Redbrick Meets: Bombay Bicycle Club

Ahead of the release of I Had The Blues But Shook Them Loose: Live At Brixton, due out on December 11th, I caught up with Ed Nash from Bombay Bicycle Club to reflect on the Brixton show and the legacy of the band’s debut record.

First of all, what was it like performing your debut album front to back at Brixton Academy?

It was a lot of things! Firstly, it was quite nostalgic and emotional, I wouldn’t normally say that and it sounds kind of cheesy to say but we made that album when we were 18 and they were songs written before we were 18. They were songs which were overtly written about being teenagers and growing up, and we hadn’t played those songs for the best part of 10 years. Going back to them was sort of like opening an old photo album or diary, you immediately come face to face with your teenage years and previous self. Not in a negative way but it was quite bittersweet thinking back and reliving some memories, which was emotional.

They were songs which were overtly written about being teenagers and growing up, and we hadn’t played those songs for the best part of 10 years

So revisiting the album brought about fond memories of your first few tours and recording sessions as a band then?

Yeah, very much so. It was also made more pertinent because we took four years off doing the band, so we got back and then we were playing songs and thinking about the things we had done 10, 11 years before. The other thing is that, when the album was first released, it did okay but wasn’t a big thing at all. We were going round the country playing to a few hundred people maximum. So to come back to it in retrospect and it be this important thing for other people was an amazing thing to see. People were singing along to all the words, they weren’t doing that the first time around!

During the anniversary tour, did you feel as though the older songs took on new meanings or do you still feel as though they are rooted in the context of the period they were written in?

Those songs back then weren’t written by me, I was in the band playing bass, so my personal thoughts weren’t really there. I’m sure Jack (Vocals, Guitar) would have a different take on it! However, for me it was more about being able to relive and revisit things, and you kind of have to reckon with yourself and what you were like as a teenager. Even musically you look back and see how far you’ve come, how much better people are at playing now and how much better people are at writing songs! For me it was certainly more about looking back rather than seeing things in a new light.

For me it was certainly more about looking back rather than seeing things in a new light

As soon as the tour was announced, fans across social media showed their excitement and tickets sold out for each and every date, including Brixton. Did it surprise you that people still held such an affinity for the album a decade after its release?

Most things surprise me! I guess we knew people held the album up as probably our best piece of work and it was important to them at the time, so we had some expectations that people would want to see it. But I’m always taken aback, I think I’m quite self-deprecating as are the rest of the band! I’m amazed I get to do this for a living and its crazy to me that we can play an album that’s 10 years old and people will come flocking to it. So yeah, I was surprised, but I don’t know how much I was fooling myself because obviously we booked the show and had some expectations.

Songs such as ‘Always Like This’ are a staple of a Bombay Bicycle Club live show, but would you consider bringing back some of the deeper cuts from the debut record back into regular rotation?

I’d be into switching up sets more and mixing things up. Because we’ve had five albums now we have more staples that we need to play otherwise people would be annoyed. With the first album, it was just ‘Always Like This’, but now there’s probably about 10 songs that people would always like to see. But I’d definitely like to switch it up more. There are bands like Radiohead who can play a show without any of their big songs in a set and then do a different show and play them all. Something like that would interest me. However, the other side of that is that is we don’t want to shortchange anyone. Yet playing songs like ‘Ghost’ off the debut, which we hadn’t played for 10 years was great, and people really enjoyed it. So yeah, I’d be up for it!

What first made you consider releasing the Brixton show as a live album?

We didn’t originally intend to do it! We played the tour for I Had The Blues and that was going to be the end of it, but we recorded all the shows anyway- just as standard procedure the front of house records all our shows. But we listened back to it and it was just such a special moment and gig for us, it went really well and you can just feel the vibe in the room. We thought why not just put it out? People could listen to it on Spotify, people could buy it, or they could not! For us it was a very special moment and it’s good to preserve those kind of things. People could listen back to it 10 years from now- it will still be there even if we are not playing live anymore.

Would you consider doing anniversary shows for any of your other albums?

I’d certainly consider it. 10 years of Flaws just went by, so we missed that one! However, the more you do these kind of shows the more it takes away the ‘special-ness’ of it, and for us the debut was the most special one. Never say never but I don’t think we’d be in a rush to do it unless there was a real reason or something presented itself. You see bands and they do one of these shows every tour, and I do feel as though there needs to be something special about it.

The more you do these kind of shows the more it takes away the ‘special-ness’ of it, and for us the debut was the most special one

Speaking of anniversaries, it is coming up to the one-year anniversary of your comeback record, which became the fourth UK Top 10 Album in a row for Bombay Bicycle Club. How did it feel to come back after so long away and be able to play sold out shows and release a brand new album to critical and commercial success?

All of those things feel great! But the coolest thing about coming back was just playing music with the band again. Those things you mentioned are important and special, but I was just really excited to be playing with the guys again. Everyone had gone away and done their own thing and learnt a lot about themselves. Before we took that break the band was all we had done with our lives, from 15-25! So taking that time off I did my own project, Jack did his own project, the other guys went off to work and University and we came back better and more rounded people for it. The whole thing felt great and really natural, but the coolest thing was just playing music with our friends again. It sounds cheesy but those genuinely are the real reasons!

Finally, moving away from the past and looking forwards, what does the future hold for Bombay Bicycle Club?

I wish I could tell you. Everyone in the music industry and the world is just pulling their hair out, so I just have no idea. We put the album [Everything Else Has Gone Wrong] out a year ago and the plan was to tour that for this whole year, and obviously we haven’t been able to do that. We want to make up those dates and do the touring we said we would do for the album, so that’s the next thing. However, when that will happen, I have no idea. I would like to think it will be next year, but it might be the year after that or the year after that! We’re having fun doing this so after that there might be more music but there’s always got to be a reason to do it and it’s got to be good as well. So if that’s not there we’ll stop and if it is we’ll make another record. You never know! But yeah, playing shows and making up for what we said we were going to do is the next thing for us.