BLEEDING KNEES CLUB

BLEEDING KNEES CLUB

Girl Crazy

Bleeding Knees Club spent the past few months trekking the world to spread the good word of surf pop, but the troublesome twosome have returned home for a headline tour this month. CHLOE PAPAS speaks to Jordan Malane prior to their shows at Amplifier on Friday, April 27; and Mojos on Saturday, April 28.

Bleeding Knees Club’s brand of lo-fi surf pop isn’t entirely unique, though the way it’s presented is; messy but well produced, with a cheeky youthful quality to its sickeningly contagious lyrics.

“We recorded it in New York in June, while we were in Brooklyn. We did it in like five days,” Jordan Malane explains. “We’re pretty chilled out and we keep things pretty short and sweet, all our songs. We don’t ever over-think things or they just end up kind of bad.”

Since the release of their EP Virginity in October 2010, Bleeding Knees Club have been on the radar; touring with the likes of Wavves, The Drums and most recently, playing at South By Southwest. Malane explains that it ‘just kind of happened’: “We were really excited about it, and we really wanted to play it – it just was a natural progression when we got told we were going.”

Compared to the band’s EP, Nothing To Do features a few tracks that sound like they’ve come straight from a ‘60s dancefloor – if there was a lot more attitude in the ‘60s, that is. Lipstick is one of those, with an opening monologue that Danny Zuko would be proud of, and so many ‘shoo-wops’ in the lead up to the chorus (‘We’ll make out in our cars’) that the listener is lulled into a false sense of security. Malane says Lipstick and similar track Beach Slut are attributed to Wall. “Alex went through a really big ‘60s doo-wop stage about six months ago, and the songs are like an ode to that. It’s pretty cool.”

For anyone who hasn’t had a chance to listen yet, every single track on Nothing To Do has one theme: girls. From previously released Teenage Girls to Boy In Lust, plus a band name that is a reference to a sexual act that we won’t go into, it seems like Wall and Malane really don’t have much else on their minds.

“I guess we just like girls. Most people write about what they know, but I guess we just write about girls because we like girls,” Malane laughs. “I mean, we’re not going to write about guys!”

When questioned on any ‘mad crazy’ touring adventures, Malane laughs and states: “We just go to bed after our shows, we don’t do anything crazy,” laughing in the background insinuates that he may be fibbing a little, and Malane seems to forget the task at hand and begins a barely intelligible conversation with Wall and their mates about stories they could tell; mentions of apple bongs with Wavves, pretend ARIA Award after parties with Casey Donovan, and fictional sexcapades are thrown around, with Malane finally tuning back in to the conversation and ending with this: “Nah, no crazy touring stories, we’re just good Catholic boys.”