Friday, 7 November 2014

Bombay Harambee Q&A

Picture by I-CAN Design
Your name:
Alexander Jones (guitar, vocals).

Where are you from?
Little Rock, Arkansas.

Name of band:
Bombay Harambee.

Who else is in your band? 
Spaceman Dave (bassman), Jason Griswold (drums), and Trent Whitehead (guitar).

How would you describe yourselves?
We’re a traditional rock four-piece with a tendency toward loud and fast. I write songs about what I see, read, hear and encounter. Spaceman Dave grew up in Chicago. The rest of us were born and raised Arkansan.

Who are your main influences musically?
Pixies, The Clash, Gang of Four, Talking Heads are some bands I think about a lot. I really loved Veni Vidi Vicious and Songs for the Deaf when they came out, and still do. R.E.M. I think Parquet Courts is currently the best band around. I tend to listen mostly to stuff from the 70s-90s.
Members of the band have variously played in or are playing in prog metal, Americana and garage punk bands, so we listen to everything. I have a better-than-shameful good jazz collection.

What do you hope to achieve in music?
We want to release good records. Need to get into serious touring. Ultimately we’d love to play through the UK and elsewhere in Europe. Firstly we really want to play Mexico.

What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why?
Our most recent time in the studio. For me, the catharsis of finalizing a musical idea and listening to it the first time is the best part of writing music, though playing live is fun too. We played a great house show at the Blue House at our alma mater of Hendrix College. That is a great memory.

And what’s the moment you want to forget?
#1 (Personal) In my last band we once played a house show to one girl. Everyone else had left after the band before us. After a song we jokingly asked if she stuck around because she felt bad leaving us to an empty room. She politely nodded. In the end all we accomplished was steeling her resolve to walk outside, and hence we played to no one.
#2 (Band) Anytime Spaceman Dave gets sad. We try not to let it happen. 

If you had to pick just one of your songs to represent your music, what would it be and why?
“Check, Check, Checkmate”. It’s our newest release. It’s catchy with a lot of feedback. At a high level of generality it’s about setting a trap inside a trap inside a trap. Sometimes it’s hard to keep track of all the tripwires.
It will be on our upcoming LP Goldmine, which we’re looking to release in early 2015 (February or March). Look for another single before then. We’re going to put that out on a 7”.

Where can we listen to it?
Where can we find out more about your music?

Anything else you’d like to say about your band/music that I forgot to ask?
Sure, tell the bands you know coming from the East for SXSW that we’ll do our best to give them a paying gig, a play to stay, and free shower free laundry. Little Rock has such a great pre-and-post-SXSW slate of gigs. The city really comes alive.

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