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Blurring the lines between mainstream pop and indie, Bastille are finally seeing their innovative sound and style deservedly bear fruit as only last week, their single 'Pompeii' found itself sandwiched between Justin Timberlake and One Direction at No.2 in the UK singles chart.
A week later and Bastille have released their debut album, Bad Blood, which looks set to fly straight into the No.1 spot which lead singer, Dan Smith, has labelled as both 'ridiculous' and 'mental'.
Ahead of Bastille's imminent No.1 record, we caught up with Dan to find out just how surreal his life has become in the past few weeks...
You've got a single at No.2 and an album that looks set to take No.1. How does that feel?
It’s completely ridiculous and mental. Luckily we’re on tour, so we’re quite busy doing gigs every day and travelling around the country. It feels like all this insane stuff is happening. None of it feels particularly real. Particularly in the singles chart and stuff I don’t think we ever envisaged even bothering the Top Ten or anything like that. It feels like it’s happening to someone else and we are just watching. It’s just really nice that people are buying the album and seem to like it. That for us is the most important thing.
How surreal was it to find yourself between Justin Timberlake and One Direction in the UK singles chart?
Again, just completely ridiculous. Not something we ever expected. I was chatting to my sister last week in the pub while that was all going on. She was like, ‘so what’s going on?’ I was like, ‘oh we are sort of No.2 at the moment between Justin Timberlake and One Direction.' As I said it we both started p**sing ourselves. That was literally the last sentence I would ever expected to leave my mouth
Was there a small part of you that was disappointed at not getting to No.1 with 'Pompeii'?
Not really to be honest. We are all quite pessimistic so with it being No.2 in midweek, in our minds we just hoped it would stay the Top Ten. Staying at No.2 is such a nice surprise.
Do you think beating One Direction in the charts is something to feel hugely proud?
I guess so. They did really well with that record anyway. The whole thing is a bit weird to be honest. Pop music is always going to rule the charts and stuff. As a band it’s quite bizarre to be involved in that whole thing.
Watch the video to Bastille's No.2 single 'Pompeii' below:
Did you feel a lot of pressure before the album release simply because of the hype that has been building around the band over the past year?
I don’t really feel like we've received a huge amount of hype to be honest. I never really felt much pressure. I felt like a few people have been really supportive, but I don’t feel we have ever been set up as a hotly tipped band. The album is what it is and it was always going to be that album. We are really happy with it and it feels like the right thing for us to put out. It was always a case of if people like it, awesome and if they don’t that’s that. I think it’s quite good in our heads we have never been remotely hyped so we haven’t had anything to live up to.
As the album seemed to be such a labour of love, how does it feel now it's out there and you know you can't go back to it or change it?
Yea, it is quite weird. It was done a couple of months ago so I have kind of gone through that process of letting go. I think what has been interesting is we’ve been playing gigs and acting like we've got an album out for the last year, so I think it’s been really weird having recorded all this music and kind of holding it back from people like our fans who would very much want to hear it.
It’s nice for us to have everything out there now. Literally every song that I have ever made for Bastille is now available and that is quite a liberating feeling. Now it’s on to the next thing and I guess it’s quite nice to have an end of a chapter. It’s out there now and people can like it or not. Now we can start to think about new things as well.
Did you always aim for mainstream success or is that just something that's happened along the way?
I didn't think about that at all. The songs that I wrote were the songs that I thought were good and the ones that I liked. We never really thought what kind of people would like it. It’s always interesting when you’re starting out and seeing your audience and what kind of people are there. We obviously signed to a major record label so there was always a chance that it would happen, but it’s always such a gamble and you have no idea how it’s going to pan out. Music has always been that way.
Bastille are set to hit No.1 in the album chart this week with Bad Blood
We were at the Two Door Cinema Club gig at Brixton and have never seen a 'support' act get the crowd going as much as you did. Does that show how fans have really taken you to their hearts?
We had such a good time on that tour. It was the first time we had ever done a support tour and you hear stories about bands that do them and only half the crowd are there and nobody really cares, but our experience was the complete opposite to that. We were so lucky to play to full rooms every night. Some of them felt like our own shows because people knew the words and were singing along. Some of the TDCC gigs were the best gigs we have ever had. It was such a nice experience to have. The two gigs that have most inspired our future live shows are the TDCC giant white balloons and Beyonce’s firework guitars. That’s what we are aiming for!
The sky seems like the limit for Bastille, have you got long-term ambitions or are you happy to ride the current wave of success?
I guess we are not particularly ambitious and we feel so lucky to be doing this as our jobs. I think we will just see what happens. It would be great to make another album and to be able to travel around the world a bit.
Can we expect another mixtape?
Oh yeah, we’d love to do another one. It would be a question of timing but I would like to put one out every year if we can. So if we’re still around, hopefully Christmas time we’ll do another one. They are so much fun to make and it’s the opportunity to be a bit geeky and reference all the stuff that we like.
Watch the video for Bastille's single 'Bad Blood' below:
You've had a huge year, what's your stand-out moment of the last 12 months?
I genuinely think that Reading Festival last year was the best thing that has happened to us. We didn't know what to expect or if anyone was going to like us. We were completely blown away to walk out to a full tent to people that pretty much knew every word. That was probably the best experience we've had.
OK, this time no modest answers. There aren't really any bands doing what you are doing at the moment, what do you think makes Bastille so unique?
Maybe it’s the fact that we aren't trying to exist within a specific genre or to have one specific sound. Hopefully we have just written an album of good songs that people will like and remember. I like being in this band and what we really enjoy is the ability to go from a quite minimal electronic song to something that’s got a huge string arrangement or big live drums. We feel comfortable going between those things. I feel like we have a sense of identity and that for me is maybe what makes us standout.
Can we expect to see you at all the biggest and best festivals this summer?
Hopefully, if it was up to us then yes! If we’re not at any of them it’s purely because we weren't picked for them.
You've had a hit single and a soon-to-be hit album, is there anything else you'd like to achieve in 2013?
Oh I don’t know. Personally, I’d just really like to write another album. I’d like to find the time to write more because that’s what I like doing the most and what I do in my free time. We don’t have much free time at the moment, so it hasn't been happening a whole lot. I’d love to be able to make another mixtape and write another album. I’d like to be able to write for other people as well if the opportunities arise. We will see, it would be nice to try different stuff and maybe work with some pop people as well. If any opportunities come up, it would be interesting give it a go.
Thank you very much, Dan Smith. Bastille's debut album Bad Blood is out now. Click here to get it for just £4.99 from Tunetribe.
