Bastille’s Bad Blood Set for September 3 U.S. Release
Band Makes Its U.S. Television Debut on “Conan” Tomorrow, July 24
Bad Blood Entered U.K. Albums Chart at No. 1
Bad Blood, the full-length debut from Bastille, will be released in the U.S. on September 3 by Virgin Records. Bastille is the top-selling debut act of 2013 in the U.K., where Bad Blood entered the albums chart at No. 1 earlier this year and has remained in the Top 20 ever since.
The U.S. version of the album will include three bonus tracks ~ “The Silence,” “Weight of Living, PT. I,” and “Laughter Lines.” See below for the exclusive U.S. track listing. Bad Blood is available for pre-order now on iTunes, where fans will instantly receive a download of “Flaws,” and on Amazon. Exclusive fan bundles, including a signed lithograph, collector’s box and more are also available for pre-order now via the band’s website.
Bastille will make its U.S. television debut on “Conan” tomorrow, July 24. The U.K. band plays a sold-out show at the Troubadour in Los Angeles tonight and will return to the States in the fall for its first North American tour. See below for itinerary.
Haunt, Bastille’s four-song EP, is available on CD and vinyl beginning today. It debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Heatseekers Albums chart in June after being released digitally. “Pompeii,” the lead single, is already Top 20 at Modern Rock, and has been added by numerous stations, including KROQ-Los Angeles, 98/7-Los Angeles, Live 105-San Francisco, Q877-Chicago, KTCL-Denver, WRFF-Philadelphia, KTBZ-Houston, DC101-Washington DC and SiriusXM’s Alt Nation. The “Pompeii” video has more than 30 million views.
Dan Smith, the founder of Bastille, envisioned the “Pompeii” clip as the novel I Am Legend if it were shot by the director of Drive, which hints at how inextricably intertwined music, film and literature are in his creative process. Rounding out Bastille’s lineup are Will Farquarson, Kyle Simmons and Chris “Woody” Wood. The four musicians have been playing and touring together for more than two years and while each has his main role in Bastille, they effortlessly trade places on vocals, keyboards and percussion.The band’s spring 2013 U.K. headline tour sold out immediately, with all 44,000 tickets gone in a day, and they are playing major festivals in the U.K, Europe and Japan this summer. Bastille’s performance of “Pompeii” at Glastonbury can be seen here.
While Bad Blood sounds lush, it was actually recorded in a tiny room on limited equipment – apart from a day spent recording strings in the legendary Abbey Road Studios. Smith, working with producer Mark Crew, aimed to approach each song differently.
“I wanted each to be its own story with its own atmosphere which brings in different sounds and elements of production, incorporating aspects of the different genres and styles that I love: hip hop, indie, pop and folk,” he explains. “Film soundtracks can be broad and varied, but tied together by the film itself. I hope the album will be something like that, but held together by my voice and the songwriting, each song a scene or part of a bigger picture.”
“Pompeii” is an epic in miniature, a conversation between two charred bodies, frozen in time, caught in the ash that engulfed the Roman city of sin while songs like the title track and “Things We Lost in Fire” touch on the changing dynamics of relationships. “Bad Blood is an album crafted in one of modern pop’s greatest refineries,” observed Artrocker, awarding it five stars, while BBC Music said, “Bastille really deliver.” Q named “Overjoyed” as “Track of the Day,” noting, “[Bastille’s] bewitching mixture of softly delivered vocals and glitchy tracks creates an impressive atmosphere.”
Bad Blood ~ U.S. Track Listing
1. Pompeii
2. Things We Lost in the Fire
3. Bad Blood
4. Overjoyed
5. These Streets
6. Weight of Living, PT. II
7. Icarus
8. Oblivion
9. Flaws
10. Daniel in the Den
11. Laura Palmer
12. Get Home
Bonus Tracks
13. The Silence
14. Weight of Living, PT. I
15. Laughter Lines
Bastille North American Fall Tour Dates
9/16 San Diego, CA House of Blues
9/18 Los Angeles, CA El Rey Theatre
9/19 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall
9/20 Portland, OR Doug Fir Lounge
9/21 Seattle, WA Tractor Tavern
9/23 Chicago, IL Lincoln Hall
9/25 Toronto, ON The Opera House
9/27 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall of Williamsburg
9/28 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
9/29 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer
9/30 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom