London indie-rock outfit Bombay Bicycle Club return with their new album so Tobias Halford caught up with the band to speak about touring, Newcastle and Greggs.
I was watching your new music video to ‘Eat, Sleep, Wake (Nothing But You)’ and it feels like a familiar song…
Yeah, there is definitely a nostalgic quality to it. It feels like we are looking back in the song on our own career and lives and I think that comes across in the sound as well. There is an ‘80s/’90s baggy trouser Manchester feel to it as well – and we wanted it to be nostalgic.
The video has this epic cinematic feel to it. How did you come up with the idea?
We wanted something that was a bit funny that also reflected on our career a bit and acknowledged the fact that we had been away for a while. I suppose, lyrically, it’s not really that quite straight forward love song and we wanted to make it about missing each other. We filmed it in Kiev, Ukraine, not just because it is cheap [Laughs] but there are a lot of ruined buildings to give it this post-apocalyptic feel. We filmed it in what we thought was a ruined armament building site and it turned out that it was owned by the ex-president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko. We were in these deltaic factories that had signs up saying ‘don’t take pictures of this ship’ because it was secret and we were just wondering around filming so I don’t know how they filmed parts [Laughs].
You’ve got a new single out and a new album coming too. How have you found the new songs’ reception so far when playing live?
Really good, particularly for ‘Eat, Sleep, Wake’ because it was already out. It’s always difficult playing new songs live because, ultimately, that’s not why we go to gigs. We go to gigs to hear the songs that we know and like and, hopefully, we get to sing along too. We hope that the song transports us back to whenever we heard the song or first loved it. At the same time, the songs we have chosen are the most straight forward ones. I mean, the new album isn’t new territory for us so it’s not something that people would hear and think ‘that doesn’t sound like Bombay Bicycle Club’.
How do you prepare for a tour?
Just practice really. To be honest, mentally there are more things you do to prepare for a tour. It is quite a demanding lifestyle including a lot of travelling and disconnecting yourself from your home and family so you really have to rely on each other. I know that we are incredibly lucky to do it and hope we don’t take it for granted.
You’ve played in Newcastle before but how have you found it up north?
It’s always a very good crowd which I’m sure is common knowledge. It’s always a very welcoming city and I love having a Greggs on every corner [Laughs].
Bombay Bicycle Club head to o2 Academy, Newcastle on Monday 27th January. This gig is now sold-out.
