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20 MusicWeek 17.01.14 PROFILE BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB


‘WE’VE NEVER RECYCLED THE SAME IDEAS’


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They’ve released three gold-selling albums in three years via the same major record company – and now look set for the next step. Bombay Bicycle Club explain why their label can ‘afford to be patient with us, quite literally’ ahead of their fourth album release


TALENT n BY RHIAN JONES


S


ome say UK major labels are too fickle to grow a band and show them the patience they need to blossom. Bombay Bicycle


Club’s story tests that theory. Since signing to Island in 2008 then releasing their


debut album in 2009, the band have produced three more with the record company – including the latest, next month’s So Long, See You Tomorrow. With fans in the likes of BBC Radio One’s


Zane Lowe and Huw Stephens, a steady burn of hype has grown as the four-piece have been allowed precious time to develop. And develop they have: their fourth album is for the first time self- produced and features a blend of melodies built around loops, offbeat rhythms, soaring strings and Bollywood movie samples. Inspired by sights and sounds experienced while


touring around India, Japan, Turkey and the Netherlands, the album was recorded over 18 months in the band’s own studio and engineered and mixed by Mark Rankin (QOTSA, AlunaGeorge). BBC’s Jack Steadman (songwriter and lead


vocals, guitar, piano), Jamie MacColl (guitar), Suren de Saram (drums) and Ed Nash (bass) met aged 15.


ABOVE


Priority act: The band remain one of “the most important acts” on Island six years after first signing a deal


“Early reviews tipped us as four middle class guys from London making very twee indie music. We’ve matured so much since then and want to be taken seriously” JACK STEADMAN


They signed with manager Jason Marcus after one of their first gigs in their school assembly hall and spent a few years playing low-key venues - Marcus encouraging them to finish college before leaping into the music biz full-time. Their debut LP, I Had The Blues But I Shook


Them Loose, was finished before then-Island A&R execs Chris McCourt (now Atlantic) and Dan Keeling offered them a deal and the label has granted them freedom to steer their own direction ever since. “Ever since Bombay Bicycle Club signed to


Island in 2008, they have consistently been one of the most important acts on the label,” explains Island’s MD Jon Turner. “To be here in 2014 on the eve of their fourth album is testament to the evolution of the band on each of their albums. They have managed to do this on their own terms and have never compromised.” These days, the band says their label’s


predominant A&R input comes from Mr. Island himself, Darcus Beese – who, according to Steadman, “Visits the recording studio once in a while, injects a lot of energy into the room and then leaves.” Here Steadman and MacColl discuss the


dangers of big major label record advances, negative stereotypes and industry nepotism…


First things first, the new album So Long, See You Tomorrow - what’s different to your previous three? Jack Steadman:The biggest difference is that we produced it ourselves. Part of the reason we decided to do that is because in the past we just wanted to recreate the demos with another producer and that was ironic - if you want to recreate them then just do it yourself. When you’re starting out and don’t have a lot of confidence you feel like there is a right way to do things and you have to conform to it because you don’t know enough about the studio or technologies. We recorded our first EP when we were 16 or 17 so we’ve got a lot of experience of being in a studio. Before we always ended up with a record that we


liked but were left with things that we would have done differently. Maybe it was a case of not having the confidence at the time to say ‘I don’t agree’ because there you are with an incredibly experienced


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