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“It’s Friday morning in London, Woody is cooking ata now. He’s taking the call from his kitchen,” Haze Romawac, EMI’s marketing manager, informs us while waiting for the exclusive phone interview with Bastille’s drummer Chris ‘Woody’ Wood.
The boys from the UK are in the middle of non-stop presswork to promote their upcoming Asian tour, as well as their newly released VS. (Other People’s Heartache Pt.III), the band’s third installment of their popular mixtape series. Bastille, who are jumpstarting Metro Manila’s 2015 concert season, may be the hardest working band in the circuit at the moment.
Consider: The Manila gig is five days after the New Year. By then, they would’ve already played Kuala Lumpur, which means, the lads from the UK will have already traveled across continents through the holidays.
“We’ll only get about two weeks off. The longest time-off we’ve had is about three weeks,” Bastille’s drummer Woody, tells Coconuts Manila one Friday night, Manila time. “But I have no complaints at all.” Check out the rest of our 15-minute, accent-laden interview below!
Woody!
Hey, how are you?
We’re great, thanks for asking. How are you? Been on call the whole morning?
I’m good. It’s Friday morning here and no, not really. We’re just about starting the day. You’re my second call for today.
Okay, that’s great. We’ve been tripping on your new video for ‘Torn Apart’. It’s so weird. What’s that all about?
Haha, that’s the director’s idea and it’s actually been edited already. We realize it may have gotten out of hand. We probably went a bit extreme but we’re really pleased with the final edit.
This is the 3rd VS mixtape, and it’s a very interesting project. What did you guys do to differentiate the 3rd from the 2nd from the 1st?
The first two, we made before our first record and it was all just for fun. Those are covers, we mashed up songs and it wasn’t entirely legal, ha ha. This time, it’s completely legal. We got to collaborate with a lot of artists we love and admire.
Yes, on this installment, you’ve quite an impressive list of artists! How did you pick them?
Well, we have yes a wish list, I suppose. The ones we like and the ones who will say yes, ha ha. We’re very happy we got to work with Haim and Skunk Anansie. Angel Haze appears here. She has supported us tremendously, going on tour with us, even. Basically, we got to work with friends.
Yes, we were gonna ask: because these songs are collaborations, how do you perform songs from Vs live? Can Manila expect songs off VS come January?
It’s a rare treat to play them live. I think songs change from gig to gig. That’s why we were so happy that Angel Haze came along some of our US dates, so we were able to play “Weapon” a lot. We also played “The Driver” a lot on the US tour so yes, you can definitely expect us to play that in January. And “Pompeii” of course because it brought the band to another level. I still love playing that song.
Do you have a personal favorite song that you love to play live?
I really enjoy playing “Weapon” because I’m a drummer and that’s a really aggressive song.
This is your first time in Manila. What do you know about the city and what are your expectations?
To be honest, I know very little about Manila so please, if you have recommendations on what to do, where to go and what to see…
Oh definitely! We can’t wait to meet you guys then and make you do crazy things.
Ah, haha. In Australia, Sam and Will went skydiving. I didn’t do it. You can’t pay me to do it. That’s probably the craziest thing anyone from the band has done.
Please rate in order of importance: Sex, drugs, rock n’ roll.
Rock and roll definitely comes first. And then sex and then drugs.
Noted. Bastille maybe one of the most hardworking bands at the moment. How do you like to kick back and relax?
We’ll only get about two weeks off. The longest time-off we’ve had is about three weeks. It’s been so busy but I have no complaints at all. I just got married three months ago so I’m trying to go domesticated and stuff.
Oh wow, are you taking your wife to Manila?
Unfortunately, no. She’s also very busy and she’s got her own career so she can’t come.
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