SOUNDCHECK: Bleeding Knees Club (SXSW 2012)

Hailing all the way from the Gold Coast, Aussie natives Alex Wall and Jordan Malane (plus their drifter drummer) make up BLEEDING KNEES CLUB, a band that give a whole new meaning to the term RGB (rhythm, guitar and blues). Though they’ve only existed for a year, the duo +1 have made a significant impact bringing a new spin on lo-fi and penning more songs about girls than a burn out sitting with his guitar watching a 1980s’ John Hughes marathon fit for teens. With more than half-a-dozen shows set for the heat during South By Southwest, we met up with the 20-something part-time photographers to chat about the things that matter, like playing shows, tagging COD noobs and their love for Chairlift, Christopher Owens and Girls and Dev Hynes (Lightspeed Champion, Blood Orange).

During South By Southwest – other than playing shows – where can people find you?

JORDAN MALANE: Umm… watching bands (laughs). We’ve been to that Scoot Inn place like twice.

ALEX WALL: I went to Spider House yesterday and that was the best thing I’ve been to so far. I’ve been wanting to see Grimes play but I haven’t been able to get in.

JORDAN: That’s what’s hard about being here is its actually hard to see new bands. We haven’t seen many this time, just ones we have always known.
 
Out of all the artists out there, who would you say has the best discography?

JORDAN: I would just say The Beatles. But that’s an easy answer.

ALEX: I don’t know. Thee Oh Sees have a very big discography, and their shows are always good.
 
What’s your favourite song to play live?

ALEX: Umm… “Camp Out”. It’s off our EP called Virginity and it’s like one of the first songs we ever wrote. It’s still the most fun song to play.

JORDAN: Really the same here for me. It’s just easy and fun (laughs).
 
Is it your first time playing these songs over here in North America?

ALEX: No, we’ve been here like three times. We’ve only really been to New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
 
What’s your favourite city so far?

ALEX: I like New York.

JORDAN: Yeah, I don’t know. We’ve only really been to the UK and the U.S. so there’s not a lot. I do really like San Francisco. We were only there for a day but I’d like to go back there.

Well since you haven’t been to Canada yet, give readers the movie trailer version of Bleeding Knees Club.

JORDAN: So what movie suits our band?

ALEX: No, we have to pitch our band (laughs).
 
But you can do that too if you want!

JORDAN: Breakfast Club (laughs).

ALEX: I don’t know. I guess we’re two, or three people with ADD (laughs). One is really particular with his hair, the other’s really skinny and our drummer has a good moustache.

JORDAN: And he’s a drifter (laughs).
 
So that’s why he’s not here.

JORDAN: I don’t know what the movie would be called or what it would be. Maybe it’d be a horror.

ALEX: No, it’d be like the Little Rascals.

JORDAN: Yeah it’d be really bratty, and we’d go around bullying people and stuff.
 
What would you say is your favourite food to eat when you’re on the road?

ALEX: Burritos.

JORDAN: Yeah, definitely Mexican food, guacamole and stuff. I’m not really fussy.

ALEX: You are the fussiest guy in the man. He only eats at cafes because he thinks its fancy.

JORDAN: No, I actually like the food there and I go there when I need coffee. Like they have legit food there.
 
Do you have any hidden talents? Like are you super good at hoola hooping?

ALEX: I am actually good at hoola hooping. I went to party in Melbourne once and there was a hula hoop and I learned it, but I had to stop because I became too good at it.

JORDAN: I don’t do anything. I’m good at Xbox (laughs). I’m good at Skate but I’m better at COD, like Call Of Duty.

ALEX: I am the worst thing in the world at those games.

Back to music, what was the first album you ever bought?

ALEX: I bought the Men In Black soundtrack.

JORDAN: The first one I got on vinyl was Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged. I don’t remember my first CD though. It was probably No Doubt, like Tragic Kingdom or something.
 
What were some of your favourite albums from last year?

JORDAN: The Blood Orange album from last year (Coastal Grooves) was one of my favourites.

ALEX: I liked Cerebral Ballzy’s self-titled one. That was really cool.

JORDAN: I really like the new Chairlift album.

ALEX: There’s also the Girls EP. It was great.
 
What’s been your favourite show at South By Southwest so far?

ALEX: Definitely Girls’ show last night.

JORDAN: There’s also Toy Selectah. Have you heard of them? They were really fun.
 
You guys are playing with OFF! here in Austin too, right?

ALEX: Yeah. I’m scared (laughs). Those guys, they’re just like real punk dudes and they’re tough.
 
With the nature of this festival there’s usually a good mix of people in the crowd so there’s not just die hard punk fans. Some of the venues like Bar 96 are out of the way and are like a backyard barbecue.

JORDAN: Yeah! That’s a cool place. They were giving away free Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. I had one. My favourite kind is chocolate too. What’s yours?
 
I’d say Cherry Garcia.

JORDAN: Shit, I haven’t even tried it.
 
It’s the one with the chocolate covered cherries in the ice cream, it’s super good.

JORDAN: No way. That sounds epic.

ALEX: I’m hungry now.

JORDAN: Yeah, I can’t even think yet. I need to wake up.
 
Yeah, you need your latte.

ALEX: No, he needs his panini (laughs).
 

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