Belleruche: Break from Tradition

Catching up with Belleruche midway through their European tour, Ben McCormick talks to the band’s Kathrin deBoer and Ricky Fabulous about bedrooms, bass and and bye-bye to breaks.

PlanetNotion: So you’re midway through a European tour to promote the new album “Rollerchain”. How’s that going?

Kathrin de Boer: Really well. We spent a week in Germany, then a few dates in France before coming back last week.

Ricky Fabulous: After a few more nights here in the UK, we’re off to Paris, then back to Oxford, then Amsterdam and Brussels.

PN: The new album is a bit of a departure from before – what’s the thinking behind that?

RF: It’s admittedly a bit more stripped-back than some of our previous stuff. But quite often you come up with loads of ideas, then realise you don’t need them all when you listen to the result. If you take Cloverleaf off the new album, for example – you get what you get and there’s not much more required.

KdB: We’ve had more time to concentrate on it too. In the past, we’ve fitted in our writing in bedrooms or backrooms between shows. This time we’ve exercised a bit more patience and allowed things to develop, which has made for a more coherent album.

PN: So in the words of a disgruntled fan, where are the breaks?

KdB: Haha! Most of the reaction we’ve had has been positive, but one or two have asked that. I wouldn’t say we’re bored with them, but we want to make music we like and that changes over time.

RF: I’d say we’re bored with breaks! I certainly don’t want to make stuff that’s expected of us.

PN: The new album is certainly not that. How’s it been touring the new material?

KdB: It’s been pretty exciting. We had a fairly scary press launch back in April that we were really happy with, especially since our set-up has changed. I’ve had to learn how to play bass and Ricky and I swap instruments every now and then, while Tim (DJ Modest) has started adding newer technology like Ableton to the decks he used to use.

RF: When we started out, it was still kind of a work in progress, but it’s not such a novelty in our set any more. Not judging by the reaction to the live shows, which has been fantastic so far.

Belleruche are booked to play at Soundwave in Petrcane, Croatia in July.

- Ben McCormick