Dust and Guitars: Bombay Show Pig in Paradiso

Nov 7, 2012 | by Mark | Event, Music

About the author

Mark Visbeek is a designer, musician, superstar, and loves illeism. Always looking to create beautiful things, I'm often distracted by the amazing stuff happening around me. My most important weapons are limitless amounts of love and a faux-French accent.

Whether you’re in the mood for some sweat, heat and excitement, for taking a soothing dream ride along psychedelic soundscapes, or maybe to wallow in bittersweet self-pity over the love you just lost, there’s always the right band at the right time. I’ll be your pathfinding captain through the desert of dust and guitars, so fill up your flask and follow me.

Finally, a cool rock band with its origins in our own soil. All the cheesy Dutch bands lately were starting to lullaby me to sleep, until the two-piece female/male formation Bombay Show Pig shook me up with their raw and gritty debut single Sancho Panza. And listening to the rest of the album, they’re definitely no one-trick pony. They’re playing Paradiso tomorrow (!) so I had a little Q&A with them.

I’m sorry, but I need to get this out of the way first: What are you to each other? Are you lovers? Friends? Family? Colleagues? Just having sex? Master and slave? All of the above? You can’t tell me you don’t have a special bond if you spend 20 hours a day together for months without ending up killing each other.
Linda: “Pseudo-brother-and-sister.”
Mathias: “Nephew and niece.”

So I was reading a couple of interviews you guys did, and they’re all a bit bland and boring. Now there’s two possible causes: either the questions were boring, or you two are. Tell me, are you as rock ‘n roll as your music? Has one of you recently trashed an hotel room, eaten a live bat, or fallen off the stage while overdosing on heroin, just to name a few examples?
Mathias: “I’ve eaten undercooked meat during our tour in South-Africa, that’s pretty rock ‘n roll if I say so myself. Other than that we’re on a nice diet of no food, nicotine, valium, vicodin, marihuana, xtc and alcohol. And of course c-c-c-c-c-cocaine.”

The biggest influences have been Beck, Arcade Fire, TV On The Radio and a little bit of Queens of the Stone Age

Alright, enough fun and games, let’s talk music. You’ve recorded your album at Kytopia, how did that influence your sound? Would you have been able to record this same album at another studio?
Mathias: “I think we could have recorded the album somewhere else, but the people and especially the collaboration with Simon Akkermans made this album something special. It was interesting to combine our indie background with everything Kytopia has to offer in terms of musicians and possibilities.”

Before I read that you’ve in fact been working with Voicst’s Tjeerd Bomhof, I could hear it in Sharp Like. But then again, I would suspect you’ve been working with Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme if I listen to Start / Rewind. What have been your big influences, and then, what sets you apart from those?
Mathias: “The biggest influences have been Beck, Arcade Fire, TV On The Radio and indeed a little bit of Queens of the Stone Age. What sets us apart are the songs I guess, most of the influences can be heard in the sound, but the songs themselves are different to what Beck or the Queens would do.”

I know that you’re happier as a duo than as the trio you used to be, but if you could add any other musician to the band, living or dead, who would it be and why?
Linda: “During our clubtour we’re inviting a drummer in every city we perform to play a track with us, in Paradiso we’ve invited Joppe Molenaar (drummer for Voicst and Bettie Serveert). So we’re actually already doing it!”

Apart from the people that like you and help you, there’s always people trying to fuck you over, break you or slow you down. Tell me who’s been your biggest pain in the ass.
Linda: “I think we’re our own pain in the ass, because Mathias is from Amsterdam, I’m from The Hague and our crew, backline and rehearsal place are situated in Utrecht…not the greatest logistic situation.”

Can you share a new discovery, band or song, that you’re sure is going to be the next big
thing?
Mathias: “I’ve been listening to a lot of A$AP Rocky and one of my new favorite tracks is ‘Quarry Hymns’ by Land Of Talk.”
Linda: “I like Alt-J, Soul Sister Dance Revolution and The Staves a lot.”

Where are you in 2020?
Linda: “Hopefully still doing what we’re doing, but on bigger stages, in more countries and with less jobs on the side.”

What’s the biggest band you’ve seen live in Paradiso, and are going to try really hard not to think about while you’re there on stage yourself?
Mathias: “M.I.A.”
Linda: “TV On The Radio.”

Is there anything you want to say to the fans that have been with you from the very start, before you turn into the biggest rock-band of the decade and nobody believes you anymore?
Linda: “Keep on keepin’ on!”
Mathias: “Don’t eat cheese before noon.”