On January 29th 2016, Bombay Bicycle Club (BBC), one of my favorite Indie Rock bands, announced that they stopped working on new music as a group to focus on its member’s individual projects. Although they clarified that it did not mean the band -made up of Jack Steadman on lead vocals, guitar, piano; Jamie MacColl on guitar; Suren de Saram on drums and Ed Nash on bass- was breaking up, the message was clear to the fans: It was time to bid farewell to Bombay Bicycle Club.
The BBC breakup came at a time when the band, which was characterized by their constant innovation from one album to another, had reached a level of maturity reflected in their latest album, So Long, See You Tomorrow, which promised only better things in the future. But not all was lost to fans that were left disappointed with the band’s hiatus, as 2017 brought us new music with Toothless and Mr. Jukes, the solo projects of Steadman and Nash.
Toothless: When the bass player can do everything… and do it great
“No one really expects the bass player to do anything, but I know I can play music and write songs,” reflects Ed Nash in an interview with NME. In fact the name of his solo project, Toothless, has to do with the underestimation that according to him, exists with respect to the bass players or drummers of the bands. In an interview with Katie Van Buren for the Build Series, Nash explains that the name was born after seeing a drawing by the American artist Raymond Pettibon where there is a tiger biting off a boy’s head and the caption says “even toothless she can still bite off a boy’s head”. Nash explains that he enjoyed the idea of someone without teeth still having the power to bite. Just as bass players or drummers have the power to make good music, despite being underrated.
The Pace of the Passing (February 2017) is the first Toothless album. Inspired by Greek Mythology, books like The Odyssey, Animal Farm, The Rules of Attraction, and influenced by artists like Nick Cave and Sufjan Stevens, Nash gives us ten songs in his album debut with Sisyphus, Palm’s Backside and Party For Two at the top.
Sisyphus, as its name implies, refers to the process of repeating a routine like the mythological character that gives title to the song. In the Build Series interview Nash mentions that Sisyphus existed for about a year as a terrible J-pop style recording that he loved but everyone else hated and after months of persuasion he finally changed for this final version.
Palm’s Backside and Party for Two feature collaborations by the delightful voices of Marika Hackman and Liz Lawrence, practically a member of BBC on the group’s final tour. The album also features other collaborations by Tom Fleming, The Staves, and ex- BBC members de Saram on drums and Steadman on the album production.
Metacritics awarded the album a 67/100, based on up to seven reviews from various critics. Even mixed reviews like that of PopMatters value Nash’s first production, suggesting that “The Pace of the Passing is fine. It’s the sound of an artist getting his feet under him, a first step for Nash that doesn’t completely work but shows the potential for something really special.” One of the most positive reviews comes from The 405:
”Toothless provides a unique experience where his music works equally as well as the whole listening to the tracks at random. It’s not just attention to detail that accomplishes this. You can have the most articulated and polished album, but still fall flat. There is an authenticity that bleeds through this album. It is proper DIY- rugged and unique enough to know this is coming from a human, yet polished and carefully crafted enough to feel the pride and excitement in sharing a work of art for the public to claim. Toothless has something special with The Pace of the Passing and it is something that should not be ignored.”
Nash has been emphatic in stating that Toothless is not a passing project, but indeed is his main project for the foreseeable future. In case you have doubts, Toothless just released an EP, Palm’s, with special versions of songs from the first album, and a new song called Chasing Godot.
Mr. Jukes: Navigating in new musical seas
That Jack Steadman likes to travel is not news. That his travels influence his music, neither – it is worth remembering his passage through India prior to the last production of BBC and songs like Feel, video included-. But managing to travel on a cargo ship, as the only passenger in the middle of a crew that knew little or nothing about him, and composing his first production post BBC during that trip, is bizarre even for Steadman himself. But that’s what he did -as he recounts in a detailed interview with Jamie Milton of Noisey-, to create God First (July 2017), the first album of his soul-fused, funk and jazz-rooted project called Mr. Jukes.
Jazz, R&B, gospel, samples and outstanding guest performances are part of what Steadman offers in God First. The first singles that stand out are Angels / Your Love, featuring BJ the Chicago Kid, and Grant Green, featuring mythical soul singer Charles Bradley. Also collaborating as special guests are Alexandria, Lianne La Havas, Lalah Hathaway, De La Soul & Horace Andy. The array of special guests is no accident: God First is a Steadman’s project, but at the same time it is a permanent collaboration in search of capturing all his imagination in an album, even at the cost of being the vocalist in just a pair of songs. In fact, Steadman, who is inspired by Stravinsky, Donny Hathaway and Pastor Barrett & the Youth for Christ Choir among others, tells Noisey that the name of the album, God First, is related to his idea that when making music and collaborating with others there’s something spiritual in the process.
Metacritics gives God First a positive rating of 71/100, taking into account seven opinions from different critics. While some of the mixed reviews suggest that the project is far from being an act of creativity and performed within Steadman’s comfort zone, most critics hail the album as did ClashMusic:
“God First has already earned his place as one of the most exciting and unexpected releases of 2017. In recasting himself as the enigmatic Mr. Jukes, Steadman has tapped into a well of inspiration that almost completely bypasses his own history as a guitar-toting indie icon, feeding instead off to far wider history of dance, soul and funk. What could have been a vanity project instead sacrifices its creator’s ego at the altar of musical collaboration, pushing the limits of what constitutes both a ‘bedroom project’ and an ‘ensemble piece’.”
Steadman is more than satisfied with the final result, acknowledging in his Noisey interview “It’s a great feeling when these people you have so much respect for understand the track you’re doing and want to be a part of it. Being new to this world and having established artists respecting what you’re doing … it’s just made me really at peace with everything.”
Final Lap
Steadman and Nash, far from reneging on Bombay Bicycle Club agree on assessing each moment of the ten years together, highlighting what has been learned and the friendship that remains to this day among the four members of the band. Nevertheless, they also disconnect their personal projects from it. In Nash’s case, one of the things that most displeases him is when someone’s first comment is “sounds like BBC”, because beyond some similarity, the album goes in another direction. In Steadman’s album, the only thing in common with BBC is his unmistakable voice and the sample at the beginning of Leap of Faith, but there the similarities end.
Although it is more than clear that the new projects are not BBC, they are the beginning of two very interesting musical adventures. In some way the bicycle club keeps on pedaling to the amusement of their die-hard fans and those who enjoy a refreshing new album.
Featured Image: Toothless and Mr. Jukes’s Facebook pages.
Pedrostero 