Let Battle Commence

School truancy rates may be on the increase but if it wasn’t for bunking P.E. and English it is hard to see how South-Of-London’s hippest foursome, Battle, would have found the time to ‘adapt’ to their instruments. If such time were unfound, the alternative music world would sadly lack a very promising band with bags of Morrissey-type lyrics and Cure-esque rifferage, all crammed into beautifully constructed songs worthy of nation domination. But luckily front man Jason Bavanandan and co did bunk P.E. and English. Thus let Battle commence…

Gigwise meets one half of Battle in guitarist Jamie and bassist Tim right bang in the middle of their biggest slash longest headlining tour to date. Months away from the release of their as yet untitled debut album, both interviewees are in good spirits ahead of tonight’s all-important London show. Looking back on the school-bunking experiences, which help form the band you’ll know and love very soon, Jamie revealed, “Jason and I favoured missing Games the most. We’d make up silly excuses and go back to my flat to practice until my parents came home.”

Battle’s past singles ‘Isabelle’ and ‘Tendency’ as well as the brand spanking new ‘Children’ sees them follow unconventional paths within the song’s narratives. Just when you fasten your seatbelt for a spillage of guitar picking madness, a trickle of melodic keys kick in, creating an extremely unpredictable sound. Tim simply says, “We think the songs go where they want to go and everything should have its own personality. The songs go off in different directions because when we arrange them we use a bunch of different structures and orders.” This eclectic mixture of variety within the Battle sound is what sets them away from the other Next Big Things of today.

But what do Battle think about such acts emerging at the moment? “I quite like Hot Chip and I know Jason does too” tells Tim, “but in terms of The Automatic it’s just really awful, disposable pop. I don’t think it’s made with the intention of people wanting to listen to it.” Jamie adds, “Every movement has to come to a head at some point and The Automatic are just a band that are fine in the status quo until something else comes along.” So can Battle be the ones to come along and spark the next movement? “In all honestly I do think so. We’re really pleased with our album and we might not be the best band of all time but we’re very ambitious and we dissect literally everything.” Determination is certainly something this band doesn’t lack, and with such Chris Martin-type paranoia surrounding them, Battle seem to have all the necessary gear to fight their way to the top.