Blousey: ‘I was really inspired by Glen Campbell’s ‘Southern Nights’, I wanted to rewrite that riff’

London post-punk band Blousey are gearing up to release their debut EP ‘The Precipice’ at the end of June.

The band comprises Luca Centro (bass/lead guitar/vocals), JJ Denham (bass/lead guitar/vocals), Rosie Mills (saxophone), Charlie Thorn (drums), Tallis McDuffie (violin/vocals) and Felix Greenburg (organ sounds). Of their band, Denham says: ‘Originally, Luca and I, with our friend Michal – who was the original drummer of the band back in 2020 – met at university and started jamming as a three-piece. In late 2021, we brought in Felix and our old violin player, Jess, for a jam. We thought we wanted the sound to be a bit bigger, and we had these grand visions of it being all psychedelic and having an organ and a violin and everything. When they came together that day, I remember thinking: “This is what the sound should be”.’

Their band name comes courtesy of Centro: ‘I’ve always loved the film Bugsy Malone,’ he said. ‘One of the main characters in that is called Blousey Brown. When we first started, we were trying to be a T-Rex ripoff band, like a three-piece glam rock band, so I was trying to think of something quite camp and a bit bouncy!’

‘I find the strongest friendships we build are born out of chance’

Tying together the crunching grooves of vintage 60’s garage-rock with an unbound sense of uproarious hedonism, Blousey have a spring in their step. Last month (May), they released their second single ‘Chances’, which they describe as ‘the elated and infectious moment of the upcoming EP’. A raucous yet bittersweet celebration of camaraderie and friendship, it’s a song fuelled by strident choruses sung from the rooftops. It has an unruly and nostalgic charm, peppered with sax fills courtesy of their sax player Mills. There’s nothing conventional about the instrumentation, which is intricately layered.

Centro describes it as a bittersweet song about ‘how friendship is built on chance encounters’: ‘When we try to force a friendship and put ourselves out there, we tend to form bonds with people unnaturally,’ he said. ‘I find the strongest friendships we build are born out of chance. I really wanted to write something that was joyous and happy and wasn’t to do with any sort of sleazy or dark subject matter, like the songs we tend to write! I was really inspired by Glen Campbell’s ‘Southern Nights’, I wanted to rewrite that riff (laughs). I realise maybe it is a bit bittersweet, I personally think it’s quite a sad tune but everyone says it’s quite happy.’

I ask Centro whether he finds it bittersweet because of friendships that have broken down in real life and he nods: ‘Yeah, that’s exactly it. For me, friendship should be an easy thing that happens. It should be something that everyone finds very easy and it should be a comforting thing, whereas I think a lot of people feel the opposite sometimes. I guess, I do.’ Denham weighs in: ‘For me, it definitely is optimistic,’ he tells Centro. Centro nods: ‘It is but I just can’t see it that way. For me, it’s just “Oh”.’

‘It’s the audio equivalent of an orgasm – it’s just really grand’

Their upcoming EP will offer a similarly glorious wall of noise: ‘It’s the audio equivalent of an orgasm,’ Centro said laughing. ‘It’s just really grand, I would say.’ Denham interjects: ‘I’d say it’s triumphant but it still has roots in raw and driving garage rock,’ he said. ‘I think at the core, if you took away all the violin, organ and the saxophone, the drums, bass and guitar are quite rock ‘n’ roll/garage rock. We find that oftentimes Luca and I will write the songs together, or I’ll write or he’ll write, and we’ll bring them to each other first, make a little demo and then bring it to the band. The way they start off sounding before they’ve had all the bells and whistles of violin and saxophone and everything put on can be quite different. I think those instruments really elevate it and make it more grandiose.’

In addition to ‘Chances’, their upcoming EP will also feature their debut single ‘Canela Skin’ as well as ‘The Dog’ – on which Denham sings lead vocals – and ‘Tried It With Her’. Both Rees-Jones (former sax player) and Mills play on the EP, with Rees-Jones playing baritone sax on ‘Canela Skin’ and ‘The Dog’ and Mills playing alto sax on ‘Tried It With Her’ and ‘Chances’. ‘Our friend Will had jumped on sax a while back for a couple gigs and we fell in love with the sound, so we had him record sax parts for a couple of the tracks virtually over Zoom as he’d moved to Hamburg late last year,’ Denham said. ‘When it came to the other two songs, Rosie was now in the band and gigging with us, so we wanted to have her be on the EP as well as a crossing, bridging point of these new members. She came around my home studio with Luca and she was improvising different bits and we were all sat together. I was trying to figure out some of the bits on the piano, saying: “What if we sort of went like this?” Mostly, she would just play these bits and we’d be like: “Yes, yes, that one, that one you just did, do that again, that was fantastic!” Especially the bridge bit, I really liked how the sax came out there, the chunk of it we get, the way it builds up into that final chorus.’

Centro comes from a very musical family: ‘My parents are really into music, there’s always been music on around the house but I was more interested in the idea of being Robert Plant or Kurt Cobain than anything else,’ he said laughing. ‘When I was seven, my mum bought me a guitar lesson and I fell in love with it. I was doing classical guitar for ages and hated it (laughs). I could read music and I got really good at it but then when I was 11, I discovered punk music, which destroyed any sort of classical training I ever had. I can’t read music anymore but I can write a song!’

‘When I was 16, I got really into the Beatles, which opened me up to more serious songwriting’

For his part, Denham calls his introduction to music ‘a’ funny roundabout thing’: ‘My mum is a classical opera singer, so as a kid I had French horn lessons and I was in the school choir but it always felt a little bit sort of pushed on me. I wasn’t that keen on it. I liked music but mainly whatever I heard on the radio. My iTunes library as a kid was my mum’s iTunes library, so I embarrassingly grew up listening to a lot of George Michael and the Spice Girls and all that kind of 80s pop stuff. When I was 14, I got really into Nirvana and Green Day. I think in almost a way to rebel against my mum being all classical music based, I was like: “I’m going to learn the electric guitar!” Later, when I was 16, I got really into the Beatles, which opened me up to more serious songwriting. I got really into Mac DeMarco when I was about 17 and I loved his thing of not just writing the songs but recording them and playing all the instruments on them, so that’s what got me into sound engineering and producing.’

Denham describes Centro as the frontman ‘but then there are some songs where it’s more like Talking Heads, where everyone is all singing the choruses all together’: ‘You can pick out a chorus, essentially, rather than an individual and then, lead and backing vocals. We always say to the sound guys at our gigs: “Yeah, three lead vocals, just whack them all up!”‘

‘Canela Skin’ exudes late night hedonism in murky corners, it’s as visceral, sexy and intoxicating as the protagonist in the song, pulled along by its snowballing energy, folky instrumentation and raucous, impassioned chanting. Essentially, it’s a track about feverish, unrequited lust: ‘I came across the name Canela Skin (it’s also the name of a Colombian porn star) and always thought it was a cool name,’ Centro said. ‘To be fair, I put it down in my little band name list as a cool band name. I was really trying to write Frankie Valli’s ‘Beggin’. I thought it sounded Spanish, she could be a girl from Colombia.’ I ask if they’re all singing the “Sí, señor” part in the chorus. ‘We are, that was always quite weird in my head, writing that, because originally the lyric was “Sí, papi, sí papi” but I thought that was too on the nose (laughs).’ I say it definitely sounds sleazier and they both laugh: ‘I wasn’t sure at first,’ Centro admitted. ‘But it does really work, and it’s something I’ve come to really love but the first version was definitely a placeholder for ages.’

‘We’re constantly inspired by the people we play with’

One concern while making the new EP was the difference between having a baritone and alto sax on the album, according to Denham: ‘We’d recorded Will’s bits first and the baritone sax is much deeper and growlier, whereas Rosie’s is an alto, so it’s a little bit softer and sounds a bit more like a French horn but I think it actually suits the songs that it ended up on more.’

They are both big fans of The Beach Boy’s Brian Wilson, who sadly passed away this week: ‘I really like The Beach Boys,’ Centro said enthusiastically. ‘I’m seeing Iggy Pop tonight at Ally Pally, he’s a huge influence on me. As is David Bowie. Richard Hell (from early punk bands such as Richard Hell & The Voidoids), that Blank Generation album I’d say has been a big influence on the writing. Glen Campbell, of course. The Pixies are a massive one, so are Talking Heads, Velvet Underground and Roxy Music.’ Denham jumps in: ‘I love the Velvet Underground. I’m very big into 60’s stuff, although I love all kinds of music,’ he said. ‘I love The Beatles, The Stones, The Kinks. I love David Bowie. I’ve recently been listening to a lot of Geese (an American rock band) and Cameron Winter as well though. I feel like I need to pull up my phone and see what I’ve been listening to, I forget! We also are pretty well cemented in the London scene and we’re constantly inspired by the people we play with. Rosie’s in another band called Wish, who we’re really good friends with, and they’re insane. Jazzy, dancey, very, very cool. I think they’re working on recording at the minute – we keep asking them to get something out! Also our friend Leo Walrus is a fantastic songwriter, he’s just put out another single and he has an album on the way as well, I believe.’

‘It’s a bit more driving and a bit more rocky at its roots, but it still has that more grandiose thing’

They describe ‘Tried It With Her’ on the upcoming EP as being quite similar, sonically, to ‘Chances’: ‘It’s a bit more driving and a bit more rocky at its roots, but it still has that more grandiose thing,’ Denham said. ‘That’s got Rosie on the sax as well, whereas ‘The Dog’ has Will. ‘Tried It With Her’ has verses and choruses that are all quite three-chord rocky but have the sax and the violin playing these really infectious hooks over the top. It starts off being a quite straightforward rock song but then having all the other bits on top elevates it. It’s got a nice instrumental section. When we were approaching recording it, I was thinking of it like the bridge in ‘Chances’ where it’s got that big build-up where we were layering these harmony parts with Rosie’s sax.’

Denham modestly describes a lot of their verses as ‘super simple’: ‘Although our influences range from all sorts of things. I love a lot of The Beach Boys and Brian Wilson, so I’m sat there on the piano thinking: “What other notes can we add to this chord?!” Playing a seven, playing a nine etc. ‘The Dog’ is the one that I wrote and that I sing on, and that’s essentially a 12-bar blues that’s a pastiche of 12-bar blues tunes. It’s quite repetitive (laughs) but also quite funny. It’s the longest song we have, isn’t it? One morning I’d woken up and I had this silly idea in my head and I was writing it like it was an old Bob Dylan song, you know, the dog looked at me like he knows what I did last night and then it kind of stuck!’ They ended up playing it live that same night, as Denham recounts: ‘Luca said: “Let’s do that tonight, it’s twelve bar blues, it’ll be fine. Let’s just jam it on stage” And we did – and it was really fun! I remember this girl came up to me at the gig afterwards and said: “Did you write that today?” And I said I did and she was like: “You know, because sometimes I really feel like my dog does look at me like it knows what I’ve done the night before!”’

They have a sweet camaraderie on our Zoom and it’s clear that they have a huge amount of respect for each other’s musicianship: ‘He can play everything, he’s being really modest. He excels at all the instruments you really want to excel at,’ Centro said. ‘I can play a bit of drums and a bit of piano. He can play drums very well. He can play piano very well. He can play the guitar very well. He can play the bass fantastically and he has a fantastic voice.’

If he could go out drinking with any musician, Denham is quick to say Paul McCartney: ‘To pester him and ask him: “You know that sound two minutes into ‘Strawberry Fields’, what is that weird noise that I’m hearing?!” And, you know, I would just annoy him all night and ask him a million questions!’ Centro is laughing: ‘That’s a cop out!’ Denham grins: ‘That’s not a cop out, that’s the true answer! If I could go out and have an evening with Paul McCartney, I’d take it!’ Centro laughs: ‘I was going to say you, JJ.’ Denham looks delighted: ‘Paul McCartney and Luca Centro, that’s my answer!’ Centro looks deep in thought: ‘Or Iggy Pop and Kurt Cobain, to find out if Courtney Love killed him, that’d be my question (laughs). I’d ask Kurt Cobain: “Did Courtney Love actually kill you or not?” Then the question would be settled.’ I say that it’d be settled, but he might end the conversation for the night and he laughs: ‘You might end up ‘committing suicide’ as well that evening after you get that information!’

They’ve had some hilarious moments along the way, as Denham recounts: ‘Very early on, maybe our third or fourth ever gig we played this street fair festival thing in the hopes of winning £500 prize money (we didn’t) We were on first at 10 a.m. on this Saturday morning, all of us were very hungover and our old violin player Jess (who’s Australian) hadn’t slept at all as she’d been out all night watching the Aussie football. We get on stage in front of maybe 15 people, primarily elderly attendees of the street fair and a few kids, and in my very worse for wear state decided to open our set by telling a long and rambling dirty joke which ends with a rather crude punchline (laughs). We found it very funny, but the “crowd” did not and we got some very icy looks from the panel of judges! The set went about as well as you can imagine and we came dead last in the competition, although we did win a bottle of prosecco as a participation prize , awarded to us by the Mayor of Hammersmith and Fulham. So somewhere out there, there’s a photo of me and our old drummer Michal looking very rough, shaking hands with the Mayor!’

Blousey are playing The George Tavern in London on the 27th June. 

(Photo credits: Nikan Arghandehpour and Zach White.)