Committee meeting, by Jess Wrigglesworth Photography by Tom Porter
Blue Bendy A couple of weeks before Christmas Blue Bendy did something which has become rather unusual these days: they played an actual, real life show, to a real life audience, albeit one seated in a socially-distanced formation. “It felt a bit like a school recital, but in quite a nice way,” says synth player Olivia Morgan of the gig at Brixton’s Windmill. I recall the first time I saw Blue Bendy, a performance which felt like anything but – frontman Arthur Nolan meandering around his five bandmates as they vied for space on a makeshift stage, playing to a very rowdy crowd at New Cross’ now defunct Five Bells. A seated audience must have been quite a contrast. “I mean, we felt quite nervous about it for a couple of reasons,” Nolan admits. “I was thinking about how it would translate, if it was going to be awkward, but it was actually alright. Something about it kind of suited us, I think.” It seems that the band has come a long way since those early show. Formed in 2017 by Nolan and guitarist/synth player Joe Nash shortly after both had moved to London from Scunthorpe (“I was just sort of making some music on my own and Joe had heard them. He approached me and said, ‘You’re amazing, can I start a band with you?’ and I said, ‘Yeah fine.’”), the band was initially completed by bassist Sam Wilson, Harrison Charles on guitar, and Oscar Tebbit on drums. “We asked [Oscar] to join because he could ride a motorbike and we thought that’d be a good idea. It’s good for posing with,” Nolan deadpans. It wasn’t until they’d been gigging for almost a year that Morgan joined the group, bringing with her another synthesiser and softlyuttered vocals that serve as the perfect counterpart to Nolan’s Lincolnshire drawl – think Laetitia Sadier meeting Mark E. Smith. “Since Olivia joined, it feels like we’ve been trying to make something weirder, and poppier,” says Nash. Their first show as a six-piece was in June 2018, although Morgan was yet to learn all the parts. “I’d only been playing for a week or something, so I was kind of fake playing on stage,” she laughs. “No one knew.” More gigs followed, including coveted support slots with Squid, The Magic Gang, Scalping and Omni, which won them plenty of new fans, including Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos, who approached them backstage after the Omni show. “We came offstage and he was just there talking
24
