INTERVIEW: Breadcrumbs

The sound of Breadcrumbs grabs you quickly, the music ebbs and flows, building from its rhythmic origins to something explosive and impassioned. It’s detached and distant but it’s punchy and powerful. The North Tyneside band’s self-titled release is extremely conscious, aware and smart. You can see the wry confidence and twinkle in the eye of songwriter Andy Bell as the anger and discontent is punctuated by a silliness and deft daftness. It toes the line beautifully and the sardonic poetry is covered in mounting
guitars and a thundering rhythm section.
The four friends that make up Breadcrumbs came to form the band after performing for one night at guitarist Dave Burton’s wedding. Collectively having played in The Lavender Faction and Kosmonaut, the jumbled line-up was rich with Northern musical experience.
Picking up their instruments to perform a series of wedding covers had been a long-standing tradition in the friendship group, however this time it steamrollered into something special. Andy confesses that their latest release was written pretty organically. “This album just sort of came to be. I’d sit down with maybe a line or an idea, sketch out a demo, and slowly the lads would add a section here and a section there and suddenly it would be a song.”
“There wasn’t a rule book this time, which is a nice way to write,” confesses Dave, “we weren’t trying to redesign the wheel or do anything too crazy, but we did feel that we could make any choice we wanted. We like fiddling with expectations, changing it up and toying with where people expect the song
to go.”
The idea that each song was written without a cohesive narrative across the album feels in direct contrast with the end result, as the record plays as a seamless listen, with the tracks in conversation with each other, building and retaliating against the previous. There is a journey and energy throughout the record that feels meticulously crafted and mapped out. “We are a guitar band, and we want to sound like a guitar band, but we’ve never wanted to yield to a specific sound,” says Dave, elaborating: “People are often saying we sound like XYZ, and it’s always some obscure post-punk band that I’ve never heard of! We like playing around with weirder elements. We often get compared to Wire and it’s hard to deny that’s a big influence, those punchy sharp tracks that stick with you.”
Despite the growing guitars and often thundering rhythms, when I listened to the candid lyricism of Breadcrumbs, I am often reminded of one of my favourite bands, The Silver Jews, particularly on Breadcrumbs’ track DCDS, where it’s hard not to see a similar knack for phrasing imbedded in Andy.
With the album coming up and a launch party at North Shields’ Engine Rooms on the horizon, the band are giddy to keep working. “You need a bit of silliness in the mix. We’re a mix of men in their 50s and 60s – if it’s all doom, gloom and anger nobody would be having a good time. It’s often the daft moments that lead to something genuinely interesting. We just want to have a good time.” Armed with inspired lyrics, dynamic soundtracks and a palpable excitement, a good time is always inevitable with Breadcrumbs.
Breadcrumbs launch The Breadcrumbs at The Engine Room, North Shields on Friday 27th June.