It’s been almost 2 years since Bombay Bicycle Club last played a live show and despite their current hiatus, it’s safe to say that the band have kept themselves busy. Bassist Ed Nash has since established his solo project Toothless, where he’s taken over singing duties and has began to showcase his fruitful creations from over the past year.
Nash confesses that it’s still early days for the band and, despite Bombay’s reputation, it’s back to basics for him and his live band. Gone is the glitz and glamour of headlining the likes of Earls Court. “We’ve got to establish the band before we can start taking everyone out of what they do full-time and we’re just trying to work that out and think on our feet at the moment,” he says. “Last weekend we were at Glastonbury and I’m glad we did it because I just want to play as many shows as I can – but it was really hard work, as we didn’t have a backstage at all and we had to carry all our equipment around and we even lost a pedal board.” The recently turned front-man confesses that the fresh start comes as a welcome treat and remarks on it being a similar process to one that began 10 years ago. “There were no sound checks or anything, just straight into playing. It’s really refreshing starting off again and getting back to basics after all the time I spent with Bombay.”
“You need a different skillset to perform these sort of shows and they’re skills that you can lose very easily or even forget when you’re playing these arena sized shows. It’s really fun but very different from what we were doing with Bombay towards the end.”
May’s Moth Club gig was Toothless’ first live performance and despite Nash stating that it was “incredibly enjoyable”, he’s quick to point out that it was a rather frightening experience. “It was quite scary being the first show, and I’ve played hundreds and hundreds of shows, even bigger shows than that, but I found it quite daunting with it being all on me,” he said. “I guess it’s letting people hear what I’ve spent the last year and a half doing – it’s odd showing people something that you’ve poured your emotions into and don’t have anyone else to hide behind. And with Bombay, Jack was writing the songs and there were 3 other people there to share those things with, so while Toothless is incredibly rewarding, it’s far scarier.”
Despite Toothless’ live performances consisting of Nash backed by a live band, he explains that the album itself has been solely created by himself. “The band is just me at the moment; I’ve written the songs, I’ve written the whole album – I do everything,” he remarks. “But when I do a live show, I don’t consider it me, I consider it a group of people. Nobody is coming to see just me; they’re coming to see the whole production and everything that Toothless encompasses. The live show is very much a group of people playing together and although I created all of this, I’m very aware that I couldn’t do all of it purely by myself.”
Nash admits that it will take some time before the band begins to grow due to it being such a fresh concept. “It’s a tricky one because you’re never going to immediately experience success and we have to build up that support and fan base again, and there’s no better way to do that than throwing yourself out there and just playing shows,” he said. “Hopefully we can do some more one-off gigs and then I’ve got my eye on getting this album out around sometime at the start of next year and then maybe we can start touring then – it just takes people a while to catch on with what we’re doing.” Bombay’s support still remains strong however some fans are oblivious to the fact that the band is currently taking a hiatus. “I still bump into people in the street and they’re asking me when the next Bombay record’s coming out and they still don’t know that we’re not doing that,” he said. “I mean if people don’t know that then it’s even more unlikely that they’ll know that Toothless is alive.”
Despite Bombay being Nash’s main project, he points out he’s always had the desire to do something on his terms and with the breaks firmly locked with the four-piece, Nash decided to venture down his own musical avenue. “I’ve always made music by myself and because Bombay was so full on I didn’t really have the time to pursue anything else seriously and it was just more of a hobby in my spare time,” he said. “We were touring for a good 8 or 9 months of the year and that just doesn’t really leave you with anytime leftover for anything else. So when we stopped touring I decided I’d start making some music and when we decided that Bombay wasn’t the main thing anymore it meant I had the time to do it properly.”
The big question for many a hardcore BBC fan is whether the group have any plans to regroup in the future and Nash appears genuinely unaware of any future blueprints, before pointing out that the split was not due to any conflict within the group. “In terms of Bombay, I think we’ll just take things as they happen. It’s kind of a strange thing to talk about because when most bands break up there’s a lot of animosity or something hasn’t gone right to the extent that they’re forced to stop doing something that they once loved. A lot of people just assume that there’s problems between the four of us, or assume we’re lying about it, but that’s absolutely not the case,” he said.
The thought of a future without the group seems very daunting for some however the reasoning behind the break is more than justified. “My life has been Bombay for literally 10 straight years and that’s the only thing we’ve ever done and known,” he said. “I mean when we stopped Bombay it was pretty big and most people in their right minds wouldn’t have called it a day at that point but we needed to do something else. But it’s great because everyone is now doing the stuff that they’ve wanted to do and the success of the band has allowed us to do these other things.”
“I mean Jamie’s studying War Studies at King’s College, when he’s not busy making documentaries. Suren plays drums for me, as well as Theme Park and Billie Marten. And then me and Jack are making records, everyone’s just having fun doing their own thing,” he said. “This is my main thing now; this is what I’m doing. But could Bombay happen again? I have no idea. It could never happen again or it could happen in a couple of years, I have absolutely no clue. I’m just enjoying Toothless and everyone’s enjoying what they’re doing respectively.”