INTERVIEW WITH BELLERUCHE
Where did the name come from? And what weird spellings of it have you encountered in the past?
We’re named after a dead champion New Zealand dog. Honestly. Ricky used to work somewhere where skiving on the internet was possible, and came across the tribute website to the fine animal. We thought it was a good word, it reminded us of a semi pro Belgian cycling team from the mid 70s, and we needed a name as we’d got offered a gig that weekend. Later on we found out what it mean’t and were relieved. Yes, no one can spell or say it. Which I guess some would say was a problem, but we think it makes it more memorable.
How would you describe the new album?
Darker, louder, recorded at 3 in the morning, when bike thieves are circling the studio, so we had to scare them off with the sub bass. I think it’s a more cohesive album than we have managed before, mainly because we made time away from touring to work in the studio full time on it for several months.
You’re pretty friendly with your fans, why do you think that’s important?
I think that you should respect the fact that people are prepared to spend time and money listening to what you really enjoy making. We’re incredibly lucky that people do, and it still seems surprising! The music business is falling apart around us, and we can get people to come to a show and pay for our music, it’s only right to say hi and have a drink with them too! I like the punk attitude that there’s no separation between the band and the audience – we’re all there for the same thing, to create and enjoy the experience.
How important was that Mercedes Benz ad for securing new fans? And did you um and ah over doing it or was it a simple decision?
I don’t think it helped much in terms of gaining fans, it was purely a way of earning money. Simply put, letting them use that song enabled us to have access to our own studio for a year, and to concentrate on writing and recording. It’s certainly not cool to have to earn money that way, but the way the record business is going, it’s a useful way of generating funds to get to continue what you love doing. And I do drive a 12 year old beat up mercedes van with two hundred thousand miles on the clock, so I can’t really get on the moral high ground about cars. Although they are evil….
What item would you most love your music to endorse?
To be honest, nothing. We make music we are really proud of and have a honest connection to, and you don’t really think about product endorsements when you are writing something. The best things I’ve seen our music used for that we didn’t know about are the youtube clips where someone’s taken a song of ours and used it on their hula hooping, skating or riding video, it’s really flattering that they like the song enough to use it to soundtrack something they were clearly proud of to broadcast to the world, weird, but flattering.
Tell us about when you played Glastonbury…
It was mainly spent wandering around being really pleased with ourselves to have got a show at the festival we’d been to so often in the past. I first went there and crawled under the fence when I was 16, so to actually play properly there was fun. Beyond that we cut loose and enjoyed it… Can’t really remember that much about the set if I’m honest.
Any more festivals lined up this year?
Several across Europe and a few in the UK so far, check Belleruche.com for updates over the next month. We’re excited that we are playing at Shambala this year, as I’ve never been and it looks like a interesting event.
What’s your favourite thing about UK festivals?
Probably the locations – so many European festivals take place in lorry parks, or disused industrial units, where as most UK festivals tend to be in really beautiful locations. And I think the secret stuff that you find after all the official stages have closed down for the night is often the main reason I go to festivals now, secret bars hidden in woods with gypsy bands, that sort of thing.
Belleruche play Bristol Thekla on June 1. Tickets £10adv from www.seetickets.com
