Bombay fever hits London

I interviewed Jack Steadman from Bombay Bicycle Club before they played the biggest ever UK headline show of thier career at London’s Alexandra Palace. With the North London band returning home to celebrate their extra-ordinary third album, A Different Kind of Fix, it was to prove a memorable night.

Mark: How are you looking forward to the Alexandra Palace show? Jack: I am trying to not think about it to be honest. It is not looming over us at all but it is just better not to really. I am sure once it comes to it I will be very excited by it.

M: What festivals have you got planned? J: I am looking forward to Benicassim in Spain, it is always nice to get some sunshine. They have just changed our set-time to half one in the morning which will be fun. The crowd should be truly warmed up by that stage, I would hope. The festival I am most excited about is Hultsfred because I have never been to Sweden before.

M: I have heard rumours of an upcoming EP... J: I wasn’t aware that we were making an EP… That’s the first I’ve heard of it. Maybe they are making it without me. We are kind of busy touring right now. We are going to America in the summer. Maybe we will write an actual album then.

M: Any chance you will do anything acoustic again, like Flaws? J: Yeah. It would be nice but probably not the whole album; probably just the b-sides to it. Maybe an EP, that’s a good idea. We will have to give you credit for coming up with that idea.

M: Do you think that being quite young acts against you? J: I haven’t noticed it. Let me think. When we started out, there was always that compliment of ‘oh they are so good for their age’ which gets a bit tiresome after a while. But nowadays we are not that young. I don’t feel young. I feel incredibly old. I am 22.

M: That is still quite young. J: Not in my mind.

M: Are you still living the rock and roll lifestyle? J: I think everyone else is. I am certainly not. The others seem to be partying a lot more. There has been some disgraceful evenings but I have only heard of them.

M: Is it hard when making a set-list to combine all the distinct albums? J: It is very difficult. It is hard to play all of the loud stuff and then go into the acoustic album. I think for people that come to our shows, that don’t really know us before they are very confused because we play all of this weird different shit. But for the people that know us, they know what to expect.

M: Do you ever lie during interviews? J: Sometimes but you always have to realise that it is so tempting to be an areshole but you have to be really grateful for all this. I guess it is easy to do it because it gets repetitive sometimes, but you should always treat people with respect.

M: You came straight out of school. Are you glad you missed out on university? J: I am so glad I didn’t go. I had a place at Manchester. My girlfriend is there, she is just finishing having done a three year course. I spend a lot of time there and I am not sure if I would have enjoyed it. The whole idea of making friends all over again sounds quite stressful, really. I was going to do French which I’d still like to learn, but not at university. It sounds like quite an intense place to be. Lots of ups and downs; pressure and loneliness. I am not one of those social people who parties all the time. For them it sounds wonderful, but I am too shy.

M: Is it true that you guys got banned from a few hotels for being naked in the reception? J: Yeah, that’s embarrassingly true. I feel like we have it all out of our systems at an early age and now we have mellowed out a lot. You have to get all that shit over and done with while you are still young. Now I am happy to never do any of that ever again.

M: And you are only 22… J: My life has all been squeezed into the space of thirty years so in a few years I will be an old man. I will be properly elderly. Dementia, Alzheimer’s. And then that will be it!

And on that sombre note I left to let the band prepare for a historic night in the capital.