Interview: Blitz Kids

Op 23 juli, een dag die helaas de geschiedenisboeken in gaat als een dag van Nationale Rouw, traden de heren van Blitz Kids op in de kleine zaal van Paradiso. Enkele maanden hiervoor speelden ze een verdieping lager, in het voorprogramma van All Time Low. Die show heeft hen duidelijk wat fans opgeleverd, want de kleine zaal van Paradiso zou later deze dag naast heel warm ook vooral vol zijn. Voor het optreden spraken we met Joey James, frontman van de band.

Later dit jaar komt de band terug naar Nederland, het viertal staat op 17 oktober namelijk in het voorprogramma van Deaf Havana in Luxor Live. Tickets voor deze DutchScene presents show kosten €10,- (inclusief servicekosten) en zijn via deze link verkrijgbaar. Kom jij naar het concert? Laat het dan weten via ons Facebook event en blijf op de hoogte van exclusieve acties!

How was your first day in Amsterdam? We know you were off yesterday.
Well, we thought we were going to do sightseeings, you know, cultural stuff.. We ended up visiting lots of pubs, had so many pints, it was wicked actually but then Nic completely fucked it, got so pissed, so we carried on with that.

Nic? Weird it wasn’t Jono!
Not really, Nic seems down like having himself spiked, somehow everyone else was fine, we were all drinking the same..

Apart from that, how’s the tour so far?
It’s amazing! We’re headlining a European tour where over a hundred of people come to every show, which is overwhelming. We thought we were gonna get thirty, maybe forty. I would have never thought so many could’ve made it. It’s insane for us.

Yeah, we heard people started queuing up from 8am in Germany?
Yes, it really blows my mind! I don’t really get it. It’s so important for us as a band. Seriously, every single show has been amazing. And tomorrow’s the last one, and tomorrow’s also my birthday at midnight so we’ll celebrate.. Probably gonna get really drunk again.

So you’re touring three times this year, and you’re playing so many festivals. Such a busy year for Blitz Kids.
It’s ridiculous. We have a headline tour in October in the UK which is selling really well so I guess we’re gonna do a big production. We want to make sure that we have a really good show with lights and great sound. I wanna bring on stage more like piano, the other guitars, a few more people to help us to make a really good live sound.

Why aren’t you playing more headline shows in Europe?
Well, obviously because we didn’t know how this was gonna go. If we booked a massive tour and only a few people showed up, that would be a big waste of money. It was kind of a test. It’s funny ‘cause Germany was the lowest selling of the dates, in terms of people we play to, we play to the least people in Germany, yet we’ve got so many people come and see us. Same happened to Italy. We’ll go back. I know the tour with Deaf Havana will be awesome. I know Copenaghen has sold out and cannot remember where else? I think Cologne? We’re playing many shows in Germany, it’s a different market. We’re always so busy there, we go on TV all the time, we do so many interviews, photo shoots, our music is played on and off all the time there. I’d never really thought that. We’ll definitely do another European tour after the one with Deaf Havana.