Interviewing British India always brings back memories of my first year as a journalist when the man at the outfit’s helm – Declan Melia – put up with my shaky questions and uncertain nature just to get an article in the local rag for one of their renowned all ages shows in our small city. A few years on and luckily the band has moved on to worldwide fame so my lackluster first interview with him wasn’t something that stuck out in his mind. British India have come a long way in a few years. Since the release of their debut album in 2007, British India have played at countless festivals and gigs around the world, quickly becoming a favourite on the indie music scene. They’ve had all three albums featured on triple J’s hottest 100 and bagged several ARIA awards.

Quite apart from that they’ve only gotten livelier as they’ve pumped out three albums in three years, touring more than many other bands to speak of. The four-piece outfit will be heading to Western Australia any day now to join the revelry of the first Groovin The Moo Festival and, as usual, will be treating fans of all ages to several shows around the big day.

I caught up with frontman Declan Melia early on Wednesday morning to discuss the album and the mammoth tour they’ve been on in recent months. In between yawns we had a good chat about the fun times during recording and the reason behind the band’s large gig figures.

Hi Declan how’s things?
Yeah doing great, how about you?

Not too bad. Are you back in Western Australia yet?
No not yet, soon though.

So it’s not long before you guys are over here for the Groovin The Moo festival, what have you been up to since we last saw you?
Not a lot hey, I mean we were in Perth quite recently. We were doing an underage gig, we try do them as much as we can. But yeah before that we were up to all sorts of things, obviously touring our album and playing a few festivals and various gigs.

You guys seem to be doing so many shows in WA while you’re here compared to most other artists who might only do a single sideshow to a festival, what is it about WA that keeps you coming back?
The money! *laughs* I think with the record industry in the state it’s in, there’s been such a decline in how much you can make in revenue from album sales. So you’ve really got to do a lot of touring. A lot of bands have started looking at other ways to make money and, yeah, touring is very much a part of that.

Would you say the audiences are more appreciative in these parts because they’re not exposed to as much as the eastern coast?
No I wouldn’t say that. I’ve never really noticed a big difference in audiences compared to the east coast. It’s more to do with that X-factor on the night and whether the audience is really feeling it.

What’s Avalanche about?
It’s about great songs and big energy. It’s really just about bratty kids in their early 20s who kind of refuse to act their age.

After getting over the first hurdle and writing a followup to your debut, was it difficult to put down a third album?
It wasn’t too difficult. It’s more just business as usual for us. We kind of just write songs. For the last three albums we’ve done all our writing at Matt’s place so we always end up having great times. We’ve been writing music in that house since we were 16 so when we’re down there we often have to remind ourselves that we’re writing for a record that’s going to be heard by a global audience.

Was there any times where you felt completely uninspired?
Oh yeah. Plenty, plenty, plenty. We try meet up every day and write songs because songwriting isn’t like going into a coal mine. It’s something you can’t just switch on and off. I mean there are plenty of days where you just come up with nothing. But you never know when inspiration is going to strike so you’ve just got to be there all the time or whenever you can.

Whats your best memory of the album?
Recording was just fabulous. The whole experience was just so relaxed hey we had friends coming and going, some played the tambourine and there was plenty of drinking revelry.

Did anything really weird happen during the recording?
The presence of Rob Thomas in the studio wasn’t kind of good for my working enjoyment. Luckily he mostly kept to himself.

What song would you say encapsulates the album the most?
A little song called Vanilla, which just so happens to be the first single handily. It has a big chorus and loud dynamics. It’s quite a fun song.

From your point of view, do you feel your music has evolved between albums?
I think so. Well it really just changed rather than going through some kind of evolution. A survival of the fittest process would insinuate it got better *laughs* it just changed more naturally than that. It’s not a question of whether or not we got a bit more ability, we just write the songs we always wanted to write.

Are you far from where you’d like to be as a musician?
Oh yes I think we all are. We have many many years, if it happens at all, to get to the level we want. I guess we just really want to kind of be able to write the songs that are in our heads.

Where do you want to get to with your music?
To the toppermost of the toppermost Nikkita. Our ambitions know no bounds. We never expected to be where we are, not at all, but we know we’ll end up somewhere in the end. Hopefully somewhere good.

Were the any songs that didn’t make the cut that you think should have been on the album?
No. I mean there are lots of songs that didn’t make the cut and I think they’re just fabulous, but the songs that made it onto the record are the most like what we want to album to sound like and create the best flow of record. It’s all about keeping the energy up. There are plenty of other songs floating around but I think the record how it is is at its purest.

What happens to all those songs you never end up using?
They get turned into b-sides and bonus tracks and iTunes preorders. I just love the fact that they are recorded and they exist even though they may not be on the public domain. At least they’ve still been given life and I love them all the more for that.

Being that this is the third year you guys have made it onto the triple j hottest 100, do you think theres been an expectation set now?
Yeah I think there is. With three albums in a row on the hottest 100 I think there’s certainly an expectation. With our fourth album we definitely hope our fans are lovely enough to vote for us. We had one single from this record in last year so hopefully we’ll have our other singles this year.

Is there anything you wish you could do on stage but haven’t done yet for whatever reason?
Maybe. Sometimes I get inspired by some of the violence and spontaneity that bands like Nirvana and Big Black put out and some of the more punky influences we have. But I don’t think that my angst is quite at their level, I don’t think we have that, ours is more of a smooth, structured show.

What’ve you got planned for Groovin The Moo?
I’m just planning to see a lot of good music and hopefully not wear myself completely out with all the planes flights. I’m hoping I’ll be well rested enough to enjoy the day, get out in the crowds, meet some pretty girls and have a bit of a dance.

Are you planning on catching any of the shows during the day?
Definitely!

What do you do before you get on stage to psyche yourself up?
We all tend to drink black sambuca, Nic paces, Matt listens to his iPod and Will reads a magazine or something.

A few quick questions:

Do you have any hidden talents?
I can walk on my toes like a ballet dancer.

Does the band have any traditions?
Every time it’s someone’s birthday we play a bunch of covers of songs we listened to when we first got together.

What would you be doing if not music?
I think I’d be a lawyer or a doctor or an evil villain in a comic book or something.

If your life was a TV show, which one would it be?
My life is a TV show! But I think it would be something a bit controversial with plenty of girls and an illegitimate son so it would be something like Two and a Half Men with Charlie Sheen.

What would be your theme song if you had one?
It is Return of the Mac. No its not. It’s probably something hip hoppy, maybe J-Zee’s Dirt Off Your Shoulder.

If the band had a mascot what would it be?
Something Eastern because of the name. Maybe an Indian elephant that’s really cute and plays the maracas.

So what’s coming up next for you?
Well we’ve got Groovin The Moo which stands right in the way of our headline tour. I guess it’s a good thing because it will allow the album to sink in before we begin to tour it heavily around Australian. Come August and November we’ll be heading over to the UK again and then I think we’ll come back and, fingers crossed, be doing the summer festivals and who knows maybe some more shows. And yeah basically we’re not going to stop writing songs and I know Nic would like to do a fourth record fairly quickly so I guess we may he even start recording after all of that, who knows.

Well it’s been lovely chatting with you Declan, did you have anything you wanted to put out to your fans before we finish up?
No, just um thanks for the love and support guys, I’ll see you real soon.

British India will be rocking the stage at the Groovin The Moo Festival in Bunbury on May 15. The rock outfit will also be gracing stages around Perth at the following venues:

May 13 - Amplifier Bar, Perth

May 14 - Amplifier Bar, Perth

By Nikkita Dixon