See and hear Stuart’s playing for yourself. Mogwai’s world tour begins 2025

STUART BRAITHWAITE: rundown

That One Guitar: Fender Jazzmaster

“It’s the sound. They are a really full sounding guitar. Fender sent me one. That was my gateway into the world of Jazzmasters”.

First guitar memory: Stuart’s sister, playing The Cure, Bauhaus, Bowie

First ever guitar: Satellite Les Paul copy (black)

First ‘proper’ guitar: Fender Telecaster (blue)

Inspirational players: Blind Willy Johnson, Skip James, Poison Ivy, Sister Rosetta Tharp, J Mascis, Kevin Shields, Robert Smith

Modern players: Belong, Sacred Paws

Current go-to song: ‘I Heard Her Call My Name’ by The Velvet Underground

Recommended guest for That One Guitar: J Mascis

stuart’S INSPIRATIONS: PLAYLIST

With his band Mogwai, Stuart Braithwaite has been making music since 1995, with 11 studio albums that have gained increasing popularity over time. In fact, their last L.P. ‘As The Love Continues’ reached the lofty milestone of #1 (in the UK album chart). The band has announced a new album, ‘The Bad Fire’, coming January 2025. Stuart plays us a riff to the new song “Lion Rumpus”, in which he plays out of his comfort zone i.e. fast! 

Stuart’s guitar playing style in Mogwai is characterised by a blend of minimalism, emotion, and powerful quiet-loud dynamics. Mogwai eschew traditional structures (as well as virtuosity), instead opting for texture - building from slow-burn delicate passages to massive, wall-of-sound crescendos. Stuart’s tricks of the trade are use of open strings, multiple effects and deploying that trance-inducing trademark of post-rock: the drone. In Stuart’s words:

“I’m quite minimal. I see the guitar as a way of expressing emotions. I’m never impressed by how hard something is to play. I like to play with patterns where the instruments will meet at certain times. “It’s a cacophonous thing where we’ll all play almost the same thing, but not quite, so it will be a bit wonky”. 

The style conjures up something of a musical magic trick. Mogwai make largely instrumental, longer tracks that build from slow starts, in a world where frayed attention spans usually command instant gratification. Braithwaite & co have zigged where other bands zag, and their guitar-driven antidote to the modern world has been steadily catching on. Indeed, the band’s career seems to be building to a crescendo, just like one of their songs. 

For all that Braithwaite creates music of an ethereal, almost mystical nature, the man himself is a self deprecating and typically straight up Scot. Somehow, despite his musical heroes from Robert Smith to J Mascis employing the Fender Jazzmaster, Stuart has only recently taken to it. 

“Fender sent me one. That was my gateway into the world of Jazzmasters”.

Celebrating where you came from remains a key part of Mogwai’s manifesto and that’s just one of the many elements that has seen this band remain relevant for decades, now more than ever. As Mogwai prepare for the biggest tour of their career in support of The Bad Fire, Stuart is literally in the prime of life. Now the band has gone well beyond the excesses of life in the music industry, there is only one way to enjoy it…be grateful and get on with the show. 

“If you get bored of getting paid money to play the electric guitar then I don’t know what you’re looking for in life. I feel very lucky to be able to do that”.