2012 was a massive year for Bleeding Knees Club.
After recording their debut album in New York and releasing it to an overwhelmingly positive reception, the two Gold Coast boys embarked on an international tour, which lead singer and guitarist Alex Wall says helped the band to hone their skills as musicians.
“We have gotten a lot better at our instruments and a lot better at music. Nothing To Do was recorded over a year ago now and we’ve played a show pretty much every week since then, so now we can actually play the music we want to make.
“The band has changed a heap. I started off playing drums with Jordan [Malane] on guitar and we travelled and played like that for a while. Then after ‘Nothing To Do’ came out we changed to a three-piece with me on guitar and Jordan on bass and we had a drummer and then we got rid of that drummer and got another drummer, but he quit. Now we’ve got a new drummer who is awesome. I guess when we started we were all down for partying and we still do but it got old after partying every night for three years. Now we’re just hanging out and having fun.”
The band’s raw, no-fuss style of rock’n’roll is Wall’s reaction to an overload of dance music. “When I finished high school it just seemed like every band was making dance and electro. No one was just doing hardcore rock’n’roll and all of a sudden there’s all these kids just putting up home recordings on the internet of them playing guitar, and then the kids would be like ‘I could do that at home’.
“I think it was popular because anyone could do it and you didn’t have to look up to massive rock stars whose songs you couldn’t play because you don’t have a $500 keyboard. Anyone can play a guitar song.”
Those awaiting new Bleeding Knees material may need to be patient for just a while longer, though Alex promises the songs already written will bring more of the same with a spark of maturity.
“We haven’t started recording it yet so I don’t know when it will be released but we’ve written all the songs. They’re a lot bigger and I guess they’re similar to ‘Feel’. I think the EP is going to be pretty awesome. The songs just cover a lot of different topics and they’re a lot more mature and musically more advanced than our older stuff.”
The latest single ‘Feel’ is an earnest and relatable account of a breakup, and the accompanying video is replete with adorable puppy dogs that double as a metaphor for unhappy couples.
“I was in a relationship and my girlfriend was always telling me how to do things and what to do, and it was really frustrating me. Then I didn’t really want to be in the relationship, but it was too hard to get out of it and then it eventually ended and I wanted to be back in the relationship because I felt bad.
“The video is as if I am the dog and the owner is the girlfriend and I’m just on a lead getting told what to do. If I didn’t have my owner I’d probably die because I wouldn’t be able to get food because I’m a dog.”
BY GEORGIA WOODROFFE-HILL
Bleeding Knees Club play Goodgod Small Club on Friday June 7.
