New band of the day : Bliss Pit : ‘hypnotic dark energy for fans of the Cure and the Cocteaus’
Described as a mix of The Cure, Yazoo, Cocteau Twins, Slowdive and Kate Bush and recently Massive Attack, Bliss Pit deals a suitably dark shadowy soundscape that is a flickering drum machine, shivering twanging guitars playing almost eastern melodies with attendant keyboard drones for vocalist, Olivia Stevens, to add her deep and and hypnotically resonant vocals over the top. It’s an effective combination that is partially Siouxsie and partially the Cure at their most reflective, which is perhaps one of the reasons that Robert Smith has taken an interest in their musical adventures. Bliss Pit transcend these influences through and makes their own sound, which is captivating in its atmosphere and its sweet spot between the guitar and vocals.
INTERVIEW
LTW
Where does the journey begin?
Jeremy Hayward
My back ground is I got into music from watching The Cure in ‘Orange’ and then decided the guitar was my instrument from watching the live version of A Forest that hypnotised me. My influences guitar wise are Robert Smith, John Mc geoch, Jonny Marr and Andy Summers always loving interesting chords and picking etc. I then started writing music and was in a few bands that never did much but gained good local followings but was always difficult holding bands together (as is a lot of bands )
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LTW
Where did the connection with the Cure come from?
Jeremy Hayward
I live in same town as Robert Smith and I sent him demos of my music, of which he replied and really liked my music and we kept a rapport writing letters that then switched to email. When the guitarist was kicked out of the Cure, I sent a demo of me playing all the parts the same day, asking for the job as the guitarist but it was already taken but I got the job of guitar tech and stand in guitarist if something should arise that has come near on two occasions. It helps that I used to play in a Cure tribute band!
LTW
How long has the relationship with the band been going?
Jeremy Hayward
I’ve toured with The Cure for 17 years (not ‘seconds’ 🙂 ), and it’s been a good journey, and as a player, it is difficult as my own music is important to me.
After seeing Slowdive play with The Cure last tour, I then had my girlfriend leave, and I decided to focus on music again. I knew singer Olivia Stevens who is local to me in Bognor Regis and Olivia comes from a different music background being a bluesy soul singer but then on talking to her I realised her favourite band was Slowdive but she never found anyone who she could do this music with and I thought well let’s give it a go and thought about forming a band but came to the conclusion it would make more sense to mix electronic and programmed parts with my ethereal guitars and my Fender bass 6 on top of it and it seemed to just work.
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