Ahead of their headline show at London's 100 Club we spoke with Bishopskin about artistic rituals and how the band came in to being.
Photo: Spela Cedilnik | Words: Otis Hayes
Known for their energetic and unpredictable live performances, frequently spoken of as a ritualistic and spiritual experience for crowds of bohemians to witness, Bishopskin have drummed up a healthy dose of excitement surrounding them. Just as important as the live performances is their unique music, which instinctively avoids the typical and dives deep into a pool of genuine raw expression in a climate where many people are producing art to please audiences. Bishopskin are here to please themselves and bring along anyone who's curious enough to take the plunge.
With Bishopskin set to headline London's 100 Club this Thursday, we spoke with frontman Tiger Nicholson and guitarist James Donovan. (100 Club tickets here.)
Firstly, how did the name Bishopskin come about?
Tiger: I was looking for an old word which had long since gone extinct, with its meaning lost, and I settled on Bishopskin because it looked nice in capitals as well as lower case and with its vowels taken out.
With a fair few members in the band, how did you all meet and come together as a group?
Tiger: We're a big band… we first started as a two-piece, one civil servant (spy) and a stonemason. We then picked up one priest in an Oxford College, one Palestinian librarian while organising warehouse parties at Goldsmiths, a Japanese fiddler at a Fat Whites improv jam night, a Greek classically trained yoga animator and finally an Italian instrument mechanic who we met in Dalston Superstore. Then the Italian met the civil servant in backflip lessons. We have also recently added a doctor of philosophy because our civil servant had temporarily moved to the Middle East to work (spy).
Do you have any particular rituals or processes either individually or as a group when it comes to writing and recording?
James: As well as the grace and harmony of God, Hana is a licensed Pellowah energy healing practitioner.
With the second Bishopskin album in the works, have there been any key inspirations music or otherwise which have inspired the group along the way?
James: We always steal ideas from the artists that we love and no-one notices. For this album it seems to be more proggy…
What are some of your favourite venues to play in London?
James: The best venue we've played in London was MOTH Club. It's a classic for a reason.
Who are some of your favourite fellow up-and-coming bands right who you believe deserve more recognition?
James: The Wheel 2! and Sodden Pelt are underrated, though I suspect not for long, and so is Caspar Von Nebenan from Germany.
Who would be your dream artist to support?
James: Bob Dylan, if you're reading this, we love the new stuff.
For Tiger specifically, I have seen some of your other creative endeavours such as stone carving and painting. Do you enjoy working creatively with your hands just as much as using your voice on a stage? And do you find the two can share any similarities when it comes to artistic expression?
Tiger: I might tend to work a song like I cut a stone or paint a page, but mainly I am just trying to make the thing in which I am making more good and less very bad. I use all the same images, stories and colours, in most things I make because I suppose they are the things that I feel are good things, handsome things, not bad things or cringe things.
I personally find the topics you sing about very interesting and unique compared to more typical song subjects. Do you try to avoid writing in a typical vein or is it just your own interests shining through?
Tiger: I used to avoid writing about more common topics, maybe to make the songs more unique, however more recently I have not bothered trying to make them unique and I just write about anything that sounds nice in my ears… that is until my wife says it's shit, then it'll sound less nice in my ears and I'll change it.
Finally, as a performer you are very dynamic and can be pretty unpredictable. Is that an ideal you try to translate into a live setting or is it just a natural feeling that arises which you then act upon when performing live?
Tiger: I sometimes plan stunts but I'm worried the stunts might begin to have a ratcheting effect so I've stopped them but most shows if I have the room, it fills you with beans and I just got to get those beans out.
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