Suren De Saram - Bombay Bicycle Club (14/08/2014)
British quartet Bombay Bicycle Club will be touring the east coast of Australia with a set of headline shows in support of their latest album So Long, See You Tomorrow this September, supported by Melbourne's City Calm Down.
The band's drummer and all-round lovely chap, Suren de Saram, kindly found time to talk to us about the new album, the upcoming tour and all things India and otherwise.
I chat with Suren at 9am London time, and Bombay Bicycle Club have recently returned home from a “rather mind-bending trip”, which winded up in Asia and included far-flung destinations such as Chicago and Montreal.
My first question relates to the band's name – a question as old as time, no doubt, but which begs asking when the name in question conjures up all manner of things from gin to curry to Fitzroy hipster culture.
"We started the band when we were 15 and obviously we were quite young and naïve, we didn't have a band name, so we needed to think of something quick."
"[In London] there is a chain of Indian restaurants called Bombay Bicycle, one of which was near our old school. We thought that would make a good name for the band. When people ask what the story is, I think it's a bit of a letdown, to be honest."
"There are actually a few [other] instances of the name, actually. I think there's a painting, and there is some cult as well... we used to pretend that it was one of those more interesting explanations... but it's not really."
However it came about, with the alliteration and quirkiness factor, Bombay Bicycle Club is an appropriately catchy name for a band that has indie-pop-rock gems such as Shuffle to their name.
Shuffle is the kind of tune that has indie-cool while simultaneously being accessible to a wider audience. It's this rare and special quality that makes BBC stand shoulders above any paint-by-numbers outfit that find one formula and stick to it.
Indeed, the only formula BBC seem to stick to is to take their inspiration and influences and jam their way through Jack's songs until they have reached a sound that pleases them all. On the band's musical and creative progression since their beginnings with debut album 'I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Loose' in 2009 to today's most recent output, Suren was circumspect.
“We have definitely changed quite a lot since the beginning. [We were] an indie band influenced by The Strokes, Bloc Party, some American-Canadian indie... on our first two EPS and debut album you can hear that, it's obvious. For our second album [Flaws], we switched things up a lot – we decided to do an acoustic album.”
"We got involved in a tribute compilation for John Martin – who was also with Island records. They asked us if we could do a cover. So we did Fairytale Lullaby."
"Releasing a second album so different to our first gave us the freedom to do what we wanted from there. We confused some people with our direction, which in hindsight was probably good. We went back to a more electric sound with A Different Kind Of Fix, which was less guitar-driven, more layered and textured. We started introducing more percussion loops and samples. Shuffle is based around a chopped up piano sample.Our progression from the third to fourth [album] probably makes the most sense. For So Long, See You Tomorrow, we have taken a lot of the influences from our third album and made more of them."
"Jack has been writing songs since he was 12, so when we started Bombay Bicycle Club at 15, we had quite a back catalogue to work from – we were lucky in that respect."
"At the same time, I remember the four of us working together, and working out particular sections. Due to the nature of the songs nowadays, most are written on a laptop, so instead of starting out on a piano or an acoustic guitar, it's on that."
"A lot of the latest album came about that way. Jack would take a travel keyboard and a laptop, and so the album was really written around the world. Jack spent a lot of time in India, actually."
As previously discussed, the name of the band had nothing to do with a specific connection to the country, and Suren is quick to point out that this recent travel to India and subsequent influence on So Long, See You Tomorrow is pure coincidence.
"Jack, in particular, has always been fascinated by India and it's somewhere we've spent a lot of time. Luna was one of the songs that originated while Jack there. It features a prominent Bollywood sample."
"For us it is all about making the album as a complete piece of work. We obvoiusly have a few standout songs from our back catalogue – the songs that people would be shocked if we didn't play at a live gig. But we have never been about writing 'hits'. For us, it's been more about making each album a complete package."
With a parting word, Suren speaks of how much he loves our country.
"We have always loved Australia. We have already done two tours [there]. It's one of our favourite places to tour. In 2012 we did some support shows with Elbow, and we always talk about that being the 'dream tour'.
Australia was where we finished touring our last album. We did Southbound, and afterwards a few of us flew to Byron Bay, which was absolutely incredible..."
Catch Bombay Bicycle Club at one of their upcoming shows around their favourite country in September this year. They tour So Long, See You Tomorrow, which is out now through Island Records.
Rebecca McCann
BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB
THE FORUM, MELBOURNE
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 25
THE TIVOLI, BRISBANE
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 27
METRO THEATRE, SYDNEY
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 28 (all ages)
http://www.livenation.com.au/artist/bombay-bicycle-club-tickets
The band's drummer and all-round lovely chap, Suren de Saram, kindly found time to talk to us about the new album, the upcoming tour and all things India and otherwise.
I chat with Suren at 9am London time, and Bombay Bicycle Club have recently returned home from a “rather mind-bending trip”, which winded up in Asia and included far-flung destinations such as Chicago and Montreal.
My first question relates to the band's name – a question as old as time, no doubt, but which begs asking when the name in question conjures up all manner of things from gin to curry to Fitzroy hipster culture.
"We started the band when we were 15 and obviously we were quite young and naïve, we didn't have a band name, so we needed to think of something quick."
"[In London] there is a chain of Indian restaurants called Bombay Bicycle, one of which was near our old school. We thought that would make a good name for the band. When people ask what the story is, I think it's a bit of a letdown, to be honest."
"There are actually a few [other] instances of the name, actually. I think there's a painting, and there is some cult as well... we used to pretend that it was one of those more interesting explanations... but it's not really."
However it came about, with the alliteration and quirkiness factor, Bombay Bicycle Club is an appropriately catchy name for a band that has indie-pop-rock gems such as Shuffle to their name.
Shuffle is the kind of tune that has indie-cool while simultaneously being accessible to a wider audience. It's this rare and special quality that makes BBC stand shoulders above any paint-by-numbers outfit that find one formula and stick to it.
Indeed, the only formula BBC seem to stick to is to take their inspiration and influences and jam their way through Jack's songs until they have reached a sound that pleases them all. On the band's musical and creative progression since their beginnings with debut album 'I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Loose' in 2009 to today's most recent output, Suren was circumspect.
“We have definitely changed quite a lot since the beginning. [We were] an indie band influenced by The Strokes, Bloc Party, some American-Canadian indie... on our first two EPS and debut album you can hear that, it's obvious. For our second album [Flaws], we switched things up a lot – we decided to do an acoustic album.”
"We got involved in a tribute compilation for John Martin – who was also with Island records. They asked us if we could do a cover. So we did Fairytale Lullaby."
"Releasing a second album so different to our first gave us the freedom to do what we wanted from there. We confused some people with our direction, which in hindsight was probably good. We went back to a more electric sound with A Different Kind Of Fix, which was less guitar-driven, more layered and textured. We started introducing more percussion loops and samples. Shuffle is based around a chopped up piano sample.Our progression from the third to fourth [album] probably makes the most sense. For So Long, See You Tomorrow, we have taken a lot of the influences from our third album and made more of them."
"Jack has been writing songs since he was 12, so when we started Bombay Bicycle Club at 15, we had quite a back catalogue to work from – we were lucky in that respect."
"At the same time, I remember the four of us working together, and working out particular sections. Due to the nature of the songs nowadays, most are written on a laptop, so instead of starting out on a piano or an acoustic guitar, it's on that."
"A lot of the latest album came about that way. Jack would take a travel keyboard and a laptop, and so the album was really written around the world. Jack spent a lot of time in India, actually."
As previously discussed, the name of the band had nothing to do with a specific connection to the country, and Suren is quick to point out that this recent travel to India and subsequent influence on So Long, See You Tomorrow is pure coincidence.
"Jack, in particular, has always been fascinated by India and it's somewhere we've spent a lot of time. Luna was one of the songs that originated while Jack there. It features a prominent Bollywood sample."
"For us it is all about making the album as a complete piece of work. We obvoiusly have a few standout songs from our back catalogue – the songs that people would be shocked if we didn't play at a live gig. But we have never been about writing 'hits'. For us, it's been more about making each album a complete package."
With a parting word, Suren speaks of how much he loves our country.
"We have always loved Australia. We have already done two tours [there]. It's one of our favourite places to tour. In 2012 we did some support shows with Elbow, and we always talk about that being the 'dream tour'.
Australia was where we finished touring our last album. We did Southbound, and afterwards a few of us flew to Byron Bay, which was absolutely incredible..."
Catch Bombay Bicycle Club at one of their upcoming shows around their favourite country in September this year. They tour So Long, See You Tomorrow, which is out now through Island Records.
Rebecca McCann
BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB
THE FORUM, MELBOURNE
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 25
THE TIVOLI, BRISBANE
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 27
METRO THEATRE, SYDNEY
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 28 (all ages)
http://www.livenation.com.au/artist/bombay-bicycle-club-tickets