Bastille on ‘Give Me the Future’: “It’s holding a mirror up to how things are”
The four-piece kicked off their UK tour this week
By Joe Goggins
Bastille have told Rolling Stone UK about the inspiration behind their fourth album, ‘Give Me the Future’. You can see the chat below.
In an unreleased interview from September 2021, with issue 1 cover stars Dan Smith and multi-instrumentalist Kyle Simmons, the pair discussed the record as they gear up to take it on the road. It was released to a strong critical reception back in February, and became the band’s third number one album, following on from their 2013 debut ‘Bad Blood and its 2016 follow-up, ‘Wild World’.
Conceived in lockdown, the record was heavily influenced by technology and the way in which it can distort our precaution of the world around us. “It’s kind of different meditations on the future and what that could mean,” said Smith. “When it comes to our relationship with technology, we’re in absolutely no position to preach, or judge, or make any kind of comment. We’re as addicted to our phones as everyone, and we live in the city, so it’s not like we’re living on a homestead and not engaging with tech.”
“But it’s not about judging, it’s about holding a mirror up to how things are,” the singer continued. “With the internet, it’s easy to be snide about it, but for all the darkness of the internet, and fake news, and billionaires rocketing to Mars, there’s also obviously endless connectivity, hope, education, there’s amazing things there. So it’s really just about, “this is a strange time we live in, and who the f**k knows what the future holds, but there’s obviously hope in other people and in humanity.”
The band also discussed their return to the live stage post-lockdown, which involved their ReOrchestrated orchestral shows in 2021. “We were on stage with tent gospel singers and an orchestra,” said Smith. “It felt like going from ultimate lockdown and not seeing anyone, to not only being on stage with 40 people, but having 40,000 people in the crowd.”
“It was so [much] the opposite of what we’ve been doing for the last two years,” Simmons added.
Bastille kicked off their UK tour last night Thursday, at London’s O2 Arena. You can see the rest of the dates below.
Bastille, April 2022:
8 – Manchester, AO Arena
10 – Glasgow, O2 Academy Glasgow
11 – Glasgow, O2 Academy Glasgow
13 – Cardiff, Motorpoint Arena
14 – Birmingham, O2 Academy Birmingham
15 – Birmingham, O2 Academy Birmingham
17 – Plymouth, Pavilions
18 – Brighton, Brighton Centre