Belle and Sebastian’s sinister return

Scottish indie-pop rockers Belle and Sebastian are back in Australia this month celebrating the 30th anniversary of their seminal album If You’re Feeling Sinister. The seven-piece are set to perform at Astor Theatre on Thursday, September 17, and Friday, September 18, in what will be two nights full of fan favourites from their stellar catalogue—with tickets on sale now. Ahead of the shows, MICHAEL HOLLICK caught up with drummer Richard Colburn to weigh in on the great Perth-versus-Perth debate, reflect on the legacy of the band’s early albums and find out about the slightly less successful journey of their Scottish World Cup anthem.

The people of Perth are excited to have you back in our fair city. Given that you’ve been repeat visitors in recent years, what are the things that stick out to you most about the place and its people?

I like the beaches and walking by the water. It’s a lovely city just to wander around. The people are so nice, too. We always enjoy coming to Perth, especially because we get to play two nights here, so we have a bit more time to enjoy the city. The Bon Scott memorial in Fremantle is always a favourite. A visit to Little Creatures brewery when we’re there too. The botanic gardens are great. I’ve been known to have a visit to Swan Valley when I feel a thirst coming on.

Also, my two friends, Audrey and Eddie. They’re from the old country, the same as me… Perth, Scotland.

And as a quick follow-up, and impartial Scots yourselves, can you weigh in on which is the better city: Perth, Australia, or Perth, Scotland?

I can honestly say, hands down, that Perth, WA, is the winner. I love my hometown and my upbringing, but those beaches you have here are fantastic.

Getting into why you’re here; this year has been massive. It marks the 30th anniversary of your first two albums and a world tour to celebrate, all on top of the release of the Scottish World Cup anthem. What have audience reactions been like across this current run?

The reaction to the album shows has been really fantastic. We’ve had a ball playing the shows because it’s so different to our usual live format. It splits the show in two, which has been fun.

Also, we’ve been playing the albums over two nights, where possible, so it’s an extra day in each city. But the reaction overall has been great. The cities where we only play one show has been If You’re Feeling Sinister, which still seems to resonate with audiences.

As for the Scotland song, we debuted it at the Albert Hall in London, and it went down well. We tried it again in Mexico City, and it didn’t go down so well. Right after that, Scotland predictably crashed out of the World Cup at the group stages, and with it the song too.

Is there a track from either of those early records you actively dreaded bringing back into the live set, and has playing it over these past few months helped them grow on you… or not?

We actually play the vast majority of the songs from both records when we play live. Because we vary the set list night by night, we tend to get through a lot of songs, so there’s only a few that haven’t been played in a while.

The ones we don’t play much, or haven’t for a while, are You’re Just a Baby and I Could Be Dreaming from Tigermilk and Seeing Other People from Sinister. It’s great we’ll be able to play albums in Perth.

I still remember hearing you for the first time. It was after reading about The Boy With The Arab Strap in Q Magazine in 1998. Being the ancient times, I of course had to head outside, catch a bus into the city, and buy the actual CD. When I got into 78 Records on Hay Street and saw all your records, I actually ended up buying If You’re Feeling Sinister instead of The Boy With The Arab Strap. Having been brought up in a Catholic household, the title just felt a bit more appropriate.

Once I got home and put it on, you became my gateway into an entire world of literate indie-pop. Looking back at it now, from your perspective, were you intentionally trying to carve out a distinct space in the music world for yourself, or did your sound just stem naturally from what you were listening to and what you were actually able to play?

I think the latter. Stuart had been cultivating most of the songs for a while before the band existed. Then, when we got together, they just kind of came out the way they did.

I think the songs, in the first place, stand out on their own because they’re so well written and different to what was happening at the time. I think the way we approached the songs and the way we put ourselves forward was distinctly different to what the norm was at the time.

In some ways we stood out because we didn’t play the game as it was played by mostly everyone else at the time. We all had varying influences and listened to a lot of different things, so some of that manifested itself in the music within the confines of what we were actually capable of playing.

Most of us were very new to recording and gigs, so things came out the way they came out and that was it!

Belle and Sebastian play Astor Theatre on Thursday, September 17 and Friday, September 18, 2026. Tickets are still on sale for the Thursday show from destroyalllines.com