios during the pandemic.

“I wanted to do it just once before I kicked it,” he said.  

(Image: Picture credit: Kevin Westenberg) Teasing fans on what they can expect from the Glasgow show’s setlist, Hannon said: “I’m going to try and squeeze six songs from the new album in because I like it. More than that, and I wouldn’t get half of the things people want to hear in.

“It gets harder and harder to do the set list. But it will be a fabulous show in Glasgow.”

As a fan of live music instead of using backtracks, The Divine Comedy’s live shows feature a violinist and an accordion player.

“It will be beautiful,” Hannon said before declaring: “I think I have singlehandedly kept the accordion in the pop limelight.”