Blue Aeroplanes interview

“We thought of ourselves as national band, then international. Never a local band,” says Blue Aeroplanes frontman Gerard Langley, who despite that assertion is so ingrained in the Bristol music scene and has helped many a ‘local’ band break through thanks to both his role as Head of Songwriting at Bristol Institute of Modern Music (BIMM) and as one of the team behind The Fleece’s relaunch. 

He said: “I still regard myself as Bristolian. I moved here from Nottingham when I was seven. There’s no better city to live in in the UK. A guitarist I knew who moved here said, that what he liked about it, is it has a big sky – there’s nothing really over four storeys, it’s very European. But it’s comfortable and a lot of bands are happy being a big fish in a small pond.”

“We were always bigger in America, than we were over here,” he continues. “The NME called us ‘the best American guitar band from England’. I remember talking to Peter Buck from REM about it, when we were playing with them, about how we, like them, were a transatlantic band – which meant we were influenced by both the Velvet Underground and Fairport Convention, by the Sex Pistols and Television.”

Talk of REM soon leads onto talk of Nirvana and the re-release of their 1991 albumBeatsongs. “It was originally released the same time as Nirvana’s Nevermind and both were in Select magazine’s top 40 albums of the year, us at 13 and Nevermind at 14.” Playing a few dates around this re-release, Gerard said: “A lot of the reviews said feels like a breaking band. We have a new young guitarist Bec Jevons, she’s a real rock’n’roll guitarist and has her own little fanclub. We’re a lot more rock’n’roll than people think. People are often surprised when I say that Chris broke a rib two years running in the mosh pit!”

It’s been over 30 years since they first formed and the band, in its new incarnation with guitarists Bec, Mike Youe and Gerard Starkie, brother John Langley on drums and Fleece boss Chris Sharp on bass, are currently putting the finishing touches on a new album and looking forward to a hometown gig at The Fleece. Their relationship with the respected Bristol venue runs deep and it is on that stage that they created some of their newer songs.

Gerard said: “Me, Chris and Bec wrote a lot of the new material on stage at The Fleece during Saturday morning practice sessions.” Talking about his involvement with The Fleece, he said: “I remember when we first got involved – none of the students knew what The Fleece was, within 2-3 years we pulled it back to what it was 25 years ago.”

And he’s had similar success in his role at BIMM. “One of my students is at number one in the album chart,” he said. “George Ezra. He was on his way to getting signed very early on. It was easy to spot George and I’ve got a couple of students at the moment who are getting some interest from labels.” He leaves us with a tip of ones to watch – Liberto Wolf and Tailfeather. You heard it here first.

Blue Aeroplanes play The Fleece on November 28. Tickets £10 from www.thefleece.co.uk