British India Talk New Album And Being "Consumed" By Music

After toiling away for the past decade, British India have a handful of albums and anthems under their belt and a solid reputation for their tireless touring. But it’s their latest album, Nothing Touches Me, that they’re most proud of, says frontman Declan Melia.

Compared to their last album – 2013’s critically acclaimed Controller, which was plagued by writers’ block – the making of their fifth album was trouble-free. “After the success of Controller we did a bit of a victory lap,” says Melia.

“We were getting together nearly every day for about six months, just to work on [the songs] lots. And the songs came easy – we had more headspace to get really creative with them, in terms of not just the path but also the sound.”

While immensely proud of the album – “I want to like this album forever” – Melia admits he’s “teeth-grindingly nervous” about its impending release. “The album is never really tested until you take it on tour,” he says.

The band have plenty of chances to do just that, with a massive national tour, plus stints in Japan and the illustrious CMJ festival in New York later in the year lined up.

“This is a young man’s game, that’s for sure, and history shows that…longevity isn’t guaranteed,” says Melia, reflecting on the month-long Australian tour. “So I think it’s the right move as we want to do as much as we can while things are happening.”

“As long as there’s a British India-shaped gap in the Australian music industry, I think we’ll thrive.”

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While he acknowledges the music industry isn’t famous for its stability, Melia struggles to see another future. “I can’t not see a time where I don’t want to get together with those other three guys and make music and put records together,” he says.

“Making music is something I never want to be nostalgic about, it’s something I always want to look forward to.”

“It’s not a hobby for us,” he continues. “Really, we gave our lives over to this.”

The band have been together since they were 16 and, while interpersonal dynamics shift, their loyalty to each other and British India has remained throughout.

“Right from the beginning we really thought, if we want to say anything of any real merit or to affect anyone in any deep way it can’t be something we do in our spare time,” says Melia, earnestly.

“It has to be all consuming. And that’s exactly what happened, everything fell by the wayside – education, careers, girlfriends.”

This ruthless determination has certainly paid off, but the real secret behind British India is the friendship and shared history between the four members. “I’ve never played music with a different combination of guys. It’s really embarrassing making music, so it needs to be with people you’re familiar with,” says Melia.

And if you’re waiting on a British India side-project, don’t hold your breath. “They’re such an ego trip,” Melia says. “It’s hard enough writing songs with British India. I don’t have any spare ideas – and if I had an idea I just want to use it and work together. It’s not like if I had an acoustic song I’d want to do an acoustic set, because British India can do an acoustic set.

“We could do electronic if we wanted to, or metal. There’s only one kind of sound that we make, and that’s not because it’s set in stone it’s because that’s the limit of our ability.”

‘Nothing Touches Me’ is out tomorrow, Friday, 13th March. British India kick off their extensive ‘Nothing Touches Me’ national tour next month — details below.

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