BILK INTERVIEW WITH MOLLY NOBLE
Essex, Drugs and Rock & Roll is near to release now, How are you feeling?
It’s a cliche answer, but I’m pure f*cking excited! I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t, this album is banger after banger and deserves to be heard. I’ve listened to it to death because obviously I love it and I wrote it, I just think that it’s f*cking great! I’m excited for the people who are going to love it and sing every word, but I’m also excited for the haters to be wound up by it as well.
How do you think this album compares with your self-titled album?
Our first album was raw and that’s because I was a bit younger then and the songs were a collection written across years previous to that so maybe I was also angstier, whereas now I’m a bit happier. It’s mostly different because of our natural progression. This new album has more of a Blues drive about it, but when I’m writing I don’t try to make it sound any sort of way, it just happens at the time. I think this album is also more mature because I’ve grown up a bit since the last one, I’m 25 now and I was 18 then, so I obviously have a different outlook. This album is definitely more positive, it’s quite a celebration of life – that’s the theme throughout all the songs for me. Freedom. Having a good time and saying, “F*ck it!”, basically.
What’s something that’s currently on your playlist that you think would surprise your fans, like you’ve said about the Blues influence?
There’s loads of sh*t on my playlist that would surprise my fans. When I chat to fans about music outside of my gigs they mostly assume that I like The Sex Pistols and Oasis, but I like all different kinds of music. Let me have a look at what’s on my current Spotify playlist…
Kate Bush – Babooshka
Classic
True, but it doesn’t exactly sound like Bilk, does it? [laughs]
Not at all. What’s your process when songwriting, how do you decide on lyrics?
To be honest with you, I don’t nowadays, I think I used to be a bit more considered with lyrics I would sit down and really piece it together, thinking about every single word. When I was younger I was a little bit more of a control freak in general. Anyone who knows me would say that. In every other aspect of my life, I’d say I’m quite spontaneous, I’m easygoing and within a big group I’m not the alpha male leader but when it comes to the band, I’m totally the leader.
This band is the one thing that really means a lot to me, but with this album, I didn’t have to try and decide on lyrics because it just came out of me. I’m not claiming to be mystical but a lot of the time I’ll be sat on a riff I’ve had for ages, I’ll play around with it and it will suddenly work. I’m not going to sit here and try and say that I understand songwriting and my songwriting process. I don’t understand it generally and it’s not something that should be understood. So far off this album, we’ve released four singles now, one called F Up / On It / Summer Days, and then Tommy, which was released just the other day, right? And obviously, with Summer Days, I got this message from a fan saying they love the track and that they could really tell I’d spent the time on it but you know, I wrote that song in 3 minutes because the lyrics are already in me, it’s real.
How do you think your sound has evolved from your 2018 single Give Up?
If you listen to that song, there’s an electric drum and that wasn’t my decision. I was 17, my first time in a studio, my first time with a producer and I got talked into it by the producer, which I now regret. It’s not Bilk. It’s never how I envisioned Bilk. I always envisioned Bilk as a rock band. The songwriting earlier on was a lot more punky, a lot faster and raw and young. The first song I wrote was called School Days about how much I hated it, which was cool at the time, whereas if I were to sing that now everyone would think I was a f*cking lunatic. I still write about my reality now, that was my reality then but obviously I’ve grown up.
There’s a song on the album called ‘Slag’ which notices the difference in judgement from society between genders when talking about sexual liberation. Do you think if this song was sung by a girl band it would be received differently?
I mean, put it this way our record label wanted us to change the title of it because they deemed it to be too edgy, but that’s the whole point of the song. It’s a clever song title. People will see me as I am, a straight white man, they will look at the track listing see ‘Slag’ and ultimately assume that it is going to be negative – it’s not.
Every time I had a new song, I’d play it to Luke and Harry – this one’s Tommy, this one’s Summer Days … This one’s Slag and whether it was the band, my family or my girlfriend they all raised an eyebrow. That’s exactly what it’s meant to do, it’s meant to make people double-check themselves and question why they thought it was a derogatory term.
The whole point of the song is me saying, at the end of the day, I don’t think there is anything wrong with a man sleeping about or a woman sleeping out, it’s sexual liberation. I think it’s wrong that if a man, sleeps around, they get called a player and a stud and a G, especially nowadays with people like Andrew Tate and his whole toxic masculinity culture. I go on social media and see all these b*llocks videos of these nasty sexist, alpha male blokes and this song was a reaction to that. If you’re going to label a woman a slag, then you know what? I’m going to label myself that, it’s a recall.
It’s clever commentary and a powerful song off the album, especially for the age of your audience, it’s important to hear.
It’s always been something I’m quite passionate about. I’m not sure if I’m a feminist or not, I try not to label myself but my girlfriend classes herself as a feminist and she always says that, if you think men and women should be equal and you respect women in that way then you’re a feminist and if that’s the case then I guess I am.
A lot of things in society don’t make sense to me and sexism is one of them. This song has two meanings, my commentary on sexism, by me questioning what’s wrong with just having sex and going about and it was also a documentation of when me and my ex-girlfriend broke up, and I kind of went through that what I’d call ‘Slag phase’ myself.
When having an album title and lyrics in relation to drugs and having younger fans, Do you feel any responsibility within those songs and how do you include those themes or do you not take it too seriously?
I don’t really think about it, because I only write the music for myself. Everyone will have their own perspective of things, different music tastes and opinions that shape them as people. On this album there are love songs and some people will say why the f*ck are Bilk giving us love songs, I want f*cking heavy guitars. I just couldn’t give a f*ck what people think, I write songs and if people get it great, if they don’t that’s their problem. My attitude on writing songs with references to drugs or shagging is that I’ve played GTA since I was 14 years old but I don’t go around killing prostitutes, or robbing cars. If people listen to my music and they go out and take drugs it’s because they wanted to do that in the first place, they have their own minds.
When controversy does happen around the band, how do you deal with that?
I don’t care because I’ve always wanted to be that sort of artist – the front man who winds people up a bit and causes a bit of division. I never wanted to be in a straight down the middle sort of band and I never wanted to be a straight down middle page sort of front man. Realistically it’s not about people not liking Bilk, it’s about people not liking me. I get the most shit in the band, it’s never Luke or Harry, I’m the one who is given criticism. I’m used to people having a split decision on me but I’m just being myself and I can’t be anything but that. If people like Bilk, we welcome them with open arms and we’ll stand outside a gig with them and if not they can get f*cking lost.
In a couple of days, you play The Boileroom for the charity CALM, Is there mission one that you can relate to?
Yeah, I mean it’s for mental health and obviously, I don’t really like to sit and talk about all that sort of stuff too much. Not, because I think there’s a taboo on it, or I’m ashamed. I’ve suffered from anxiety a lot, on a day-to-day basis. About two years ago I went through a point in my life where I had really bad panic attacks, I don’t really get them anymore, It’s one of the reasons I stopped smoking weed and I had done for years but I used to get paranoia. It’s not like I’d sit at the bedroom window thinking the police were going to turn up or anything like that, I just used to get this overwhelming feeling where despite being sat with my Girlfriend or mates, I’d have to get out of the place I was in and my hands would shake but it wouldn’t be over anything logical and I still get that feeling sometimes. So, when it comes to supporting a charity that supports mental health and supports people who are struggling, I relate to it personally on that level. I think most people do, to be honest. People go through all kinds of sh*t in life.
I’m glad you feel a bit better about it now.
The way I see it, nothing’s permanent. Things come about and they go, everything constantly changes, you can have a really bad couple of months and then the next could be gold and then it could be gone again. Everything used to bother me more when I was younger but I’ve learnt not to get too attached to things anymore and just go with the flow.
Your most sincere song off the album is Tommy. Where did you get your inspiration?
The story itself is fictional but it’s sort of based on local stories you hear like that in Chelmsford or other small suburban cities. I know young girls from my school who got with blokes who went down the wrong path and got into gangs and drugs it’s commonly seen. In a lot of my songs, I talk about what I witness, obviously, I said I wrote Slag about what I went through after me and my ex-girlfriend broke up but in this song, I’m sort of on the sidelines making commentary on it. Not that long before I wrote Tommy I’d watched the new Amy Winehouse film, and if you listen to the song it’s almost like an Amy and Blake story. Now obviously with their story you only get the media’s version of what happened, so I’m in no place to comment on that story specifically, but subconsciously I think it might have urged me to write a song on that particular topic.
You’ve got a couple of almost ‘love songs’ on this album which are much softer than your previous music. When you listen to those songs, you’ve stripped the rockstar image away and just placed two people together. Do you feel vulnerable about letting your fans see that side of you?
To be honest, I don’t really feel vulnerable about any music I’ve put out there because I think that’s what music’s meant to do. Be Vulnerable. The whole thing with the rockstar image is for me, it’s not an image it’s how I live my life. I have a girlfriend that I’ve been with for a couple of years now, I’d never written a love song before, but she’d been asking me to write one for her for ages. They do well.
After we released Summer Days I did get messages from people who said it was nice to see a different side of me but for me, because I live with myself every day it’s nothing new. I know I’ve always been a romantic person. I do have a sensitive and vulnerable side, it’s a good thing and I like to explore it, it’s just not always been in the music. For instance, ACDC, right? I love ACDC. They’re one of my favourite bands, but they do one thing really well and they stick to this one mood. I don’t. I like to change my style and write different moods. The Jam are a perfect example, Paul Weller could write a punky song about something in society and then he’d go and write, English Rose but as a fan you love both songs equally. I want people to listen to Bilk whatever mood they’re in, if they’re in a loving mood and want a song to send to their girlfriends or just want to f*cking rock out.
What’s your favourite Smiths song?
You noticed the reference then, I’ve loved them since I was young. My favourite Smiths song is definitely not How Soon Is Now, I know a lot of people say that one because it’s a classic but it’s nowhere near the top for me. I think my favourite one is Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now… I actually met Morrissey once.
Oh really, How was that?
At the time we were recording our song Daydreamer so we were in Manchester. As a band me and Luke have a joke where if we see someone with a Liam Gallagher haircut he will point and say it’s him, which always gets a laugh. So we go into the pub, Luke points and someone and says, “Oh look! It’s Morrissey!” taking the p*ss…but it actually was. That’s the only time I’ve ever been truly starstruck, I’ve met a lot of celebrities, a lot of famous people but I’ve never been fazed by it, I just see them as normal people, whereas Morrissey…I mean he has always been a poster on my wall.
Did you manage to conquer being starstruck and speak to him?
Oh, yeah, I chatted to him about music for about 30 minutes! It was like a near-empty pub as well. There wasn’t anyone else around bothering him. He loved the fact that I was showing him a video of people jumping on the stage, like a stage invasion And he loved that, because I think he was into the punk sh*t. One thing that was funny when I met him, was that I walked over to his table and told him I was a big fan, not meaning to interrupt and asked him, how’s it going – you good? And he goes, “Sometimes yes, Sometimes no.
Next year is already set to be even bigger for Bilk as your UK Headline tour has extended to Europe, what venue are you most excited to play?
I think London because it’s my favourite city in the world and 1400 people are coming to see us there, it will be our biggest headline show yet. It will be cool to put our mark on it as it’s such an iconic venue, the Electric Ballroom, we did that with the 100 Club. I just want to get on tour again and play.
What’s your favourite part of tour life?
Being on stage and rocking out, playing the show and losing it whilst watching the crowd lose it as well, having that back-and-forth energy with the fans. I like just travelling about, the stories of it, the shenanigans. Packing ourselves into a van and getting on the road, smoking out the window, meeting people at the venue and loading in. The whole rock and roll lifestyle, being in a rock and roll band, I f*cking love it.
Interview with Bilk by Molly Noble
All photos of Bilk by Gary Walker (@thisisgary.photography) for The Songbird HQ
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