Apr 03 2008 4:05 pm,
Profile: British Sea Power
Words: Kenn Taylor
There are many bands which claim to have loyal followings, but The Fly questions just how many acts would be able to get paying punters to wait for a boat on a cold, deserted waterfront in the dead of night. But then British Sea Power are very different. Not for them the seediness of Shoreditch or
It’s in this spirit that we shiver under the stark orange lights of the
“We try and make it fun by doing things like this,” says Noble. “Once you get going it’s a good laugh.” And according to frontman and principal songwriter Yan, the fans love the unusual venues. “These days people just suggest them to us,” he says. “We used to actively seek them out but now people just say ‘Oh, it’d be brilliant if you played here’.”
It’s a few years now since BSP’s 2003 debut, ‘The Decline of British Sea Power’, first gained them attention. Then they almost went stellar with 2005’s bigger and more dynamic ‘Open Season’. But how have British Sea Power changed since their last outing? Latest album ‘Do You Like Rock Music?’ is yet another shift. Still unmistakeably BSP - lost but hopeful, openly English but alternative, epic with the odd rip-roaring chorus - it’s darker and more experimental than previous efforts. Yan feels the album is a reflection of the time that we are in. “Yeah, it’s a bit more apocalyptic, it sounds a bit rawer,” he says. “It’s just how things are, isn’t it? It’s taking things with a bit of a joke as well sometimes; it isn’t doom metal or anything. There’s various stories in there, but in general, the background is the present day, that’s just how things are. At least, half the time anyway.”
Perhaps this new direction has something to do with where the album was put together. For the first time BSP recorded and mixed trans-continental: in the
Despite the obvious devotion of their fans, the band are not afraid to challenge them occasionally. The title of their new record is a case in point. “On the one hand it’s kind of a joke, in terms of it’s meant to be quite stupid,” explains Yan. “We’re quite well-known for having clever titles, and we kind of got bored with that. And we like to piss off some of our more keen fans now and again, just for a laugh.”
But as ever, deep down they’re sincere: “But mostly it’s about… Well, to us rock music should be something massive and moving and beautiful, and normally it isn’t. It seems to be in a bit of a bad way, it needs a bit of help. And we’re trying to expand, not in terms of the way Radiohead would, like in technology or whatever, but more in terms of subject matter, and just sort of sound in general and how it can relate to what’s going on in the song. To prop up rock music and bring it back to where it should be really.”
With British Sea Power fighting its corner, it seems English rock music may still have a chance.
‘Do You Like Rock Music?’ is out now on Rough Trade.
