In Conversation With #180 - Boy Bleach
East London’s Boy Bleach have just released their debut EP ‘or are you normal’ - a collection of tracks that show us why they’re why one of the most exciting new groups to emerge this year.
Written by the band themselves, the EP showcases a natural flare for making escapist, anthemic pop songs. Describing the process behind recording the EP – “We basically didn’t sleep in the run up to this EP; we’d go to the jobs we had that paid the bills, come back to the garage and eat cornflakes, smoke, drink coffee and write songs night after night for months on end. Go to sleep at 4am, up at 6am for work. Repeat. The main thing we wanted with this EP was to just be honest about how we were feeling. Start in a vulnerable place so nothing ever feels too deep.”
Born and raised in East London, Boy Bleach are made up of two sets of brothers (Lou & Jimi / James & Nick) and best friend JJ. Talented musicians in their own right they are busy redefining what it means to be a boy band of today. Their sound is as diverse as their musical heroes – everything from New Romantics and Depeche Mode to BROCKHAMPTON and Glass Animals. Boy Bleach have emerged from the highs and lows of the past 2 years, writing songs for a new generation struggling with the pressure of growing up in a fast-moving, anxiety-inducing world. ‘or are you normal?’ gives an exciting taste of the bright future that lies ahead.
The band took a moment to talk to us about how the EP came together.
Hey there Boy Bleach - so your new EP is out now, how does it feel to have it out there?
Feels weird, we started working on this EP in a very different headspace and physical space to where we are now. It was mad cathartic to write and is one of those projects where every song takes us back to that moment so it feels great to know we can share it in its entirety with everyone but yeah definitely weird to finally have it out - seems like we wrote it forever ago!
It is called ‘Or Are You Normal?’ - what is the meaning behind that?
"Or Are You Normal?" literally came from a trend we saw on socials where people would say something about themselves that they deemed quirky or defined their detachment from “typicality” and would say “do you do this or are you normal?" - and it was like the dumbest shit that was just not remotely out of the box. We’re seldom on social media honestly but when we watched these videos the things they were saying seemed so regular to us, & whether or not that was the irony of the trend it just stuck with us. It kind of summed up the EP theme, the things we spoke about weren’t a far cry from what most people deal with in their everyday lives, everyone goes through these things to some degree, but we wanted it wrapped in this really personal scope of perspective that makes it feel isolating because that is what we do, we think ourselves into a hole that makes us feel like we’re not functioning the same as other people. The heartbreaks and mental health struggles and anxieties we have seem so tailor made and specifically “us", and they do a great job of making us feel so small and alone but the irony is our collective detachment from everything kind of brings us all together.
Where was the EP recorded? Any behind the scenes stories from the creative process you are happy to share with us?
The EP was recorded anywhere we could record it. It was such a disjointed process which kind of helped capture the essence we wanted, probably unintentionally to be honest. We worked with a few different producers because we wanted the EP to feel eclectic, we didn’t wanna pigeonhole ourselves too early with a specific “sound” until we really dug into where we wanted to fit. Most of it was recorded in whichever gaff we ended up at for the day - front rooms, bedrooms, basements etc. nothing glamorous just a lot of messing about wherever we could plant ourselves. We want to record the next EP with a bit more of a specific direction, be a little more ritualistic in the process and really savour it because this first EP flew by and almost feels like a trip.
Mate, probably a few too many but there’s definitely a couple that stick with us. With this EP everything was coming from quite a raw, unfiltered place and we really wanted to capture that - so most of the tracks started around a line or two that we had written in our notes or in books/on receipts of just general thoughts we had. I always write random shit down whenever I feel like I’ve actually clicked with something I’ve been struggling with or think that thought that gives me a touch of perspective. Perplexed was about 8 verses worth of random scribblings, just line after line of angst written over a period of time that fit together like puzzle pieces to make the song feel as personal and real as possible - maybe one day we’ll release an alternative version with some of the other verses.
When we were recording 'bullet!’ we grabbed some munch and both Lou and I had started feeling mad weird. We blamed just about everything we’d consumed that day prior and we couldn’t shake it off for some reason. We thought we’d been spiked, like we were tripping something nasty it was so uncomfortable. Then I thought I was having a heart attack while Lou was recording vocals and then Lou started having the same feeling during his takes - it was only after a few hours of us feeling like shite that we realised were dissociating and having simultaneous anxiety attacks - something which we now deal with quite regular but at the time it was still quite new to us so it hadn’t really sunk in that that was the reason we felt so booky. Same thing happened to Lou with Perplexed - he’d been dissociating in the weeks leading up to our final day of recording and performed all the final vocal takes completely disconnected from the day’s activities. There’s literal anxiety in some of these tracks. We take our art very seriously clearly haha.
What are the key themes and influences on the EP?
We don’t like to overdo it with the explanations to be honest, kind of ruins the ability to interpret it objectively - we just want people to listen to it and take whatever they feel they can from it at the point they are when they hear it. Still to this day we listen to some of these tracks with a new perspective and it changes what we take from it completely so we don’t really attach too many of our own influences to the tracks if we can help it. Most of these songs wear their hearts on their sleeve so go listen and let us know what you get from them innit haha.
If your EP could be the soundtrack to any film - which one and why?
Honestly we haven’t really thought about it in terms of films - if we could pick a series maybe something like Skins or more recently Euphoria, something angsty and quite raw, dark and emotionally draining. The EP was shaped around these real life experiences - the darkness and reality of our young adulthood, lost love, societal pressure, mental illness - just a lot of pain and coping. So yeah definitely something that doesn’t try too hard to gloss over the rawness of day to day struggle.
Do you have a favorite lyric on the EP? If so, which one and why?
It’s probably between “I’ve been entertaining my demons and they love the shows I play them”, “They play God but in that case my faith is empty, I hope they won’t hold that against me [while I’m on fire]” or “you were a drug that I held like a gun, I took a shot then I told you to run”. I can’t really explain why - it’s more just feeling you get when you write a line that says exactly what it needs to, but in a way that makes it more than words. We always have this thing, as I’m sure a lot of artists do, where it's like we need to make them tattoo lines - would you wear it on your skin? If not then rewrite it. It’s like that. If it won’t be uploaded on one of them super cool aesthetic pages on insta with a photo of a rose covered in ink or some shit then what are you doing mate? Haha but for real it’s more just that those lines really summarise the EP for us - there’s a lot of emotional turmoil in these lyrics, a depth of understanding whilst still maintaining this lack of clarity - we tried really hard to balance the scales of approaching the themes of the EP from a place of fresh, youthful naivety. Almost cockiness in places, whilst also trying to be aware of the growth and self reflection. We wanted there to be progression from the first to the last song - you feel that journey through the tracks and live a whole summer of confusion in twenty minutes.
Now the EP is out there, what next for you?
We keep going, we’ve already started writing and producing the next EP, we’re really excited for this next project it’s very authentic and bigger, so much bigger. Quite funny considering we’ve barely even released this one and we’re already way too excited about the next one. We’re always writing and recording though so it never really stops - we’ve got a lot of cool shows coming up as well so we’re looking forward to being on stage as much as possible this year playing new shit with the now “old” shit. It’s a really exciting year for us so we’re just happy to get stuck in and make more music we’re really proud of.
