Bailey Van Ellis | Balance And Composure

Hey look, it's everybody’s favourite sad-boys, Balance & Composure! This shoegazey, emo-tinged foursome from the States will be touching down on our shores next week to play shows in support of their new album, ‘Light We Made’. I recently spoke with drummer Bailey Van Ellis to get the-low-down on it all just as the band hits our shores!

So Bailey, what are you up to today besides interviews and all that jazz?

Well, I’m just in Philadelphia and just got a salad, so I’m chilling.

What type of salad are we talking about here?

I went to a place called Sweet Green and I got a salad that has some rice, chicken and apples in it, some weird shit.

Rice… Apples... and Chicken?

Yeah, and some greens. Just trying to eat healthy you know?

That is some weird shit man…but hey, you’re American so it makes sense. No offence.

[Laughs] All good, man.

So anyways, you guys have got a pretty elaborate set-up this tour, any chance we’ll see that down under or are the moving costs too much?

I think the moving cost are too much. We’ll have something but nothing like what we have in the States. We’ll bring some gadgets we use so expect something at least.

Nice, man. You’ll probably know exactly where I’m coming from the moment I ask this but: have you ever heard of a band called The 1975?

Yeah, for sure.

It’s probably a stupid question to ask but have there been many comparisons between your stage show of the neon squares and theirs of the neon rectangles?

Oh, absolutely. We get it all the time. They’re not really a band we listen to or follow so we didn’t know that was a thing and we had someone design the stage set-up for us and it looked cool we went with that. There’s a little bit different to ours as theirs I think is more of just a neon backdrop. Everything’s programmed to a click track so it’s all on beat for us.

At what point did you guys have the conversation of “Okay, we want to do an actual live production.” Was it something in the works for a while or was it fairly recent?

Well ever since our headline show we’ve messed around with this stuff, We used to have an old projector we used with a big white backdrop so it’s just like, the more you tour the more you want to explore different mediums and what the vibe of the show is. Ever since our first headline tour where we got to call the shots in that area we’ve been exploring it.

On that note of the “vibe”, looking at your socials, there this undeniable pink tone to everything. Where was the inspiration for that coming from because I know a lot of bands are also using that like Moose Blood, Vanna and The 1975 to name a few.

It all kind of stems from the artist that did the art cover. We let her have free reign over what she thought portrayed the album. So we just took from that colour palette.

It sounds like, from what you’re telling me, that you guys thrive on collaboration?

Yeah, definitely. It’s like with me, I wouldn’t want someone telling me what music to play or how to play it. I think you have to keep that in mind when you’re getting people to do things for you in any sort of visual way. That’s not our thing; music is our thing.

Do you think you’ll keep the pink them for the next album cycle and expand on it or go completely fresh?

Oh, we will definitely start something fresh. I feel like I get bored of a lot of things super quickly and it just keeps it fresh and from an audience perspective it’s nice not to be looking at the same thing. Definitely open to change the vibe.

The band has been touring for a while now, and have you found that you write when on tour or do you keep writing and touring as separate as possible?

We keep them separate. They’re two different vibes. It’s hard to live in another world then the one of your album. Each show you learn them a little better and they just take on their own life and it’s hard to branch out of that when you’re on the road.

Awesome, man. I’ve seen some of the photos from your Instagram and you’re playing some big rooms. Bigger than I was expecting, no discredit to you of course. Do you think that’s gonna affect the way you write your songs in future? Like, keeping the audience size in mind.

Hell no. That’s not something any of us think about. It shows on this new record that everyone was expecting us to sound a certain way and we decided to do something different. We’re in the mindset that it could totally have backfired. But no, we don’t write for the certain sizes or anything or let that influence us.

Good to see you guys stick to your convictions. Alright Bailey, thanks so much for your time today. Enjoy your salad and take care.

Thanks, Matty. I most certainly will!

Balance & Composure hit our shores this week! If you haven’t sussed your tickets yet, go and grab them now and be sure to strap yourself in for a wild night.