Dan from Bastille speaks to The Guide
Liz Crosthwaite • Published 4 Dec 2012 07:30
0 Comments
Share this
See also:
WHETHER they are being described as pop, indie, indie-pop, electro-indie-pop, or rather harshly, 'hollow-sounding', Bastille, led by Dan Smith (he of the gravity-defying barnet), are certainly getting people talking.
Smith's band, formed after he had penned much of the material that is being lapped up by music fans and critics alike, have yet to release an album, but they've definitely got something going on.
On fan favourite Laura Palmer, Smith's plaintive vocals dance on top of a gentle heartbeat of techno rhythms, while the recently re-released Flaws, with it's walking-dead-on-Coney-Island-themed video, is a more melodic, poppy
tune, with pleasing plinky-plonky electro effects.
"We have been in a bubble from it," the self-deprecating frontman said of the hype surrounding the band. "We are in the middle of things and it's hard to have perspective on how you're perceived and what's going on. I do not mean that in an arrogant way at all... it's just because I feel like since we started out we have been growing really steadily and quite slowly. So it's not been at a point where we are forcing our stuff down people's throats."
Of their much-anticipated debut album, Bad Blood, set for release on March 4, former English student Dan admitted that he liked to work alone: "I have kind of continued to record the album by myself, I write it by myself and produced it with a friend who I made the early demos with.
"The guys in the band have played bits and pieces, but I'm quite a control freak, to be honest, so I like working and piecing things together!
"When we play live we are very much a band, but when it comes to writing and recording I do like to get on with it. On every other level it's been wicked being in a band, being on tour, playing gigs with your mates."
Dan added that he was keen to break down any perceived boundary between band and fans.
"We try to make it as open as possible. Any notion that there's any barrier between the band and people who like your music is totally ridiculous. We always wait around after gigs to hang out with people. I get uncomfortable when people get excited and think you're a better person than you are because they like your music. It's nice to chat to people and make them realise you're a crap person!"
Bastille play at Sub89, Reading, on Thursday. Tickets are now sold out, visit www.sub89.com for returns.
This article appeared in Bracknell News 29 Nov 12
Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our Whats On archives.
