Glasgow's Darren McGarvey: 'I'm not angry all the time'

“I loved acting, the theatre,” he says. “The big irony is that what I’m doing now – touring as an artist, a performer - is what I always wanted to do.

“It’s just that the opportunities weren’t there.”

Music has always been part of his life, he adds.

“My dad was a working musician, he played in a wedding band,” he says. “But where I grew up, being creative wasn’t the coolest thing you could do. There was a lot of pressure to conform.

“I loved music, of all kinds. I used to listen to things like Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds on vinyl. I remember getting Holst’s The Planets, too, on a cassette, stuck to the cover of a magazine about space, and it was amazing.”

Darren McGarvey (Image: Stephen Dewar)

Darren, aka Loki the Scottish rapper, also played in a jazz band at school, he reveals, but his career as a trumpeter came to an abrupt end.

“I got mugged by four boys on my way home from school,” he recalls. “Me and a pal, we were first year nippers in the big school, and we had no chance against these boys.

“They stole the trumpet, but not the mouthpiece, which tells you something about how idiotic they were. I realised they probably had no idea what they were stealing.”

Darren is appearing at We Could Send Letters in the Strathaven Hotel on June 16, alongside musicians David Scott, of The Pearfishers, Raymond MacDonald and Becci Wallace – who also happens to be Darren’s wife. The couple live in East Kilbride with their two children.

It promises to be a gig with a difference, weaving words and music through a variety of topics, from the importance of jazz as a soundtrack for civil rights, to women’s roles in, and impact on, the industry.

There will be live jazz, some folk-inspired hip hop, several insightful interviews with musicians on stage, and a background soundtrack featuring everything from The Last Poets to Gil Scott Heron.

It is ambitious and bold, and – following the success of a We Could Send Letters launch event at the CCA – sparking interest all over the place.

“It’s a bit different, yeah,” says Darren, adding with a grin: “It’s all seated, we’re all getting on a bit…

“It’s great to be working with Becci. Apart from the obvious childcare nightmare that happens when we’re both doing the same gig, it means we can reconnect with the thing we both love doing."

David Scott will be doing the interviews, and there will be live sets from Raymond, Becci and Darren. 

Darren explains: "I will be trying to positively disrupt any preconceived notions about what rap is, and what it can do. It’s a really interesting format, with a great mix of people.”

Darren is an Orwell prizewinning author (his books, Poverty Safari and The Social Distance Between Us, are bestsellers), a BAFTA-nominated broadcaster and a celebrated hip-hop artist. He shot to fame as a vocal supporter of Scottish independence during the 2014 referendum, and he has not stopped talking since, exposing social inequality, opening the eyes of those who might otherwise have remained blinkered, and pleading for a fairer society.

He has also recovered from addictions to drink and to drugs.

“It wasn’t until I stopped drinking, about 10 years ago now, that I started to find my way in the world,” he says. “It’s funny - because of the work I do, and the tone I take, there’s a perception of me that I’m permanently angry and obsessed with class, and that’s not true.”

He grins: “I’m actually quite chilled, and friendly and open.”

Visit the Frets Concerts website for tickets and more information.