We got the chance to sit down with the guys during their recent UK tour supported by Swedish band You Ate My Dog.

You’ve been on your with Swedish band You Ate My Dog, how have those guys been? Good tour buddies?

David – The best. The don’t drink, they don’t fuck about. The get on, they do their shit and they do it well.

John – …basically everything you don’t. (laughs)

David – …yeah they’re a lot more professional…

Dan – And organised, down to Marcus (manager).

John – For example, we drove 19 hours over to Sweden, got there, got to sleep at 5am, and we were up by 8.30am having a pre-tour talk, and getting everything together, which is definitely something we wouldn’t have done.

Has it been the same on this English portion of the tour, have they taken the reigns?

John – I dunno really! It’s been quite laid back.

David – I think the thing is, when we first went over there, there was a great deal of expectation on both bands, and what was meant to be done. We were worried about going over there, what the crowds were going to be like. Whether we’d even get on with the band or not, we didn’t even know them. They were the loveliest people we’ve ever met.

And the shows were good?

David – Yeah really good, there is a club called Klubben in Stockholm, which is the equivalent to our Astoria…

John – …the day we arrived, Underoath had just played there, so it’s that sort of size. It’s the number 1 venue for that scene in the country. There was about 300 kids there, which is amazing.

David – For us to go there and play to a crowd like that is fantastic. We couldn’t be any more thrilled.

Has it improved your opinion of Swedish people?

John – Hell yeah! (laughs)

David – Honest to god, they are the most intelligent people I have ever met in my life. Like, this will sound awful, but over here the people in McDonald’s can barely speak English. Over there, they can speak like 8 languages. And you’re like ‘why are you working here? You should be some high flying businessman.’

John – I really tried to learn some Swedish but all I learnt was some disgusting phrases and swear words (laughs)

So you released Journals back in September on your own backs, how was that?

David – It’s something we’ve been talking about a lot recently, debating whether to move forward. I mean, obviously it’s about progression as a band, and we do want to record more stuff, but saying that, we feel it’s a very good and valid EP. We wouldn’t sell them if we thought it was poor. We’ve only done a small release, we want to take it out to more people.

*Note* At this point it’s important to point out that John is sporting a Justin Bieber tee.

I see you’ve got a Justin Bieber tee on, what do you think of him, would you like to tour with him?

David – We are on tour with him! Have you seen the bass player from You Ate My Dog??

John – …He looks like him after too many beers, the tours gone low, he’s struggling for work, hit the drugs hard. I personally don’t give a toss what people think, I love Justin Bieber…

Dan – …Yeah I like him, too.

Are you playing any new stuff tonight?

Dan – Yes we’ve got two new songs, one is up on our myspace, called Parallels.

Have you got plans for more releases?

David – Essentially, it’s like any band, there has to be a plan and a schedule. We want the EP we’ve got at the moment to get out there, we want more people to listen to it. There’s always the plan for an album, we wanna get an album out, like any band, who doesn’t? But the fact is, it’s pushing what we’ve got now. It depends what comes along. No band knows what’s going to happen, if something comes along that makes sense for the band, we’ll roll with that.

Dan – We want a lot of anticipation behind it…

John – …there’s no point spanking out 5/6 grand minimum on an album. We’ve got a good fan base, but considering how much it would cost, including touring, paying to live, we have to make it financially viable.

Your tour videos on Youtube are pretty catchy, particularly with a lot of lip-syncing going on. Have you got any plans for a new one?

All – Yes we have! (laughs)

David – It’s going to shock, amaze and astound. It’s going to be epic.

Dan – It’s a step further than the last one.

John – Let’s just say we’ve had to be very careful with our camera angles to keep it Youtube friendly. Certainly Some dance moves or two.

David – Maybe even some full blown nudity. WHO KNOWS?! (laughs)

Listen to Parallels now on www.myspace.com/adelaideuk

Swedish Pop Punk band have been on tour with the Adelaide boys in July/August, and I managed to grab a quick chat with them.

So that’s quite an interesting name, where does it come from?

Max – Ermm, it’s actually from us just goofing around I guess. Before we even started the band for real, we had the name and we never thought to change it. In Braindead, there is a scene called You Ate My Dog as well, so it’s just stuck around for a while.

Do you write in English, and do you find it difficult at all?

M – It comes pretty naturally, I write all the lyrics, and I’m half American, so that helps (laughs).

You did a tour in Sweden with Adelaide, what was that like, were they good guys to tour with?

M – Yeah definitely, the best! We had so much fun, we were looking through Myspace for bands to tour with, and we came across them, really liked it, brought them over. We didn’t even think about what they were gonna be like until the last couple of hours before, we were like ‘shit, what if they’re complete idiots?’. They were staying at me and Zac’s flat too! (laughs). But yeah, turned out they were super nice, and we totally hit it off.

Apparently you’re very organised in comparison to them…?

M – The thing with Sweden is you have to go a long way between towns, easily 4 to 5 hour drive isn’t a big deal. They got over about 4/5am, and we had to get up at 7am. First few days we were really settling them in.

How have the dates in the UK been?

Daniel – Oh yeah, the first two dates were the best…

M – Well apart from today, we haven’t played yet! (laughs) We started off in Leeds, then we played Huddersfield, which was a hometown show for Josh, so that was great. Yesterday was Bridlington, it was the smallest venue ever, but it was so much fun. We got great feedback from loads of fans, and sold loads of merch which is always cool.

What are your plans for the future?

Zak – We’re currently recording our CD, we’re in the studio. The plans are to release that at the beginning of the next year.

M – It’s really cool coming out on this. It’s like this is our holiday. We’ve tracked everything apart from vocals, then we’re on this, and then we’re back in again. We were in the studio for about a month, and we’ve got another month left. There’s about 11 tracks at the moment.

Will you only release it in Sweden?

M – We’ll start off in Scandanavia, and then we’re looking for the UK and the rest of the world too!

UK band Baddies have never had what some might call huge success in the UK, and there is no real reason for it, as far as we can tell. Their catchy hooks and imaginative lyrics work together with powerful drumming to make for great Indie Rock songs. Taking to the stage during blistering sunshine is always challenging, as you’ve got to get the fans out of the shade and look after yourself at the same time. Baddies 2pm set was not a particularly busy one, despite their European following, but they were there to give it their all.

The guys are currently working on a new album, and they played a couple of tracks from it. They have a slightly more futuristic sound mixed with the original Baddies vibe, and they sound promising. Expect more keyboard, but still the angular guitar riffs and solid vocal lines.

The highlight for me would have to be Battleships, which is still an absolute tune of a song, with some truly incredible lyrical work, fitting and shaping words into spaces you wouldn’t think was possible. Very catchy numbers throughout, you should really check them out for a dose of indie.

The Baddies where interviewed by TNC Music Editor Mark Allen at Dour 2010

Mark – Is this your first time playing at Dour Festival?

Mike – Yes it is. We’ve been to Belgium quite a few times, done a couple of festivals and various other cities.

Are you looking forward to your set?

Mike – Yeah! I mean, we did 32 festivals last year (laughs), and this is our first one of the year, so we’re actually really excited to be playing, playing some new tunes, hopefully go down well. To be honest, I don’t think many people know our stuff, so to them it will be all new tunes!

Have you played much in Europe in general?

Simon – We did loads last year, I think out of the 32, 25 were European. We doing a headline tour in October that will have us all over Europe again.

Do you find you get a better reception in Europe?

Mike – Yeah I find it’s better in mainland Europe than it is in the UK for us. We’re not exactly too sure why that is, I don’t really care why it is to be honest. If they like the band that’s great.

You released your album on your own label, what was that process like, and why did you do it yourselves?

Mike – It was kind of like, we had the album ready to go, recorded it, paid for it ourselves. We had a lot of hype around us late 2008/early 2009. We did a few showcases in the city and Manchester, and then we did one in Holland called Eurosonic, and that’s when we got all the festivals. There wasn’t loads of major offers coming in, and we thought ‘we’re not going to sit around waiting for it to happen, we wanna get on our with career’. I think there is nothing worse than sitting there with stale songs. Who are we to expect a major to come and sign us, we just gotta get on with it. We did a little bit of waiting didn’t we?

Simon …You can’t not when you’re starting to get interest. I mean, from the start of the album to the time it came out, we started to get really impatient about it, so it was partly that. It got to being like ‘well, let’s just fucking do it’. It was a conscious decision.

It puts you in good stead as a band as well…

Simon – Yeah I think everyone in the band is envolved in some way with everything that happens with the band. We’re pretty good at knowing what’s going on.

You recently released a track in German. What was the idea behind this and why German as a language?

Mike – I decided I wanted to do another song in another language, mainly because I thought it would be a fun thing to do. We spent a lot of time in Germany, and we really liked it over there. Also, my girlfriend’s flatmate is German, so she could translate it all for us (laughs). We considered doing it in French and German, but we ran out of time. It was a lot of fun, it’s going to be free forever. We included the lyrics as well this time.
So what are the plans for the future of Baddies?

Simon – We’re in the process of writing a second album. We’re about half the way through…

Mike – We’re just going at it, writing as many songs as we can, trying new things. It’s really exciting, slightly more futuristic sound. Just evolving really. Ideally we want to have the album out early next year, then do all the festivals again. If we don’t, we’re not going to panic about it, we want to release the right record. We’ve got about 8 new tunes that are there abouts, but you know, maybe none of those will make it on the album, maybe they all will.

Do you think you’ll look to majors for this release?

Simon – It’s hard to explain any of this without sounding really eager or not caring at all, but it’s half way between the two. We’re not going to chase it that much. One of the things we’ve learnt is there are more important things to be chasing. When you’ve got other things on your side you don’t really need it.

Mike – There are a lot of options out there now, it doesn’t have to be a sign your life away job. With major labels comes major expectation, and sometimes you don’t meet those expectations, and sometimes it’s not your fault. With our own label we’ve got our own ones, so it’s all good.

There are times that this job just gets easier and easier when you meet bands like Bordeauxxx who seem to give more than you could ever ask for. We where really lucky and honoured that the guys took the time, and major effort, to do the world famous TNC e-interview! What we have here is something pretty special and these guys deserve your attention!

How did you guys come together? How long have you been a band?

Martin: I think our first rehearsal was on halloween 2009. We all met through uni and Amy asked Charlie to be in the band because she saw him in the pub and liked his hair. She had no idea if he could even play guitar.

Amy: In my defence we did meet him on the music department pub crawl so there was a small hope he may play some kind of instrument, it was just pretty lucky he is good at the guitar.

Nat: He’s not that good. Passable maybe. I just remember Martin texting me asking if I wanted to be in a Joy Division style post-punk band. So I wrote a suitably moody, downbeat track, before we just kind of exploded into what we are now.

Jon: Yeah I think Martin put something up on Facebook about wanting to start a noisy indie band, and as soon as I saw the word glockenspiel, I was sold.

Where does the name of the band come from?

Martin: Amy and I were standing at the print shop with Sky Sports news on in the background and the Bordeaux – Lyon score came up. We just thought bordeaux sounded cool. When we found out it was aready in use by many many other bands so we made it sexy with the XXX.

Jon: Yeah, on the downside it’s meant that we can’t sign up for a hotmail account because they think we’re a porn site.

Nat: I preferred the name Shark Police. Or Police Sharks. Or anything else to do with sharks and emergency services.

Describe your music/style in five words?

Martin: fun, summery, cheeky, dancey pop.

Jon: Arch Nemesis of grimy dub-step.

Nat: Jon you’re all about the confrontation! What about Grimy Dubstep’s Aunt From Sweden? Or Dubsteps Shoulder To Cry On? Or Grimy Dubstep’s Emotional Abuse Counsellor?

Martin: Nat is the one true spokesman of the band.

Charlie: postmusic tweecore indiestep noisedub punkbit.

Amy: really really really really fun!

Best & Worst shows you’ve played?

Martin: Worst show is easily Tommy Flynns. On my part anyway. I dont know what the promoter was thinking when he asked us back. For me the best show is a toss up between the Star, Guildford in march, or Mat Horne’s Session at the Queen of Hoxton. The Star was mental – I have no idea if we played well but the crowd were unreal. Highlight of the night? Madman stagedive at the end of our set.

Jon: Session with Mat Horne was jokes, and Bangers and Mash at the Legion too. Met some great bands at both those gigs…everyone else was just really friendly!

Amy: errrrrrrrr it’ll be Session with Mat Horne for me… highlight of that being Orlando from The Maccabees (yum) dancing along to our whole set and taking the time to find us after and say some very kind, and exciting things! I found that whole situation completely surreal.

Nat: I agree with these sentiments though something must be said for our first ever gig where we were supplied with free flying saucers and mini rolls. Oh, and mini muffins!

Do you have a pretty ‘normal’ fan base, any stalkers been told to keep their distance?

Martin: Apart from the stage diver, everyone else has been pretty normal.

Jon: Yeah, although a couple of times I’ve been wondering around in town, someone’s just yelled out the chorus of ‘Heartstrings’ at me, and when I turned around there was no-one there!

Charlie: The rate of girls that are surprised when I tell them I am in Bordeauxxx is ever increasing, which is totally fine by me.

Martin: Completely fine. some people came over to look at our house to see if they wanted it next year and just before they left they put myself and amy in the awkward ‘hey youre in a band!’ position. It was pretty funny though. Don’t think they chose to rent the house in the end…

Are you planning attending any festivals?

Martin: I’m going to Reading. We’re playing Leefest too which should be fun!

Amy: I’m also going to Reading festival. Very excited, the line up has literally been plucked from my dreams.

Jon: I was going to go to Rockwerchter in Belgium, but being horrifically poor has been an issue.

Charlie: I’m going to Glastonbury, which I am ridiculously excited for as I constantly remind my band members. Also going to Latitude for the day to see the loves of my life Belle and Sebastian.

Nat: Glastonbury also. My dream will be fulfilled when I play there, even if it is in a little tipi to 1 person. I love the place so much. Ill be going to Camp for Climate Action as well which could perhaps be passed off as a festival!

What you have planned for the rest of the year, any new releases?

Martin: As many gigs as we can physically play. Got a couple of radio sessions coming up too. Aiming to get back in the studio over summer but nothing is set in stone just yet!

Jon: We’ve got about 8 song ideas that we need to look at and work out if they’re good enough to work on and turn into fullblown songs and we’re trying to set up a regular club night in Guildford.

Amy: Most of the band are moving in together over summer so there should be many house party gigs!

Who would you want to work with?

Martin: Justin Bieber. He gets all the girls

Jon: Los Campesinos! have always been a huge influence on us. I think we actually all met Charlie for the first time at a Los Camp gig so…that makes them sort of like our parents right…?

Charlie: I think I had met Martin and Amy before, but I met Jon at the Los Camp gig. When I came to university I became obsessed with Camera Obscura for a while and also the original indie/’twee’ bands of the late 80s/early 90s like Heavenly and The Orchids, and I think some of this rubs off on our music. And also Bieber.

Amy: Bieber.

Martin: Beiber it is then.

Nat: Waltham Forest Brass Band!

How has it been for you guys as a band with all the changes within the music industry, you been getting a lot of support?

Jon: Last week I realised that some of my friends are £2000 deep into their overdraft and have a student loan of about twenty grand to pay back. The fact that they still bother to give us £6 for a t-shirt, or trek all the way to London to see us play for half an hour sort of blew my mind.

Martin: We’ve been getting a lot of support from Essex bands and promoters. We owe them!

Amy: We’ve also been getting support from bands that we have played gigs with, arranging gig swaps and the like. It’s nice!

Best advice you’ve been given?

Jon: If you try and figure out what the next big trend is going to be so you can milk it, you’re always going to be one step behind. Just make the music you want to.

Charlie: Do what you wanna do, for as long as you can get away with it. ( I gave myself that advice..)

Amy: Don’t buy a pink bass guitar as it will clash with all your clothes. I didn’t listen.

Martin: Same as charlie, do what you wanna do, rather than what you think others want you to do.

Nat: Just eat it or else I’ll only chuck it away.

And, if you where to give me advice about starting a band what would it be?

Martin: Make sure you like the people that are in it . . .

Jon: Do it now, regret it later.

Nat: Practice loads before your first gig. I think what we did was good, which was to play a couple of tiny gigs to people we didn’t know first before really publicising them and getting all our friends down.

Charlie: Confidence is everything. Cockiness isn’t.

Amy: Enjoy it!’