POP STOP: Their rules, their music

31 October 2014 - 09:21 By Yolisa Mkele
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now
BOYS IN BLUE: Bombay Bicycle Club will perform in South Africa at the end of next month
BOYS IN BLUE: Bombay Bicycle Club will perform in South Africa at the end of next month
Image: SUPPLIED

Ii Apple got a penny for every 16-year-old with ambitions of forming a band and going on tour, there would be free iPhones for most male high school pupils.

Fortunately for those who are not partial to the sounds of a cat being strangled, the vast majority of teenage wannabes fade into obscurity.

Bucking this trend is the British indie band Bombay Bicycle Club. They have been playing since they were 16-year-olds in 2006. They released their first album through their own label in 2007 , morphing from adolescents to globetrotting 20somethings with a string of hit singles under their belts.

Bass player Ed Nash says: ''When we went through school we were perfectly normal. It was only after we finished ourA-levels that we decided to fully commit to making music."

The decision to release their first two EPs through their own label called Mmm... Records proved surprisingly prescient for four kids who were still learning the finer points of algebra.

''We'd received a few offers from major labels but we did not want to commit to anything while still in school. In the end it was a good thing. It gave us the freedom to do whatever we wanted with our music," said Nash.

Their latest album, So Long, See You Tomorrow , sounds like the band took an assortment of Smarties, Jelly Babies and chocolate biscuits, popped them into a blender made of guitar strings and house music beats, added a dollop of melancholy and served the concoction as a musical smoothie.

''The new album is a departure from earlier stuff. We're all into music that, on the surface, is light but on a more serious listen has darker elements to it," says Nash.

The initial refusal to have a major label looming over their shoulders also meant that by the time they were snapped up by a big fish, Island Records, they had developed a reputation for ignoring the usual formula prescribed to bands, and defying categorisation.

''We're not looking for a specific sound. If a band like the Arctic Monkeys changed their sound as drastically as we have, people would justifiably lose their minds. But this is how we've always done it, so it works for us. We like making stuff that sounds interesting," says Nash.

Bombay Bicycle Club will play in Johannesburg on November 28 at the Sounds Wild festival, and in Cape Town at the Synergy Live festival (November 29-30). Visit www.soundswildfestival.com or www.synergylive.co.za

subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now