British India

words by Nic Horton

Just weeks out from the release of their highly anticipated third album, British India are not all “fucking bells and whistles” as frontman Declan Melia explains. Following a hectic schedule of touring, festival slots, and piecing together new material, the finished product is almost complete, and ready to launch.

Avalanche, due out April 30th, is a step up from previous albums, its “simple and dynamic, and immediately engaging” according to Declan. This album, compared to previous releases, is definitely the band achieving a more heightened product, “we kind of went it in all natural, we laid down our songs,” “it was really relaxed compared to the first two albums, no one was taking anything too seriously and I think the record is kind of better from that.” When it comes down to the crunch on lathering the finishing touches on new material, “you can definitely do too much you know, you’ve got to be careful, because you don’t want to put fucking bells and whistles on it because it’d come out mature and coarse.” The band stroke inspiration from the likes of Neil Young, Blur and Graham Cox on the forthcoming album, with ideas coming from all over the place and eventually coming together, resonating in a sound that’s British India “just adding one year – that’s what we sound like.” Declan entices us with a taste of what is to come, “some of the tracks have my own vocal intro that pretty much just happened accidentally, and we went with it,” “but just with any album, there’s probably going to be one song you hate, and the other nine you love.” Once the new album hits stores and airwaves nationally on April 30th, coincidentally Declan’s birthday, it’ll be all champagne and hip-hop themed parties for the band, “celebrating how anyone would,” before trekking across regional Australia on the Groovin The Moo bandwagon alongside a star-studded line up including Silverchair, Vampire Weekend, Grinspoon and Spoon. British India will play as part of the 2010 Groovin The Moo festival in Townsville on May 2nd. Tickets are still available, but are going like hot cakes, so don’t miss out!