English quartet BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB are seemingly four very busy dudes. Not only have they smashed out four full-length albums in as little as five years, they've also been touring their work extensively over the course of their musical journey; garnering enough love and traction to become a staple international band circulating our Australian radio airwaves.
With knowledge of their Australian return at the close of the month that will see the band continue celebrations on the release of their latest LP, So Long, See You Tomorrow, we took the opportunity to have a chat upon their arrival with Bombay Bicycle Club's guitarist, Jamie MacColl.
How did the band come together?
Well three of us went to school together about ten years ago now. The three of us were probably the most musical people in the class, although that was a stretch for me because I didn’t really play anything [laughs]. We just had a teacher that asked us to do something together for school assembly and then we kind of just continued from there really. Jack [Steadman] - who is the main songwriter, and I were very good friends as well. We used to go to gigs together all the time and that kind of thing, so I think forming a band was just a natural progression of that really.
A year after we had first been playing together, we asked Ed [Nash], our current bass player, to join.
How did you settle on the name Bombay Bicycle Club?
It was just a place we used to walk past on the way to school. We had our first gig coming up and they were asking us what our name was called. We just sort of panicked and said, “Bombay Bicycle Club” so it just kind of happened.
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You’ve released a total of four albums in five years, all receiving great praise, award nominations and loads of radio and chart love. Would you say your latest record is the band’s proudest effort?
I’m not sure, all the albums are so different. I mean I listen to all of them, and I still think they sound like Bombay Bicycle Club, but I’m not entirely sure why, it’s just the essence is indefinable. Which is a big thing really because it means that, in a way, Bombay Bicycle Club isn’t defined by one sound. There’s a lot of bands that I love where you can’t really imagine them doing much else other than what they’re already doing; and I don’t believe that’s the case with us. Which makes it harder for fans maybe, because they may really love one album and then the others would probably be a bit you know.. But at the same time it’s exciting because you never know what you’re going to get when we release an album – you may love it or you may hate it.
For those who haven’t heard So Long, See You Tomorrow, what would you tell them about the record? Does it follow a story?
I think when we finished it, the lyrical theme kind of reared its head and maybe came to define the whole album. There are ideas of repetition in both a musical and lyrical sense, and lyrically that meant that the album seems to be talking about a relationship that seemingly was on the verge of ending but always kind of ploughed on. And you get that very relatable sense that things always seem to be changing but yet kind of stay the same.
Musically repetition is something that we had been exploring for the last two albums really, and that is kind of a reflection of making more electronic music and being interested in dance music and hip hop production; moving away from having guitar solos and that kind of thing.
I guess in a way that kind of goes back to what you were saying before about how all the albums sound a bit different from each other? They’re all moving in that shift together?
Yep. I think this album and the last one as well explores everything that we’ve done in small segments. At times I can hear stuff from our first album and even stuff that we started to explore on our acoustic album which is when we became more interested in vocal harmonies, and there’s quite a lot of that on this new record. So when we try something, we don’t just discard it, it hangs around in one way or another. It’s kind of ingrained in our psyche and hopefully ingrained in the listeners’ as well.
Can we expect any new bodies of work in the near future?
You know what, I don’t know at the moment. We’ve released four albums in, what is it, five years now and I think that we need to figure out what we want to do next and find something to write about really. We’ve been on tour for a long time and being on tour whilst writing an album.. I don’t think that’d make very interesting or relatable lyrics. And when you’re the kind of band that is going to release an album because your record label says so or you’ve got another album left in your deal, I think if we didn’t feel there were any ideas or inspiration there, we’d probably just chuck it out [laughs].
If you could listen to just one record for the rest of your life, which would it be and why?
At the moment it would probably be ‘Wichita Lineman’ by Glen Campbell. I don’t know it just never gets old for me. It kind of remains as beautiful every time you listen to it.
You’ll be heading back over to Australia this month for the first time in two years. What are you most looking forward to during your visit?
Unfortunately it’s only going to be a really short visit, but the first time we came, we supported Elbow for some gigs and did our own as well. We were there for about three weeks and had four or five days in each city, you know it was like this is the best trip I’ve ever been on. And this time we’re there for like five or six days. But you know, Sydney and Melbourne are two of my favourite cities in the world, as they are for a lot of people. They’re incredibly fun and it feels like, culturally, there’s a lot going on; which I think is a very exciting atmosphere as a musician being there.
Can we expect Bombay Bicycle Club at any Australian Summer festivals?
I’d be surprised if we came back that soon, but I wouldn’t rule out doing say Splendour next year – which we haven’t done before and I’d really love to do.
Other plans for 2014?
Right off the back of Australia we’ve got a month in North America and hopefully South America just after that. Then our last gig of the year will be back in the UK and will be our biggest ever headline show, so that’s going to be a very big moment for us. That’s hopefully going to be about 18,000-20,000 people. This is why it’s hard to think about making another record at the moment, because there’s [laughs] no time! And as I said, I think that being on tour isn’t conducive to making particularly interesting music.
BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB AUSTRALIAN TOUR DATES
Thursday, 25th September
The Forum, Melbourne
Saturday, 27th September
The Tivoli, Brisbane
Sunday, 28th September
The Metro Theatre, Sydney
Words by Hannah Galvin.
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