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Cape Town - We recently had a casual chat with Bastille bassist and guitarist Will Farquarson ahead of their SA tour which kicks off this week.
The British rockers are set to perform in Cape Town at the Grand Arena on Wednesday 4 October, in Durban at the Botanic Gardens on Friday 6 October and in Johannesburg at Emmarentia Dam on Saturday 7 October.
Chilling at his home in Brighton, Will revealed, over the phone, that the band are super-excited to be returning to South Africa again. "For various reasons events have conspired against us over the last two to four years that we actually hadn’t had a chance to come back yet, so to be finally coming back is amazing! Since the moment we've left we've been saying we’ve got to get back to South Africa, we’ve got to get back to South Africa; especially given that Dan, our singer’s parents, are from there, so finally making it back is really exciting for us. And yeah, we genuinely can’t wait," says Will.
Unlike their trip to South Africa in 2014, which was their first one to our shores, this time around it will be quite a quick visit. "Because we have a recording schedule to stick to, it’s a fairly short trip, I think seven days. Last time we stayed a bit longer and we went on safari and we travelled all over and did a lot of the touristy things. Unfortunately this time it’s going to be a bit of a fly in fly out trip, but we always find the time to do at least a little bit of sightseeing."
Speaking of recording schedules, the band has already recorded a bunch of new material for their third studio album which is due for release some time next year. And according to Will some new music is coming within the next couple of months.
“You know we always try and progress the sound a little bit. You know the last album was very much focused on, lyrically, more political and sonically maybe a bit heavier, and now we might be moving into a slightly simpler sound. There’s been talks from Dan, who’s the lyricist, he always waits until the very last minute to finish off the lyrics, but there’s been talk about it being maybe a bit less grandiose and mysterious and a bit more about more everyday things. However, Dan does have a tendency to change the lyrics the day before the things are released, so I’ll wait until it’s actually out there,” Will says laughingly.
And what’s the best advice he’s ever received? Never give up!
Will explains: "The best thing I was ever told is by a teacher of mine when I went to college and I was 18, he just said, persevere, just never give up. And it’s such a silly thing, or simple thing. I’ll take a jab at it... You’ll just find that one day you’re 35, which alarmingly I am, and you’ll be the only person still doing it , you’d maybe have given up and gotten a proper job and you’ll be the last man standing. I also just never really knew what I wanted to do or could see myself doing. So I didn’t have much of a choice, I was committed to this path. I think when you love your job it’s not work."
As our chat comes to an end, Will reveals what SA fans can expect from their show: "The production is a lot bigger than it was the last time we played. And yes it’s just going to be a very fun show, and we’re going to be at the very end of eventually our world tour of the last album, so the last port of call for the Wild World era of Bastille. So it should be a really fun few shows, and happily emotional almost…"
Tour details:
Cape Town
Date: Wednesday, 4 October
Venue: Grand Arena, GrandWest
Time: Doors open at 18:00
Ticket Prices: Standing – R495; Seated R350 - R425
Durban
Date: Friday, 6 October
Venue: Botanic Gardens Durban
Time: Gates open 16:00
Ticket price: R495
Johannesburg
Date: Saturday, 7 October
Venue: Emmarentia Dam, Johannesburg
Time: Gates open 10:30
Ticket price: R495
