Entertainment
Bombay Bicycle Club Interview
see where jack steadman gets beer in boston and eats cheesesteaks in philly.
Introducing Going Places, our new regular feature where we quiz some of our favorite bands about their must-see spots all over the world. First up, it's Bombay Bicycle Club!
I'm a huge fan of English indie rock band Bombay Bicycle Club. The first time I ever heard them was while working at dELiA*s in college: Their track "The Hill" came on while I was folding a stack of skinny jeans in 2009, and I instantly became obsessed.
Now with four studio albums out, I've read countless interviews with the group about their sound, how they started, and where their name came from.
So when I had the chance to sit down with frontman Jack Steadman before BBC's first of two shows at Webster Hall in NYC last week, what I
really
wanted to know was where Jack, Ed, Jamie, and Suren had tasted a slice of the world's most delicious pizza--because when you travel the entire globe for several years time, you're bound to find it, right?!
How does it feel to see someone have a tattoo of your lyrics?
There's nothing you can do to say that something means more to you than to get it tattooed on your skin for the rest of your life. It does just blow your mind, like, "If I hadn't written that it might never be on the person. They could live to be 100 years old, and it's still there." My heart beats really fast just thinking about it.
If someone had never heard your sound before and you had to pick one song to send them, which would it be?
I always think "How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep?" is just the perfect introduction. It's got all the elements of us in it. It starts off kind of low key and chilled out and there's guitars but there's loads of other textural things with samples, and the beat isn't particularly rocky, it's more of a break-beat.
I'll definitely remember that. I always give people "The Hill" because that was the first song I ever heard by you guys.
"The Hill," OK. That's such an old song, it's always funny thinking about that song. That's about a place on our school campus that we used to go and hang out. I haven't even thought about that in years.
If you could cover the soundtrack for any movie what would it be?
Personally, I'd soundtrack the original
Godzilla
film from the '50s. I just got into those, the original Japanese ones. The soundtracks to them are great. I was going to make an album just sampling the soundtracks to those
Godzilla
films, so it could be a reinterpretation.
So, random question: You've been all over the world; Where's the best pizza you've ever had?
I've had the best pizza I've ever had on this tour. It was like last week. I was really drunk, so it's very biased. It was like three in the morning. It was in Seattle, and it was at a late-night place, but they put avocado on it, and then loads of mayonnaise and it was really gooey and filled with all kinds of stuff. But, texturally and flavor-wise, all the boxes were ticked, and I was just sitting there shouting at everyone, "This is the best pizza I've ever eaten in my life!"
OK, still talking about food, I saw on Instagram you were in Philly yesterday, so I have to know...Pat's or Geno's?
Yeah! We're big tourists. I prefer Geno's, but it's hard to say.
Our NYLON Daily Newsletter goes out to 10 different cities in the U.S. I would love to know your favorite places in some of them. NYC? Boston? Austin?
In New York,
, I had lunch there today. Boston:
The Russell House Tavern in Cambridge
--incredible local beers and the pork belly sandwich is out of this world. Austin:
Turf N Surf Po' Boy food truck
. It's all food!
OK, what's on your tour rider?
We've replaced chips for popcorn. There's this incredible popcorn, it's both sweet and salty. Kettle corn, oh my God, we've all become addicted to it. And we have an entire rotisserie chicken. And we have two options for beer, both Mexican. One's Modelo Especial and one's Negra Modelo.
I have a question about your glasses. I have glasses like that, too. Mine are Warby Parkers, can you tell me what brand yours are?
.
If you were to take past tour mates and fellow UK band Two Door Cinema Club out on a bro date, where would you go and what would you do?
We'd go for Mexcian food and margaritas, and we'd play darts in Portland.
I saw on Instagram that Ed was wearing a Darcys tee. Do you guys own any other band T-shirts?
One of my favorite T-shirts when I was a kid was a Frank Zappa T-shirt and it said "Zappa is God" or something, and it had a portrait of his face.
You gotta find that.
It'll be around somewhere. I used to wear that, and then I had these shoes which were
Mr. Happy
shoes, you know, from
Mr. Men
? They were bright yellow and they had Mr. Happy all over them and I wore that with my Zappa T-shirt and I was just the coolest kid in class. Those need to go in the Hard Rock Cafe or something.
Follow
and
on Instagram for more pizza and band tees!
Plus, find out when Jack Steadman's favorite places in NYC, Austin, and Boston are throwing parties, by signing up for the #NYLONDaily Newsletter below!
Olive People's Sir O'Malley Glasses - $440
The Darcys Crew Neck Pullover - $40
Godzilla: The Japanese Original - 60th Anniversary Restoration Screening
Pat's King of Steaks since 1930
