Bombay Bicycle Club Interview

I chat to the guys backstage at this year's Summer Sundae Weekender...

Rosanna: So is this the first time that you’ve played in Leicester?

Ed: It’s the second time we’ve played in Leicester.

Jamie: We did an in-store at Powerplay, just as it opened.

Rosanna: Okay, so how did you guys first form as a band?

Jamie: At school, in assembly.

Suren: Us three [gestures to himself Jamie and Jack] went to the same school, and Ed joined later on, and we’ve never looked back since...

Rosanna: And have you all always been into music and wanted to do it as a career?

Ed: Not so much as a career, more a hobby.

Jamie: I think we fell into it a bit more than being like, one of these people in their twenties who’ve just left university and are desperate to be in a band. We never like, had a plan to form a band and be the biggest band in the world.

Rosanna: How did you find being at school at the same time as the success that came with Road to V and everything?

Jack: It was alright, we didn’t really think about it that much.

Suren: It was frustrating having to hold back, well, at the time it was.

Rosanna: So has it been easier since you left school?

Jamie: Yeah, so obviously we can do it now so that we’ve been able to release an album. But being at school as well, it gave us a bit of balance, kept us grounded.

Rosanna: So you released your debut album last month and the response has been really good from people like NME- are you happy with the album and with the response that you’re getting from fans?

All: Yeah, pretty happy [all nod].

Ed: Yeah, it’s doing really well. On iTunes it’s in the top 20 I think [smiles] which is quite surprising.

Jamie: Yeah, it did better than we expected.

Rosanna: So you released it on your own record label? What made you decide to do that?

Jamie: Technically. We released our first 2 EPs on our own label, and then we signed. But technically, it’s still going out on our own label, but we don’t do anything.

Suren: We made a whole album on our own, the record label only came along after we’d made it.

Rosanna: You’ve played at a lot of festivals – which has been your favourite so far?

Jamie: Latitude this year was really good, that was probably the best one this year. When we played the sun was setting and everything.

Suren: Reading 2007.

Jamie: Yeah, that was probably the best one overall.

Rosanna: And are you looking forward to playing Reading and Leeds again in a couple of weekends time?

Jamie: Yeah definitely, especially so that I can see Radiohead.

Rosanna: Cool. So for you what’s the best thing about playing live?

Jack: It’s hard to say, hard to pinpoint.

Jamie: You can go crazy and look like a complete idiot.

Rosanna: Do you prefer larger gigs and festivals or smaller, more intimate gigs, like in-stores?

Jamie: They both have their merits. Probably smaller gigs.

Jack: Yeah I like the really small basement gigs, where everyone’s really sweaty and it sounds really bad.

Jamie: I don’t think we’ve really become accustomed yet to playing on the big outdoor stages and stuff, we still find it a bit alien.

Rosanna: So what’s next for you guys, after touring for the album?

Jamie: Write the next album [smiles]... just start writing again.

Rosanna: Okay thanks very much for your time.

Thanks very much to Steve Down and Jason Marcus.

www.myspace.com/bombaybicycleclub

To watch the interview in full:

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By Rosanna Pound-Woods