Photo: Gigwise
"Pop's easy to hate on," admits Bleachers' Jack Antonoff, sitting in a pokey hotel room near King's Cross station ahead of his sold-out gig at London's Dingwalls, "because at any given time it's usually the biggest style of music. But there's no bad genres, there's just bad songs."
Watch our video interviews with Bleachers below
As what was initially a side-project (he first rose to fame as a member of Fun) has gradually begun to take centre-stage for Antonoff, he's managed to skillfully avoid the pitfalls of those "bad songs" of which he speaks. Bleachers' debut album is a consistent, layered (both musically and lyrically) slice of indie pop.
That's not to say there wasn't a sense of trepidation that coincided with the release of Strange Desire almost a year ago. "The only thing I focussed on was making the album, and reaching this artistic goal that I had in my head," he insists, "but putting it out, this split second, I guess it was kind of terrifying. I tried not to focus on it. I think you can make yourself crazy if you think about that stuff."
Watch part one of Bleachers' Gigwise interview below
It's no wonder Antonoff defends so passionately the merits of pop - he co-wrote two songs on Taylor Swift's 1989 - 'Out Of The Woods' and the brilliant, electronica-drenched 'I Wish You Would'.
"I love working with Taylor because you get what you see", he says. "She's as brilliant as she seems, and it's very simple and it's an unaffected process. It's two friends emailing song ideas back and forth, or sitting in my apartment talking about songs and working on something - it's not in giant studios with entourages. The way I work with her is the way I'd work with any random friend."
He's dismissive, too, of the idea that Swift's kind, generous persona is an act. "The way information flows nowadays, I don't think you can really hide. If you're a piece of shit it pops out, or if you're not sincere it comes out. These people that we see, and we think they're something, in 2015, the way the internet works, they probably are what you think they are."
Watch Jack Antonoff discuss Taylor Swift with Gigwise below
Then there's Bruce Springsteen, a fellow New Jersey inhabitant, to whom Antonoff pays a great debt. "He represents this sincerity in music that I respond to so much. There's nothing apologetic about it, there's nothing ironic about it, he's not referencing anything, it's not self deprecating, it's just this dream state of true sincerity. It's what I strive for."
Watch Bleachers discuss his love for Bruce Springsteen below
Bleachers plays V Festival in Chelmsfore on 22 August, and at the festival's Staffordshire edition on 23 August. For tickets and information, visit here.
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