News

The Bang Bang Club – Chemistry

• 2nd Jun 2010

The Bang Bang Club will open for business on 12 July, with the release of their debut single, ‘Chemistry’ (BPM Entertainment). ‘Chemistry’ has already been made Popjustice’s Song of the Day, and gone Top 20 on Hype Machine’s Most Hearted Tracks on the blogosphere, and gone down a treat at the band’s first batch of live shows (including Great Escape Festival, Bar Music Hall and Proud Galleries).

The Bang Bang Club is not a real club, but if it was, it’d be a bloody good one. It’s not a tribute to the group of apartheid photographers with whom they share their name. In truth, they just liked the word ‘bang’. The band’s long gestation began when John (vocals) and David (synths) met at auditions for another act. The second time they met they moved in together, and within months had formed the band Protocol and signed to Polydor. Their ill-advised half-shaved/bleached hair made them resemble “a gay Nazi fashion designer”, but the less said about that the better. After the band split, John and David went it alone, and The Bang Bang Club was born.

By night, the band formed part of The House of Blue Eyes – a Warhol-esque collective of artists, performers, and designers, spearheaded by stylist-to-the-stars Johnny Blue Eyes. Yet by day, the band would still show up quite diligently at work, with David in particular opening his then-branch of Ask Pizza in all sorts of states. The Bang Bang Club, then, is as much a band as it is a philosophy of sorts; fusing fashion, music and art without the pretence often gained when you have forgotten where you’ve come from.

‘Chemistry’ was born after the duo temporarily moved to Brooklyn, where they worked with – amongst others – Bowie’s guitarist and Kravitz’s bassist. It was in New York that they made the record they’d always wanted to, despite staying out all night with Ana from Scissor Sisters, and turning down a quite unprintable proposition from Janice Dickinson.

With their debut album due later in the year, the band desire to “make people feel like they are really part of something.” And they genuinely mean it. Thus, in 2010, you are formally invited to The Bang Bang Club.

2 June GUILDFORD Surrey Student Union
5 June WINSFORD FESTIVAL Cheshire
9 June LONDON DJ Set @ Reiss
11 June LONDON Carnivale (East vs West)
1 July LONDON Punk (Your Mum’s House)
29 August CREAMFIELDS FESTIVAL Cheshire