There’s not much point in asking where Bleeding Knees Club got their name. It’s the kind of degenerate tag that you’d expect from a couple of Australian garage surf-punks, but for the innocent and curious alike the band spell it out below. If they happen to ask if you want to join their particular club, ladies just say ‘no’. Hailing from The Gold Coast, where every home has its own swimming pool thanks to last year’s insane floods, Alex and Jordan of Bleeding Knees Club have “won hearts and minds through a reckless live reputation and, on the recorded front, with a swag of super-catchy tunes on their debut EP Virginity“. So sayeth the press release, so sayeth we all.
Bleeding Knees Club sound like a sun-bleached surf-raised Misfits, and “Have Fun” from the Virginity EP could be a loose stumble through the Misfits “Skulls”, except for the crucial admission that these boys want to have fun, and not your skulls. It’s dumb and toe-tappingly addictive, so we’re sold. Not content to lie on the beach and count the Wavves, Alex and Jordan are dragging their bleeding knees to the UK in May for two weeks of shows including an appearance at The Great Escape Festival in Brighton. After that, it’s over to New York City to record their debut album with new BFF Dev Hynes (Lightspeed Champion and Blood Orange) as producer. And if that doesn’t impress the locals back on the Gold Coast, I don’t know what else will.
01. Who are you?
We are Alex (singer/drummer ) and Jordan (guitarist) from Bleeding Knees Club. We are from the Gold Coast, Australia, and have been playing for about a year. I had a blog named bleeding knees club, but it’s also another name for when you get head on gravel (apparently, so we have been told).
02. What do you sound like?
Wild Buffalo
03. What do friends say you sound like?
Wild Buffalo
04. Full-time musicians or wage slaves?
Well we both done have jobs, but I wouldn’t call our selves Musicians either. So I guess we are just unemployed guyz.05. Current career highlight?
I think supporting Wavves on their Australian tour was a career highlight. We both used to really like their band so it was rad getting to play a few shows with them.
06. Favourite decade for music?
I reckon the 50s, all that early rock’n’roll and doo-wop is ripping.
07. Best mood for songwriting?
I think when I’m super hungover in the morning and can’t be bothered doing anything and am probably still drunk.
08. The last song you/the band wrote?
Is about throwing rocks at cars.
09. Which 3 musicians would you invite round for dinner?
50 cent (I wanna poke his bullet wound), Ty Segall (cause he’s the man ), Zooey Deschanel (cause she’s a babe).
10. Worst gig/venue ever played?
Our first show in Sydney sucked. A few “important” people came to see us play and Jordan’s guitar amp broke and all his pedal fucked up and he had to play through a bass amp the whole set. I had to sit on stage by myself for about 10 mins and tell shit jokes to the crowd while he tried to fix the amp. Worst night ever.
11. Favourite band anecdote?
Um yeah, once we went to Sydney and our manager at the time was a virgin, and we were at a party and he went home with a girl and in the morning told us that he lost his V’s. So we named the album Virginity in his respects. Then like a month ago we found out he didn’t even sleep with the girl and is still a virgin.
12. Five favourite albums?
1. Girls – Album
2. Modern Lovers – Modern Lovers
3. Harlem – Free Drugs
4. Black lips – Good Bad Not Evil
5. American Graffiti soundtrack13. Your biggest rock and roll fantasy?
To have sex with Casey Donovan
14. Goals for the next 12 months?
Um, well we are going to the UK in May to play a few shows and go to Great Escape and stuff. Then we are off to New York to record our album with Lightspeed Champion and play some shows. So I guess our goals are to record a good album that people dig and hopefully get to play some festivals and stuff.
15. First time listeners, where should they start?
Um, they should just listen to our EP Virginity over and over.
