Photo Credit: Charlie Barclay Harris

We recently caught up with Dan and Alex from the band BLONDES. We chatted about their recently released EP, their upcoming UK tour and what is still yet to come.

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Your new EP ‘In Separation’ has been out now for a few weeks. How has the reception been towards it?

Dan: It’s been quite good to be fair; it is hard to judge straight away because the lot of the reception is based of streams. Whereas playing it live, it has been really good. It’s nice playing shows and seeing new faces because that shows they have enjoyed our music enough to come watch us.

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You recently played a handful of shows with Inhaler. How was it playing with a band like that?

Dan: It was nuts! We did four shows in total, two in Brussels, and then one in Liverpool and another in Sheffield.

Alex: Brussels were some of my favourite shows I have played.

Dan: It was awesome. There were 1500 people each night in Brussels, and we felt like we were a good fit for the show too. Our most recent single was produced by the same producer that Inhaler uses. It gave him the opportunity to inject some of his style that has then rubbed off on both of us and Inhaler in the studio. We have never sold so much merch too, which is always a bonus.

Dan: Also, after playing the Liverpool show, we did a headliner and a lot of people who saw us with Inhaler, came down to our show which is great.

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After playing the two Inhaler shows in the UK, you are returning to Sheffield next month, as well as playing four others around it. How is the touring selling right now?

Dan: There seems to be a trend at the moment where people are buying tickets a lot closer to the shows. We are it will sell well, with Liverpool we noticed we kept a percentage of the audience from the Inhaler show and hope that reflects in Sheffield too.

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How did Blondes originally form?

Dan: We met at Nottingham University as part of the band society. We finished uni and moved in together during lockdown, but it wasn’t until we moved to Liverpool where we started playing shows really.

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During the formation of Blondes, how was the writing process during lockdown?

Dan: We were quite prolific really.

Alex: There was nothing else to do really. As we all lived together it was so much easier to write and record demos. We didn’t release any new music until live shows were allowed again as nobody was sure what was going to happen. But after we could play live again, we support Stereophonics in Scarborough which was bonkers!

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Now your UK tour is coming up in a few weeks, what preparations have been put in place so far?

Dan: We have played a few shows already with the same set, just to test it out and see how well songs are received. We rehearse regularly as well.

Alex: We’re playing an intimate charity event in Liverpool soon, so it’s another chance to get familiar with the set.

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So with your EP already out, and your tour coming up soon. What other plans do you have for 2023?

Dan: We are potentially going on tour supporting somebody, but it hasn’t been announced yet. We are also playing a festival in Northampton, so everybody come down to it!

Alex: Where is Northampton?

Dan: We are hopefully going to mainland Europe this year too. But again, full details haven’t been announced yet.

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Going into 2024, what are your plans for next year?

Dan: So we are hopefully going to play more festivals, and maybe more music, but we don’t have anything planned really. We have enough material for another EP, but we are just taking things one step at a time really.

Alex: I want to do an album at some point, but the term album is quite daunting when you think about it really, it sounds like a lot of effort.

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Now for the most important question. If you had to make your perfect tour meal, what would it be?

Alex: STEAK! or a really good fish and chips.

Dan: The problem with that is though, it will stink out the van. I’d choose just a regular burrito; it has everything you need in it.

Alex: We went for a curry once before a show and it was taking forever to come to our table, so I wouldn’t recommend that again.

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Any final words guys?

Alex: Go stream our EP and buy tickets to our tour. That would make is very happy!

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A massive thank you to Alex and Dan for taking the time out of their day to chat to us and we look forward to seeing them on stage very soon!

Blondes will be performing in the UK on the following dates:

17th August – Liverpool, The Jacaranda
12th September – London, Paper Dress Vintage
17th September – Manchester, The Castle Hotel
18th September – Bristol, Crofters Rights
19th September – Sheffield, Record Junkee
20th September – Nottingham, Rough Trade