It’s been a busy year for Gold Coast’s Bleeding Knees Club. Having just released their debut album, Nothing To Do, earlier this year, they’ve quickly found themselves tagged as one of Australia’s most explosive indie/punk bands.
The Bleeding Knees Club duo, guitarist Jordan Malane and Alex Wall first took Australia by storm when they burst onto the scene with their catchy tunes on their Virginity EP. Following tours with likeminded acts like Wavves and Lightspeed Champion (whose Devonte Hynes ended up the pair ended up collaborating with), and scoring a spot on the Big Day Out bill – it didn’t take long before people sat up and took notice.
Considering how much they’ve accomplished in such a short period of time, you’d think these boys have been working on their unique brand of surfie pop and punk melodies from a young age, but the fact is, they’ve only been making music for the past couple of years.
When asked whether they were into the band scene and making music in high school, Malane tells me they were never very musically inclined. “I never played any instruments,” he admits, “it was only when Alex and I were about 18 or 19 that we started learning guitar together. And that’s kind of when the band started, because we were jamming in my room every day.”
It may be the fact that they work so well together is because the two have been friends their whole lives. “Alex and I have known each other since we were 1-year-olds,” Malane says. “We went to kindergarten together and we’ve been family friends ever since.”
But their first taste of the music industry began when they started putting on shows, like warehouse parties, every few months. Soon they both became promoters and put on gigs, and when their friends found out they were in a band, they convinced them to play some shows.
Even then, the boys never took the band seriously, or really saw themselves as musicians. “We never intended to be a band and didn’t really care for it,” admits Wall, “after we played our first shows we were gonna quit because we realised how much we sucked. But then my friend convinced us to play one last show and he paid us $300 for it.”
It was that $300 that saw the boys go into the studio to record. With no expectations, Malane uploaded the recorded result to Triple J Unearthed and it was from that point on that things really started happening. Even though they still thought they were the worst band ever, Bleeding Knees Club started getting offers for shows and tours all around Australia.
Jordan and Alex then took the biggest step in their newly formed careers and flew to New York City to record Nothing To Do with producer Dev Hynes (aka Blood Orange and Lightspeed Champion).
Keeping to their theme of doing things in the shortest time possible, the boys finished recording the album in only five days. “We did it all live and knew exactly what we wanted to do… we get bored really easily so that’s why we just wanted to get it done and move on,” says Malane lethargically.
Since its release in March, the album represents everything that’s made the world fall in love with Bleeding Knees Club in such a short period of time. A record that’s a set of super-fun, get up and dance songs about girls, getting high, and being bored.
When asked about their lyrical subject matter, Malane offers simply, “I think writing about girls is a natural thing for male songwriters. That’s what most songs are about – love; and Alex’s lyrics are kind of like his take on the world and how he feels.”
It looks likes the boys’ successful run has continued with BKC having just finished a successful national tour, announced to play Splendour in the Grass plus its sister festival, Spin Off, in Adelaide; as well as the Call The Cops tour with fellow labelmates DZ Deathrays and Yacht Club DJs. There’s never been a better time to join the Club!
Nothing To Do is out now through I Oh You. Bleeding Knees Club play Splendour In The Grass this weekend.
