Bastille Interview: "We were as surprised as anyone when we suddenly had a real success"

I I think people confuse the sound of my voice with too much seriousness, "says Dan Smith of Bastille, running his hand over his recently shaved head. "For some, those who do not care and do not really focus, Bastille are just a few pop songs that they heard on the radio. But I mean, we do not really care.

This nonchalant addendum is only unconvincing, given how much the four indie-pop groups clearly care about everything they do. Bastille does not just shoot, they orchestrate immersive theatrical experiences. They do not just make music videos, they make unique living tapestries. And they do not just make albums, they make completely self-written concept albums that wrestle in a breath with broken heart, nihilism and the state of the world. In other words, it's understandable that they find it a little frustrating when "in many situations, people are like, oh, you are the ones who made" Pompeii "or were involved in" More Happy " ".

Which is not to say that they are not proud of their 2013 single: a dazzling and dazzling pop song "about two dead bodies that were really bored", which was for a while the song the more listened to from the UK. time – or the 2018 Marshmello multi-platinum-sales collaboration that they originally wrote for Justin Bieber. But, says multi-instrumentalist Kyle Simmons, "I feel that it lacks a lot of depth. The content, the things we're singing and talking about, it's not, I'm talking about my ex-girlfriend and we're separated because of that, we use some interesting things to visualize that. And only a few people are looking for the depth of the content. "

We are behind the scenes of the Dutch Pinkpop festival, a few hours before the band plays on the main stage and a week before the release of their third album. Doom Days. Smith proudly wears the t-shirt he bought the day before at the Rock Am Ring festival and is pleased to see his schoolboy approaching Slipknot. He agrees with the evaluation of Simmons. "I do not want to look like a f ** king cheerleader for our own group," he says sipping a cup of tea, "but we were doing mixtapes while it was totally unheard of for a group to do".

Bastille publishes mixtapes since its beginnings. The group formed in 2010, after Smith decided to expand his solo project to a group – recruiting Simmons, multi-instrumentalist Will Farquarson and drummer Chris "Woody" Wood. But it was only during the "Pompeii" release in 2013, which was closely followed by the equally successful Eurodance "Of the Night", that Bastille suddenly, unexpectedly, was recognized.

"I think for a lot of people we were suddenly confronted with a few songs," laughs Smith. "There was a step back when we suddenly had a very good success. Many people have badumed that it was really cynical and planned, and this was not the case. Nobody knew it. When we signed our recording contract, in two weeks, we sold more albums than they expected for what we were selling. We went as a weird DIY group, still making our own music, and we were as surprised as anyone. "

"We did not really have time to understand how to be," says Simmons. "It was like you were here now."

According to Smith, one of the biggest frustrations was people's attempt to define the sound of the band. Was it electro-pop? Rock? Synth-pop? "In terms of sound, we have never been one thing. I guess this thread that runs through all our music is the writing of the song and my voice, which is my f ** king voice. I can not do anything about it. I remember a reporter who had shouted at me not to define the kind we were. I thought, "Dude, I do not do f ** k!" And it's pretty nice, six years later, to see how he was a dinosaur king, to try to pinch us. Now, the most interesting new bands that come up, you do not even dream of trying to put them in a box. It's good to see that what we have always done has become normal. "

On their new album, Doom Days, which follows on 2016 Wild World, the band continues to play fast with the rules of the genre – although it has tried to make the lyrics more blatant. Taking place during a single evening – from 12:15, as the hedonistic euphoria of the opening song and the single "Quarter Past Midnight", and ending on the floor of the kitchen at dawn – Doom Days revel in escape, kissing one last day before the sun rises and that reality calls. Freely influenced by the British dance music of the 90s, he weaves delicate piano melodies with drops, breakbeats and distorted drum sounds. And it's also their most explicitly political album to date.

"God knows what's real and what's wrong," sings Smith on the title track. "The last few years have been a crazy trip." Later, he adds, "We will be the proud remaining / Here, until the dawn of the day." It's hard to miss the double goal. "Maybe we had songs in the past that were political but slightly more ambiguous," says Smith, "and they went unnoticed, so for that we were like," F ** k it, let's all what we think in "Doom Days" so that we can release this song and that she say everything. "This means that there is not much room for misinterpretation."

In addition, the world is currently in such a desperate situation that it would be impossible for Smith to ignore it in his music. "It's a really strange time when you have the impression that the world is constantly changing while stagnating at the same time," he explains. "All these situations seem purity, rather than seeming to go anywhere, which can be very discouraging. Especially when we have these very public opinions about how you would vote, or are you a rest or Brexiter? This allows us to spread people. I'm not saying that some things are not inexcusable, but if it prevents any kind of dialogue, it's a dead end and where are you going? I think what we wanted to give to this album was absolute pessimism, nihilism and a bit of optimism. So it's not only completely lost and dark. "

He adds that the "Proud Remains" line obviously refers to Brexit, but also to people who do not want the night to end. If we take into account the time, I wanted to bring out the dramas of the night, the personal stories and bbadities of not wanting to leave anyone in an Uber because you want it to stay in the corner. at night, and from one night, and from a drunken breakup. "

Smith hopes the album can act as a form of catharsis for people – but the band has no particular interest in the quality of their albums. "We really do not have the urge to be those famous mega-rock stars," he says, but later, during his performance, he jumps through the stage and suddenly collapses to the ground with his head in his hands – is proof that it could easily be. "We love making music, and my favorite part of all this is doing interesting creative things, but at no time do we think, no, how are we going to be known?"

When all of a sudden their music was everywhere, Bastille refused almost all the offers that happened to them, "because we absolutely did not want to be famous and our music was really good without us having to do much. We were not really on TV, we did not appear in any magazine or newspaper, we turned down offers to be judged in TV shows and panels. We were more than happy to be able to tour, play with people who knew our music, then go home to London and buzz in our normal lives, and it's pretty much the same thing. "

Earlier in the day, Smith went around the festival and joined the crowd to watch The 1975 Perform. People were walking past him dressed in Bastille t-shirts. Nobody recognized him. "What's great!" He said. Said Simmons. "I have the impression of living a double life. This is the perfect line for us, to see someone pbad in front of a Bastille t-shirt, knowing that they really appreciate you, but that they are just pbading in front of you. Are they ever tempted to say something? "Oh my God," Smith said, as if I had just suggested hitting someone in the face. "In no way." It's our music that I see on your iPod as I look over your shoulder? "

The glory of celebrity does not seem to matter to Smith. "I was not a teenager who dreamed of doing one of the festivals and being part of a band. So we are very lucky and grateful to be allowed to do so, "he says, gesturing around him. "But it's not the accomplishment of something that makes you fantasize. It's just that crazy by-product of the thing we made. "

"Doom Days" was released on Friday