Henry Winter Meets Scott Arfield
Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2017 11:48 pm
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HENRY WINTER MEETS SCOTT ARFIELD
Born in Scotland. Plays for Burnley. Represents Canada
Should I stay or should I go? Music-mad Scott Arfield had to decide when it came to his international career
Arfield played for Scotland at age-group and B team level before changing his allegiance to Canada
Scott Arfield will sing O Canada at Easter Road this week when his adopted country face Scotland, the land of his birth. When required, Burnley’s Livingston-born Canada midfielder can also launch into Take It Easy by the Eagles, Oasis’s Some Might Say or a range of his own compositions, accompanying himself on guitar.
Early in his career, during his time at Falkirk, Arfield had to choose between football and “Skindie”, the mix of ska and indie delivered by the band formed with his brother Stu and friends from the outskirts of Edinburgh. “We called ourselves the Begbies after the character from Trainspotting and I was lead singer,” Arfield recalls.
“We’d been rehearsing for four months, with a big gig coming up, and I was on Falkirk TV, talking about the next game, going, ‘Yes, yes but, listen, we’ve got a gig Saturday night’. After the game, I’m walking to the venue about 6pm, and hundreds of people were trying to get into this arena. Holds 200 maximum. Must have been 500 outside: Dundee United fans, Kilmarnock fans, Falkirk fans. A footballer had never really done it before! At 9pm, I came on a bit worse for wear. But I rocked the place out!
“I did five gigs with the boys, and then it got into the papers and [the manager] Eddie May said, ‘What are you thinking?’ I was going to go with the music because I just loved that gig so much. I felt I was going stale with the football. I spoke to my brother and he said ‘football’.
“He took over as singer. So here I am now, playing in the Premier League, as opposed to playing in small arenas! No regrets. The band’s still going, although the drummer left to join an Oasis [tribute] act.
“I learnt guitar off YouTube. I’ve got a good repertoire of songs. If there’s a guitar there, and I’ve had a few beers, I can get a party going. I’ve brought it into Burnley a couple of times, played a Take That song and the boys all started singing. I love music. The Clash’s Should I Stay or Should I Go was the first song I learnt on guitar, simplest chords ever.
“But I’m more a Britpop, indie guy. Blur! The first song I got into was Girls & Boys. I can’t get into heavy metal. I can watch the guitarists [like Eddie van Halen and Slash] and think they’re so talented but I could never ever put it on.”
Yet the first album that Arfield bought was Michael Jackson’s Thriller, which features a famous Van Halen guitar solo. “Beat It! He makes it sing. I’m a bit more ‘chordy’.
If there’s a guitar there, and I’ve had a few beers, I can get a party going
“Andre Gray calls my music ‘fat boy music’ because he thinks it’s middle-aged men, sitting in a pub, drinking beer. I laugh! He listens to his Stormzy and Skepta. When we went up, we played Can’t Stand Me Now by the Libertines all the time.
“The manager [Sean Dyche] is massively into his music. He’s told me about coming to the Hacienda. He and Ian Woan [Dyche’s assistant] were at Green Day recently.” Arfield pauses, contemplating Dyche’s many qualities. “He has no airs and graces, he doesn’t just sign players, he signs characters.”
Such as Arfield. The 28-year-old is sitting in a bar in Manchester, sipping a coffee and talking music and football with his friend and adviser Freddie Akehurst. They pore over the latest Q magazine, casting an eye over an emotional interview with Kasabian’s Serge Pizzorno and Tom Meighan, both Leicester City fans.
Music is as big a part of Arfield’s life as football
“The manager’s good mates with Kasabian. He had them in a box once [at Turf Moor when Leicester visited] and I wanted to meet them. I had my tracksuit on, and fans were trying to get to me, and I’m trying to get to him [Pizzorno]!”
Kasabian, Arctic Monkeys, Joy Division and Oasis are Arfield favourites. Others, too. “One day, Juliette Ferrington from the BBC came in with a couple of CDs for Tom Heaton and David Jones [now Sheffield Wednesday], who are not into their music whatsoever. One of the CDs was Catfish and the Bottlemen. Jonah [Jones] gave it to me, I listened to it, told Duffer [Michael Duff, big Smiths fan] and Sam Vokes and within a week everyone was all over this album, thanks to Juliette. Sam absolutely loves his music, loves the Stone Roses.
“Me, Vokesy and Ben Mee went to see Catfish in Manchester and then at Leeds Festival. We walked up to the Radio 1 tent — rammed. One of the boys said, ‘I’m going to blag this’. He said to the bouncer, ‘Listen, we’re friends with the band.’ ‘Right, on you go.’ Next minute, I’m at the edge of the stage, Catfish 5ft away, unbelievable. I tried to get a selfie when Catfish came off and he looked at me with that look of ‘who the f*** are you?’.”
He’s Canada’s finest. Arfield, who played 17 times for Scotland Under-21, now represents the land of Drake, Leonard Cohen, Bryan Adams and Arcade Fire. “My dad was always hammering on about Canada because he was born in Toronto to two English people,” he says.
So Arfield could have represented England? “If you cannae get a game for Scotland, you’re not going to play for England! No matter how good you are, you can’t walk into the England dressing room with an accent like this!
“I’m a Scottish-born Canadian, and the lads hammer me for it. Joey [Barton] hammers me all the time. There was talk of me getting in the Scotland squad, and, ‘Why would you turn your back on the country you were born in?’ I’ve no idea whether Gordon Strachan watched me. Maybe he did and I had a shocker. He only phoned me when the paperwork for Canada came through. I thanked Gordon for phoning and explaining the situation, which he could have done a year before. I don’t think there will be any animosity to me on Wednesday.
“My dad will be there. It’s massive for him. I could fill the stadium myself! The guy from the Canadian FA asked how many tickets I wanted, and put the emoji ‘hands over face’ to say, ‘Don’t take the ****’. There’ll be 200 from Livingston! I’ve texted the kit man from Canada, sending through a massive list for shirts. ‘I’ll pay you for it.’ ‘No, you’re one of us. All I want is a bottle of Johnnie Walker!’ I’ve sent that up to him!
Arfield says he takes some ribbing from his team-mates for his musical tastes.
“For my initiation, I sang Take It Easy by the Eagles. Fat boy music! Because it has a guitar in it! For me, it’s proper music. I love music with lyrics, a story to pull me in like the Courteeners. That’s massive talent, telling a story through a song. I still pick up the guitar and write songs, it helps me relax.”
He needs to, having encountered tragedy. Arfield wears 37, the number of his friend Craig Gowans in the youth team at Falkirk. On 8 July, 2005, Gowans was helping to move a goal at the training ground, transporting a metal pole. “I could see Craig struggling and I said to him, ‘Do you want me to take the pole?’ ‘No, no, I’m all right.’ A minute later, he hit a pylon. Electricity shot down the pole. I was 10ft away, so I’m running trying to get him off this thing, when my manager came out of nowhere and grabbed me. If I’d touched him . . .
“I can’t get the image out of my mind. It’s so vivid. My mate’s lying in front of me and I’m being told to leave him, go back to the changing room.
“CID came and tried to talk to me but I was in bits. Craig was a great lad, so intelligent, he could have gone to Edinburgh University to study architecture. His mum and dad were on holiday and his sister had to call them. Now I’m a parent, I realise it even more, it’s absolutely heartbreaking. That’s why I wear 37.
I love music with lyrics, a story to pull me in
“In the close season, my best mate killed himself. Depression. His name was Chris Mitchell, so my daughter’s middle name is Mitchell. We didn’t know about the depression. We were winning the league on the Saturday [the Championship at Charlton Athletic on May 7, 2016], and Chris texted me on the Friday, saying he was so proud of me, ‘Go and smash it up in the league tomorrow’.
“Chris killed himself two hours before kick-off. I didn’t know. My missus was there in London, devastated, she knew Chris as well. But she kept it a secret. I don’t know how she did it, we had a good night in London, woke up the next day and she told me. We still had the parade to do, open-top bus, awards night. But my mind was in a completely different place.
“As much as football is the best game in the world, and it’s the best job in the world, when stuff like that happens it takes a lot out of me. Even the start of the season, I felt I was never firing on all cylinders. It took me so long to get me going mentally.” He’s picking up pace now, looking forward to Easter Road. “The Proclaimers! Sunshine on Leith!”
HENRY WINTER MEETS SCOTT ARFIELD
Born in Scotland. Plays for Burnley. Represents Canada
Should I stay or should I go? Music-mad Scott Arfield had to decide when it came to his international career
Arfield played for Scotland at age-group and B team level before changing his allegiance to Canada
Scott Arfield will sing O Canada at Easter Road this week when his adopted country face Scotland, the land of his birth. When required, Burnley’s Livingston-born Canada midfielder can also launch into Take It Easy by the Eagles, Oasis’s Some Might Say or a range of his own compositions, accompanying himself on guitar.
Early in his career, during his time at Falkirk, Arfield had to choose between football and “Skindie”, the mix of ska and indie delivered by the band formed with his brother Stu and friends from the outskirts of Edinburgh. “We called ourselves the Begbies after the character from Trainspotting and I was lead singer,” Arfield recalls.
“We’d been rehearsing for four months, with a big gig coming up, and I was on Falkirk TV, talking about the next game, going, ‘Yes, yes but, listen, we’ve got a gig Saturday night’. After the game, I’m walking to the venue about 6pm, and hundreds of people were trying to get into this arena. Holds 200 maximum. Must have been 500 outside: Dundee United fans, Kilmarnock fans, Falkirk fans. A footballer had never really done it before! At 9pm, I came on a bit worse for wear. But I rocked the place out!
“I did five gigs with the boys, and then it got into the papers and [the manager] Eddie May said, ‘What are you thinking?’ I was going to go with the music because I just loved that gig so much. I felt I was going stale with the football. I spoke to my brother and he said ‘football’.
“He took over as singer. So here I am now, playing in the Premier League, as opposed to playing in small arenas! No regrets. The band’s still going, although the drummer left to join an Oasis [tribute] act.
“I learnt guitar off YouTube. I’ve got a good repertoire of songs. If there’s a guitar there, and I’ve had a few beers, I can get a party going. I’ve brought it into Burnley a couple of times, played a Take That song and the boys all started singing. I love music. The Clash’s Should I Stay or Should I Go was the first song I learnt on guitar, simplest chords ever.
“But I’m more a Britpop, indie guy. Blur! The first song I got into was Girls & Boys. I can’t get into heavy metal. I can watch the guitarists [like Eddie van Halen and Slash] and think they’re so talented but I could never ever put it on.”
Yet the first album that Arfield bought was Michael Jackson’s Thriller, which features a famous Van Halen guitar solo. “Beat It! He makes it sing. I’m a bit more ‘chordy’.
If there’s a guitar there, and I’ve had a few beers, I can get a party going
“Andre Gray calls my music ‘fat boy music’ because he thinks it’s middle-aged men, sitting in a pub, drinking beer. I laugh! He listens to his Stormzy and Skepta. When we went up, we played Can’t Stand Me Now by the Libertines all the time.
“The manager [Sean Dyche] is massively into his music. He’s told me about coming to the Hacienda. He and Ian Woan [Dyche’s assistant] were at Green Day recently.” Arfield pauses, contemplating Dyche’s many qualities. “He has no airs and graces, he doesn’t just sign players, he signs characters.”
Such as Arfield. The 28-year-old is sitting in a bar in Manchester, sipping a coffee and talking music and football with his friend and adviser Freddie Akehurst. They pore over the latest Q magazine, casting an eye over an emotional interview with Kasabian’s Serge Pizzorno and Tom Meighan, both Leicester City fans.
Music is as big a part of Arfield’s life as football
“The manager’s good mates with Kasabian. He had them in a box once [at Turf Moor when Leicester visited] and I wanted to meet them. I had my tracksuit on, and fans were trying to get to me, and I’m trying to get to him [Pizzorno]!”
Kasabian, Arctic Monkeys, Joy Division and Oasis are Arfield favourites. Others, too. “One day, Juliette Ferrington from the BBC came in with a couple of CDs for Tom Heaton and David Jones [now Sheffield Wednesday], who are not into their music whatsoever. One of the CDs was Catfish and the Bottlemen. Jonah [Jones] gave it to me, I listened to it, told Duffer [Michael Duff, big Smiths fan] and Sam Vokes and within a week everyone was all over this album, thanks to Juliette. Sam absolutely loves his music, loves the Stone Roses.
“Me, Vokesy and Ben Mee went to see Catfish in Manchester and then at Leeds Festival. We walked up to the Radio 1 tent — rammed. One of the boys said, ‘I’m going to blag this’. He said to the bouncer, ‘Listen, we’re friends with the band.’ ‘Right, on you go.’ Next minute, I’m at the edge of the stage, Catfish 5ft away, unbelievable. I tried to get a selfie when Catfish came off and he looked at me with that look of ‘who the f*** are you?’.”
He’s Canada’s finest. Arfield, who played 17 times for Scotland Under-21, now represents the land of Drake, Leonard Cohen, Bryan Adams and Arcade Fire. “My dad was always hammering on about Canada because he was born in Toronto to two English people,” he says.
So Arfield could have represented England? “If you cannae get a game for Scotland, you’re not going to play for England! No matter how good you are, you can’t walk into the England dressing room with an accent like this!
“I’m a Scottish-born Canadian, and the lads hammer me for it. Joey [Barton] hammers me all the time. There was talk of me getting in the Scotland squad, and, ‘Why would you turn your back on the country you were born in?’ I’ve no idea whether Gordon Strachan watched me. Maybe he did and I had a shocker. He only phoned me when the paperwork for Canada came through. I thanked Gordon for phoning and explaining the situation, which he could have done a year before. I don’t think there will be any animosity to me on Wednesday.
“My dad will be there. It’s massive for him. I could fill the stadium myself! The guy from the Canadian FA asked how many tickets I wanted, and put the emoji ‘hands over face’ to say, ‘Don’t take the ****’. There’ll be 200 from Livingston! I’ve texted the kit man from Canada, sending through a massive list for shirts. ‘I’ll pay you for it.’ ‘No, you’re one of us. All I want is a bottle of Johnnie Walker!’ I’ve sent that up to him!
Arfield says he takes some ribbing from his team-mates for his musical tastes.
“For my initiation, I sang Take It Easy by the Eagles. Fat boy music! Because it has a guitar in it! For me, it’s proper music. I love music with lyrics, a story to pull me in like the Courteeners. That’s massive talent, telling a story through a song. I still pick up the guitar and write songs, it helps me relax.”
He needs to, having encountered tragedy. Arfield wears 37, the number of his friend Craig Gowans in the youth team at Falkirk. On 8 July, 2005, Gowans was helping to move a goal at the training ground, transporting a metal pole. “I could see Craig struggling and I said to him, ‘Do you want me to take the pole?’ ‘No, no, I’m all right.’ A minute later, he hit a pylon. Electricity shot down the pole. I was 10ft away, so I’m running trying to get him off this thing, when my manager came out of nowhere and grabbed me. If I’d touched him . . .
“I can’t get the image out of my mind. It’s so vivid. My mate’s lying in front of me and I’m being told to leave him, go back to the changing room.
“CID came and tried to talk to me but I was in bits. Craig was a great lad, so intelligent, he could have gone to Edinburgh University to study architecture. His mum and dad were on holiday and his sister had to call them. Now I’m a parent, I realise it even more, it’s absolutely heartbreaking. That’s why I wear 37.
I love music with lyrics, a story to pull me in
“In the close season, my best mate killed himself. Depression. His name was Chris Mitchell, so my daughter’s middle name is Mitchell. We didn’t know about the depression. We were winning the league on the Saturday [the Championship at Charlton Athletic on May 7, 2016], and Chris texted me on the Friday, saying he was so proud of me, ‘Go and smash it up in the league tomorrow’.
“Chris killed himself two hours before kick-off. I didn’t know. My missus was there in London, devastated, she knew Chris as well. But she kept it a secret. I don’t know how she did it, we had a good night in London, woke up the next day and she told me. We still had the parade to do, open-top bus, awards night. But my mind was in a completely different place.
“As much as football is the best game in the world, and it’s the best job in the world, when stuff like that happens it takes a lot out of me. Even the start of the season, I felt I was never firing on all cylinders. It took me so long to get me going mentally.” He’s picking up pace now, looking forward to Easter Road. “The Proclaimers! Sunshine on Leith!”
