Walking the line between dream-pop and shoegaze, bdrmm‘s upcoming album ‘I Don’t Know’ is one that should firmly plant in your ears later this Summer. With a Notts stop on the horizon, we meet the Hull boys…
Hiya guys! How are you feeling ahead of touring the new album?
Jordan: Hey! We’re really great. It’s exciting to be finally heading out after months of working on new material. There are so many new songs off the new album that people are yet to hear. Definitely ready to knock a few socks off.
We’ve been loving ‘It’s Just A Bit Of Blood’. It’s been around in your setlist for a long time so how did that track develop over live performances and rehearsals? Is there much left of it’s beginnings?
Jordan: We write in a fair few different ways, but this track was one that came together in the practise room. A lot of the early version is still intact in what we play now. It really came from Ryan’s picky guitar part at the beginning and our love of making a bunch of racket. There’s a few more bells and whistles now we’ve worked on it in the studio, but the tasty core is there.
As a whole, is the new album a blend of old and new or have you tried to push for a sound that represents you as a group right now?
Jordan: It’s varied really. There are a few songs that sit fairly adjacent to what our first record achieved, then tracks that heavily rely on our love for synthesis and sound design and a few in between that. It’s definitely an evolution in our sound, but one that’s developed to represent us as musicians far more than the first record did.
You’ve recently signed to Mogwai’s record label Rock Action, how did that come about and do you feel that being surrounded by experienced musicians inspires more creativity as a band?
Jordan: We’d met Stuart previously when he came to see us play in Glasgow at The Hug and Pint in 2021. After a few drinks, he told us that he loved our music and would love to sign us which we all thought was a massive joke because we’re four idiots from Hull. Anyway, we went on tour with Mogwai the following year and it all clicked perfectly. Stuart, Dom, Barry, and Martin became like family to us, and we trust them immensely. It felt like the perfect next step after seeing how weird and wonderful they still are after all these years.
Your debut album was labelled a ‘modern shoegaze classic’, with the weight of that label and the quality of that first record did you find it difficult to tackle the second album? Was the term ‘shoegaze’ perhaps something you wanted to move away from?
Jordan: Yeah, we tried starting the album several different times, but it just wasn’t working. We tried different producers and sounds but ended up back at The Nave with Alex who did the first record. Having that time to process and discover new influences really gave us scope on what we actually wanted to say with the new record though and I’m really proud of what we’ve managed to achieve with it. Shoegaze is something we hold dear, but we wanted to try something different on this album. I don’t think anyone in the music industry wants to be pigeonholed, and it’s dangerous to get complacent.
How has the reaction been to some of the newer tunes whilst you’ve been gigging?
Jordan: Yeah, really nice. People seemed to comment when we changed the name of Picky New to It’s Just a Bit of Blood. It’s just odd to have people looking our way in general.
Excited for the show but quickly before we let you go, if there was one piece of gear that you could never let go from your set up what would it be?
Jordan: Thanks! I’m sure it’ll be great. That’s a tough one – I really love my Moog Sub37. It featured on a few of our early tracks but it’s on every one of the new songs from ‘I Don’t Know’. She’s called Bruce and she’s a fierce lady.
Bdrmm play The Bodega on the 15th November. Tickets are on sale now.
Interview by Fin Heighton – Jupp.
