We recently caught up with lead singer Max Bloom of London garage band Yuck to discuss life on the road, the departure of Daniel Blumberg , playing with The Pixies , the video clip for ‘ Middle Sea ‘, covering New Order and the benefits of using Twitter.
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Marcus Rimondini: You’re in London at the moment?
Max Bloom: I am.
MR: And this is before you hit the road. Do you prefer the road or London?
MB: It depends. They’re two completely different things, quite polar opposite things. Obviously it’s nice having a place you call home and being on tour is very exciting. But it’s important not to think that that’s your real life because if you get too racked up in touring, then you start to lose your mind a little bit.
MR: What else do you have planned before the album is released?
MB: I’ve got my first gig in a year and a half tonight in London. Three shows this week, then we’re going to Holland to play a festival and then we’ve got some shows with The Pixies, which will be great and then that’s it. Back to playing live, again.
MR: You’ve moved around a lot in a short period of time. From Cajun Dance Party to Yuck, to now being the main focus of Yuck (after Daniel left). Are you looking forward to a more permanent role?
MB: I don’t know really, I haven’t thought about it. I never saw any of my roles in bands as permanent or not. Obviously my role has changed and it’s very exciting.
MR: Was Daniel’s departure a personal or artistic decision?
MB: He wanted to do his solo stuff. I guess it was artistic in a sense that, that’s what he wanted to be doing. He didn’t want to be the band anymore, because he wanted to pursue his other projects. It was not one thing or the other, it was just something he needed to do, to make himself happy.
MR: What was the mindset coming into this album as far as topics and themes go?
MB: I wanted to make an album that was a whole piece, rather than a collection of songs. I had a particular kind of atmosphere in mind and I wanted it to be something you listen to from start to finish.
MR: Now without Daniel, what’s the recording process when it comes to writing a song?
MB: For this album it was the same, apart from without Daniel. I would write the music and the difference is I wrote everything this time. I would make a demo of a song and then the band would play it and we would work it out together.
MR: Aside from ‘ Rebirth ’ that carries a direct My Bloody Valentine sound, was there any artist that inspired you at the time of the recordings?
MB: Yeah, it was quite varied. On the first album the influences were more apparent to the handfull of bands I was listening to at the time. But this album was more of a variation of music that I was into and I was not really listening to just one thing.
MR: Is there a meaning behind the album’s title Glow & Behold ?
MB: Not really. It’s just the name of the last track and it felt like the right thing to do, the right way of summarising.
MR: Was the inclusion of the trumpet intended from the beginning or more of a spur of the moment idea?
MB: I play all the trumpets on the album. It wasn’t really a spur of the moment thing. I regard it as much a part of the songs as any other instrument. I wrote and arranged the brass sections as I was writing everything else. I’ve been playing trumpet for a very long time, since I was 16 and I kind of know what I can get out of the instrument. So I know what kind of tone and atmosphere it can provoke and it’s a whole new texture you can experiment with. I found it interesting, creatively, experimenting with that.
MR: Will you play it live or will you bring in someone else?
MB: We’ll bring in someone else.
MR: Regarding the ‘Middle Sea’ video clip. Is Jonny Rogoff (the band’s drummer) a natural tennis player? Has he acted much before? And who’s the other guy he’s playing against?
MB: Yeah tennis is a big passion of his. He was on his high school tennis team and he loves tennis. Has he acted? No, but he’s a very naturally funny person, it wasn’t very hard for him to be in front of a camera and be his normal, funny self. The other guy is just a guy the director found, someone who kind of looks like Jonny.
MR: I thought it was his father.
MB: It looks like that.
MR: Are The Pixies the biggest act you’ve opened for? And who else would you love to tour with?
MB: It’s one of the biggest acts we’ve supported. We’ve been lucky enough to support quite a few bands over the years. We played with Dinosaur Jr and that was really big for us. In terms of who I want to tour with, I can’t think of anyone at the moment. I want to play our own shows. If a band I love and adore, like The Pixies, comes along and says “we want you to play with us?” then obviously I’m not going to reject that. I love that band and they’re a huge influence for me.
MR: How did your cover of New Order ‘s ‘ Age of Consent ’ come about?
MB: I wanted to do a cover and we were talking about what song we should cover and I thought it would be cool to cover electronic songs, because it would give us the opportunity to it in our own style. We decided on that song, because I love New Order, they’re another huge band for me and that’s one of my favourite songs by them. They have more dance songs, but this is more of a “band” song and it felt like we could do our own version quite easily.
MR: I’ve noticed you’re a regular user of Twitter. Is this to connect with fans and media or an expressive outlet?
MB: A bit of both. Twitter’s good because it’s a direct link (this sounds cliché) between us and the people who like our music. And there would be no other means to contact people directly. For example, if you have some spare tickets you wanted to give away to a show or whatever, then Twitter’s very good to connect with people on a personal level. But I also like it as an outlet. I think it’s quite funny to be restricted to 140 characters. I don’t really take it too seriously.
MR: This is my favourite question. What are some of your favourite releases so far this year?
MB: Oh God, I don’t really know. Let’s see. I actually really like Paul McCartney ’s new song and there’s a new band in London called Poltergeist that I really like.
MR: And is another tour down under in the works?
MB: Yeah for sure. Nothing is booked right now, but it’s something we’ll definitely be doing, because last time was a whale of a time and we want to come back and play some more shows – probably next year.
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WORDS BY Marcus Rimondini
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