BASHT
Words: Jack Collum
Goo writer Jack Collum caught up with Louis Christle (Bass) and Ryan McClelland (Drums) of Basht to discuss the release of their debut album Poor Advice.
Poor Advice - it’s an interesting name for an album, can you tell me a bit about where it came from?
Louis: It came from the general idea of poor advice you receive through your life - but not just that, also the poor advice handed down over generations.
Ryan: I suppose how that poor advice can manifest in different ways. There’s the literal way - but then there is the structural and hierarchical way. The title came from the idea of challenging institutions. It’s about our relationship as Irish people with them. [...] It’s about encouraging people to form their opinions and think for themselves. We’ve all tried to do it and it has led us to starting this band.
Did the idea of Poor Advice come before, during or after the writing process ?
Louis: It was definitely during. We were writing more songs and they all came under that umbrella. It was fun to lean into. It gave us a steady direction thematically.
Ryan: The song Poor Advice had been floating around for a bit, that was probably the inception of it. As we wrote more songs like Kids vs Guns, Superchurch, Terror TV - we looked at what we had written and it unfolded itself as we were writing it.
The Other Voices performance at St Columb’s in Derry was phenomenal… The footage on Youtube is great! The songs sound amazing live. Was the live performance a big consideration during their genesis?
Louis: The songs were all recorded while we were touring. It gave us the opportunity to road test stuff still in development. We could see what worked and what didn’t. It was really a privilege to get to experiment live before taking it to the studio in its final form.
How much time was there between the road testing and getting it into the studio ?
Ryan: I’d say a lot of the writing was early in the year. We didn’t do the whole record in a week. We’d be on the road for a few weeks and go record one or two tracks and be out again for a few weeks and repeat the process over the course of a few months. Every song is very different, Terror TV - that song had been floating around for ages and we kept tweaking it and we didn’t know how to get it right. That arrangement changed a lot before it made its way on to the album. Whereas Perfume is one we wrote in February, recorded in March and released in April. Some of the songs reveal themselves there and then.
What role did Ali Chant play in the development of the album’s sound?
Louis: It was hard to go into a studio and explain what we wanted but he just got it straight away. He was a very nice degree of hands on. If there was a certain vision we had he was very much for backing it. He would help us as much as he would in order to bring it to life. He is a really nice guy as well.
Ryan: He was a midpoint for all of our influences. He was up for trying different things. He was a really good mediator. With the album we really wanted to get quite a few feelings in there. Sonically, beforehand, it was a dry and direct sound. This time around we wanted to mess around with pedals and drum tracks. Experimenting more. Playing more.
How did working with Ali come about ?
Louis: We had been on to him two or three years ago. It never developed. When it came to make the album it was always in the back of our mind. We were big fans of the work he was doing with Sorry, Yard Act and Dry Cleaning. He came down to a show in Cardiff. He liked the show. It fell into place nicely.
What were the big influences on the record?
Louis: Growing up I was really into Jack Bruce, Geezer Butler, Buddy Cox (Hendrix’s bass player). That era is such a controlled chaos. It is carefully crafted. The last few years a lot of hip hop and techno. Stuff coming from the electronic world.
Ryan: I am similar. Quite an eclectic mix. Before basht I played lots as a session musician so I was very lucky to get to play a lot of different styles of music. It’s important to be open to curiosity.
Any Irish artists who have been crucial in your own personal music ?
Louis: The first gig I went to was Republic of Loose. I thought it was crazy they were Irish, they sounded like they were straight out of Brooklyn. It was real funky and groovy music. A real eye opener.
Ryan: And So I Watch You From A Far, I saw them when I was 12. An incredible instrumental band from Antrim and they absolutely blew my mind!
Poor Advice (LAB Records) is in record shops now on vinyl, CD & digital.www.basht.bandcamp.com