Big in 2013: Born Blonde

With their live experience being described as a ‘multi-auditory extravaganza’, we saw fit to find out a little bit more. Here, frontman Arthur Delaney talks flat packed pop stars, 'ladding it up', and how you could well end up feeling some way between the Dalai Lama and a lab rat if you ever attend one of their gigs.

You’ve been described as “hypnotic, trippy alt rock” in the past. Would you say that sums up Born Blonde?
Yeah, that seems fair. We are really into the hypnotic quality that music can have over you and I think on this record it was something we really explored. We're always looking for something beyond the song, a changed state of mind or a heightened feeling. I think it is in some way a reaction to how exposed to dance music we were while we were growing up. We're always seeking the feeling you get from repetitive beats.

Comparisons to the likes of The Stone Roses, The Verve and The Charlatans have been made, which I’m sure are flattering but at the same time quite tedious too when you’re trying to carve your own sound?
Yeah it's cool, people can say what they want and compare us to this or that band but it seems to just be a journalistic technique to give people an impression of us without having to really dig that deep. Every band is inspired by the bands they love, absorb their influences and then from there they begin to craft their own sound. I wonder if, in the beginning when we first started out, people had said that we sounded like, I don't know, The Cure or something, would people be comparing us to them now instead and asking us how we felt about it the whole time? It seems like the whole comparison to the Roses came from a few people and then everyone got on the trend from there without really listening for themselves.

Your debut album What The Desert Taught You came out a couple of weeks ago. It’s perhaps taken a bit longer to be released than expected, was it important for you not to rush the process?
We couldn't see the point in putting out something we weren't proud of. Though we have some different ideas of how we want to put together our next record we are really happy with the way this one finished up and we took as long as it needed to take to get it done. It's a way that I can always see us working.

You’ve received a fair amount of hype and press coverage since forming. Sometimes hype can actually serve as the kiss of death for bands, was that something you were wary of?
I think that these waves of press attention and hype come and go and are often beyond your control. The only thing you can truly focus on is putting out good music, working hard and enjoying yourself while you do it. We are firm believers that the people will come round in the end, as long as we keep pushing ourselves to write better and better songs then we will get to where we want to.

In terms of the album; if you had to pick a couple of tracks that really encompassed what you’re about, which would they be and why?
I think 'Signs of Fear', which was the first track we recorded, really set the benchmark that we were always trying to hit. In many ways that really defined us and motivated us to believe that we could be good enough. I think that perhaps ‘Solar’ best expresses the energy of the band and the way that we chose to record this record. It came together in about two days and was initially recorded as a b-side before we realised it was a banger and put it out as a single. With that song it was all about getting the parts down as quick as possible and keeping the energy up and the creativity flowing in front of the tune.



You once remarked that you intended to build up your world before you presented to people - do you feel you’re at that point now?
For this album, sure. But it’s evolving and we've got some big ideas of where we’re going to go. Perhaps we're a bit more like aliens devouring a planet and moving on to the next one…

Your Tumblr page includes many references to art and literature; do you find inspiration for song writing and the like in such things? And do you enjoy having that opportunity to share little insights with your fans in this format?
Yeah of course, we're inspired by lots of different things. It could be a book or a film or something someone said to you without realising, or a concept or a science or whatever really. I think that the biggest problem with all the shit that’s all over our radio at the moment is that it’s so plastic and pre-fabricated. Like we're all buying into a load of flat packed pop stars with no soul or passion. We wanted to show people how human we are and not be scared of that. There's a joy in that for us, it's why we put all of our friends and fans in our last video, it was something real and had emotional honesty at the centre of it. If we love something then the coolest thing we could do with that is to share it with someone else so they might enjoy it too.

There seems to have been a shift towards bands being inspired by the arts and adopting a more academic and thoughtful approach to music, Alt-J are a prime example. Do you think it’s more acceptable now to not have to present a ‘laddish’ front?
Yeah I think for us we wanted to make music that we found interesting and hoped that everyone else would too. If that happens to be more academic then cool. For us that has always been some of the mystique behind British rock music, there’s something there to be worked out, a bit of poetry or a hidden reference. A band like Joy Division define that pretty well I think. We still have a soft spot for 'ladding' it up, there’s a romance to living that way. I don't think you have to be either one or the other.

Presumably with the album now finished you’ll be touring in the new year? Are you looking forward to playing the album you’ve laboured over live?
Yeah of course and it will add something to shows now people know all the songs a little better. Playing live is probably the best bit of it all for us so we're really looking forward to getting out there.

And what can we expect from the Born Blonde live experience?
Loads of lights. We just got a new one that we're building into the set, we haven't quite got it under control yet but it's already taken the show to another level. We're fully expecting most people to feel somewhere between the Dalai Lama and a lab rat while they're watching us, something close to transcendental but also a bit dazed and confused. Hopefully we will be getting some new tunes into the set soon as well so there is that to look forward to.

Interview: Michelle Lloyd

More 'Big in 2013' interviews:

Kodaline

Shields

The Last Party