PureVolume

Members: Lee, James & Dave

Bloody Tourist Interview

What made you decide to form the Bloody Tourists , tell us a bit about your history to date and who does what ?

The whole concept of Bloody Tourists arose after watching the feeble attempts at pop music emanating from various bands trapped with turgid, naval gazing lyrics over tired chord structures. Reckoning we could do better we bought some cheap instruments at a local car boot sale and as soon as we figured out which end of the guitar was which and how to put the drum kit together we booked a gig at the finest venue in the South West, The Wunderbar (Midsomer Norton). Since this momentous debut gig Bloody Tourists have gone from strength to strength winning a recording session in Brixham, thanks to a battle-of-the-bands in Covent Garden, and have got to the No.1 slot at Extraplay's worldwide chart with 'Gram and a half'.

Who or what are your influences ?

Lee: P.J Harvey, The Fall, Pixies, Lou Reed, Pulp, Kinks, Joy Division
James: White Stripes, Raconteurs, Pixies, Kinks, Rolling Stones
Dave: Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, Smiths (I also own 'the best of ZZTop' and proud of it!


What modern artists do you like?

Lee: The Arctic Monkeys, fresh sound, great 'fuck you' attitude.
James: Raconteurs, great guitar sound
Dave: David Hockney, or most new impressionists


Why The Bloody Tourists have you got a problem with tourists ?

We needed a name that would be both memorable and already widely quoted without being clichd or blatantly plagiaristic. Coming from Bath 'Bloody Tourists' seemed fitting as most folk mutter these words on a daily basis as they squeeze through the camera wielding masses. It started as local satire.


What inspires you to write your music/lyrics ?

Lee: A life of failure and debauchery
James: Passion and frustration
Dave: Drums go bang.


Name your all time fave track by another band/artist ?

Lee: Hyper Ballad by Bjork
James: Watching the Wheels by John Lennon
Dave: How soon is now by The Smiths

What sort of sound can we expect from your forthcoming album ?

Raw, Energetic, Shameless Rock n Roll


What are your ambitions for your music. Where do you see yourself in 5 years ?

Multiple great albums under our belts and just working on a crap one after realizing we're so 'big' people will pay to just hear us fart on record.


How would you describe your music and what genre do you think it fits into ?

Proper Garage, Art Punk, Dirty Rock n Roll.... Listen and let us know. Failing that wait till it's in HMV and hunt it down (it'll more than likely be under Rock).


Where is your forthcoming album being recorded and who is producing ?

The majority of the album was recorded at a mate's house. Drums were recorded in the sitting room, guitar in the kitchen and Bass / Vocals squeezed into the hallway. The album is unique in that most of the songs took only one take, due to limited time. Mr Richard Green did an amazing job helping us to produce such an unadulterated sound. The remainder of the album was recorded in Brixham as part of a won prize weekend at Iguana Studios.