Bastille Announces Release Of Debut Album 'Bad Blood'
Wednesday, 09 January 2013
Written by Jon Stickler
For someone yet to release his first album, Dan Smith, the creative force behind Bastille, has already had a good taste of fame. With the band, he's played a sold-out gig at London’s 1500-capacity KOKO, sold out two UK tours as well as headlined festivals. There’s two sold-out shows at Shepherds Bush Empire yet to come and another sold out UK tour. And they've got an army of fans hanging on his every word, covering songs and waiting for that debut with baited breath.
How did it happen? A lot of talent and a few killer releases; the makeshift DIY video Dan created for his Young & Lost Club debut single 'Flaws'/'Icarus', for example – a three-minute edit of classic movie Badlands, re-imagined without the murder, his 'Laura Palmer' EP, three captivating singles released on Virgin Records; ‘Overjoyed’, ‘Bad Blood’ and the re-release of ‘Flaws’ which entered the UK singles chart at Number 21. There’s also the ‘mixtapes’, 2012's 'Other People's Heartache' and sequel 'Other People's Heartache Part 2', both of which have delivered tracks that have topped the Hype Machine chart.
Now, Smith is ready to reveal his debut album, ‘Bad Blood’ out March 4th. Much of Dan’s childhood was spent dreaming of being a film editor, a writer or a journalist, any profession in which he could tell a story – and pull the strings from the shadows.
Film was an early obsession of Smith’s; a precocious love of horror movies led to an appreciation of Dario Argento and esoteric European cinema. Later, he would be swept into Mulholland Drive and the work of David Lynch, all of which have influenced his music. His song 'Laura Palmer' uses the story of Twin Peaks' mysterious murder victim, and for a while he even wore his hair in an Eraserhead cut. If Smith and Lana Del Rey were members of Match.com, they’d be paired up in a heartbeat.
Although Smith is the driving force behind Bastille with all of the songs being written and initially recorded by him in his bedroom, his music is still collaborative. The rest of the band; Bassist Will Farquarson, keyboard player Kyle Simmons and drummer Chris 'Woody' Wood, appear on the album in varying capacities, and Bastille’s music is always the product of Smith and the band’s ‘fifth member’, producer Mark Crew. Smith and Crew's relationship goes back to the beginning of Bastille and though the music they record together sounds lush and expensive, the album was recorded in a tiny room on limited equipment – plus a day recording strings in the legendary Abbey Road. “We basically made the album in a studio the size of a cupboard, so it was one extreme to the other. Producing the record, I wanted to off-set epic sounding instrumentation with lyrics that combine intimate stories or conversation. The contrast was something that appealed to me.” says Smith,
The aim of the resulting Bastille album proper, says Smith, was to, “Approach each song differently. I wanted each to be its own story with its own atmosphere which brings in different sounds and elements of production, incorporating aspects of the different genres and styles that I love; Hip hop, indie, pop and folk. Film soundtracks can be broad and varied but tied together by the film itself – and I hope the album will be something like that, but held together by my voice and my songwriting, each song a scene or part of a bigger picture.”
And in a weird way, thanks to Bastille, Smith is doing exactly what he always intended: not only is he now making films for his songs (and reluctantly appearing in them too; the video for 'Pompeii' being his vision of "the novel 'I am Legend' if it were shot by the director of 'Drive'”), most of all he’s telling stories. Some use historical and mythological characters as a starting point, others touch on the changing dynamics of relationships and friendships, whilst some explore the weight of responsibility that comes with growing up and ways of dealing with it; hedonism and escapism. These are themes that weren’t consciously intended but became apparent once the record was finished, ‘Some of the album is about stepping back and looking at what kind of person you've become. It’s that dawning realisation that everything has piled up on top of you and it’s up to you, as an adult, to sort yourself out’.
Opening track and lead single 'Pompeii' is one such epic in miniature, a tale of two lovers, frozen in time, caught in the ash that engulfed the Roman city of sin, “It’s a moment of reflection and introspection, but they’re trapped in time so it's a moment that'll go on for an eternity". ‘Bad Blood’ is a story of losing old friendships through a falling out. “It's about growing apart from people you grew up with, and how bizarre it is that these people probably helped form the person you've become, and even though you don't see them any more you are kind of intrinsically linked by your past.”
'Weight of Living Pt II' is that realisation that life has run away with you and that you’ve lost control “It’s a terrifying thing to feel, but I wanted to make light of it by framing it in a really upbeat track, I didn’t want it to take itself too seriously.” 'Things We Lost in Fire', inspired by a friend who's family's house burned down, tells of a couple who watch the metaphor of their relationship burn down and pick through the ashes. Oblivion captures an intimate moment in which someone tells their passed out friend that “however hard they try, they can never manage to follow them to whatever level of inebriated escape they manage to get to”. Finally, 'Get Home', partly inspired by Brett Easton Ellis' stories of young people lost in hedonism, tries to capture the feeling of being directionless and at a point of uncertainty, “using the narrative of a hazy, out-of-it wander home after a night out”.
“I just somehow landed in a really lucky position where I’m able to bring together all these things that interest me,” says Smith, modestly. This, after all, is the man filling theatres on the back of some songs he made in his bedroom. “To play to one and a half thousand people at KOKO was undeniably completely nuts,” he says. "It was an amazing night for us. But the goalposts always seem to change and widen. There’s always the next thing to think about...”
'Bad Blood' album tracklisting is as follows:
1. Pompeii
2. Things We Lost In The Fire
3. Bad Blood
4. Overjoyed
5. These Streets
6. Weight of Living, PT.II
7. Icarus
8. Oblivion
9. Flaws
10. Daniel in the Den
11. Laura Palmer
12. Get Home
Jan 24th - Newcastle Academy (Supporting Two Door Cinema Club)
Jan 25th - Manchester Apollo (Supporting Two Door Cinema Club)
Jan 26th - Manchester Apollo (Supporting Two Door Cinema Club)
Jan 28th - Southampton Guildhall (Supporting Two Door Cinema Club)
Jan 29th - Nottingham Rock City (Supporting Two Door Cinema Club)
Jan 31st - Cardiff University (Supporting Two Door Cinema Club)
Feb 1st - Birmingham Academy (Supporting Two Door Cinema Club)
Feb 2nd - Birmingham Academy (Supporting Two Door Cinema Club)
Feb 4th - Aberdeen Music Hall (Supporting Two Door Cinema Club)
Feb 5th - Glasgow Barrowlands (Supporting Two Door Cinema Club)
Feb 7th - Leeds Academy (Supporting Two Door Cinema Club)
Feb 8th - Brixton Academy (Supporting Two Door Cinema Club)
Feb 28th - Liverpool Academy 2 (Headline Show)
Mar 1st - Edinburgh Liquid Room (Headline Show)
Mar 2nd - Glasgow Oran Mor (Headline Show)
Mar 4th - Preston 53 Degrees (Headline Show)
Mar 5th - Manchester Academy 2 (Headline Show)
Mar 7th - Southampton Mo Club (Headline Show)
Mar 8th - Norwich Waterfront (Headline Show)
Mar 9th - Birmingham Library (Headline Show)
Mar 10th - Leeds Stylus (Headline Show)
Mar 19th - Sheffield Leadmill (Headline Show)
Mar 21st - Nottingham Rock City (Headline Show)
Mar 22nd - Oxford O2 Academy (Headline Show)
Mar 23rd - Cardiff Solus (Headline Show)
Mar 25th - Brighton Corn Exchange (Headline Show)
Mar 27th - Bristol O2 Academy (Headline Show)
Mar 28th - London Shepherds Bush Empire (Headline Show)
Mar 29th - London Shepherds Bush Empire (Headline Show)
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How did it happen? A lot of talent and a few killer releases; the makeshift DIY video Dan created for his Young & Lost Club debut single 'Flaws'/'Icarus', for example – a three-minute edit of classic movie Badlands, re-imagined without the murder, his 'Laura Palmer' EP, three captivating singles released on Virgin Records; ‘Overjoyed’, ‘Bad Blood’ and the re-release of ‘Flaws’ which entered the UK singles chart at Number 21. There’s also the ‘mixtapes’, 2012's 'Other People's Heartache' and sequel 'Other People's Heartache Part 2', both of which have delivered tracks that have topped the Hype Machine chart.
