It has been an outstanding 12 months for Melbourne’s British India.
The band released their fifth, studio album ‘Nothing Touches Me’ in April and achieved their fourth consecutive, Top 10 ARIA album debut. The band then embarked on their most successful, national tour to date with 22, sold-out shows. ‘Nothing Touches Me’ has also been nominated for an AIR Award, which is their second nomination – British India won the AIR in 2008 for their debut album, ‘Guillotine’.
To produce 'Nothing Touches Me', the band spent time in Berlin working with Simon Berckelman of Philadelphia Grand Jury. “We went over there just to go over the songs,” guitarist Nic Wilson says. “It was the romantic ideal of getting away from it all and just focussing on something – I don’t know if it really panned out that way. It was getting away from it all and doing 12 hours of music and 12 hours of other stuff.”
A dream came true when the guys were handpicked by Mick Jagger to play with The Rolling Stones when they toured Australia this year, and they were also asked to replace The Black Keys at the Byron Bay Blues Festival.
The forward momentum has not let-up, with the band currently in the United States playing shows in Los Angeles and New York. “We’re straddling the line: we’re definitely not as punky as we used to be but even in the sweeter moments there’s viciousness and it can even come down to the lyrics. A song like ‘Jay Walker’, you can’t describe as anything but a ballad, but it’s still so fucking-goddamn sad what’s going on in that song, it’s sad as hell, it’s bleak," Nic Wilson says.
British India will end 2015 the way it began with a 20-date national, spring tour beginning in Townsville. The band will visit several towns not included on the ‘Nothing Touches Me’ tour. The capital-city dates will also include special guests from Perth, Tired Lion.
The four school friends who formed British India emerged from Melbourne’s independent scene in 2007 with their critically acclaimed, debut album 'Guillotine'. They followed-up the release with two Top 10 albums – 'Thieves' in 2008 and 'Avalanche' in 2010. The band's fourth album, 'Controller' (their third consecutive ARIA Top 10 debut) in 2013 scored them their first-ever gold record for the song, ‘I Can Make You Love Me’.
British India Tour Dates
Thu 29 Oct - Dalrymple Hotel (Townsville)Fri 30 Oct - Magnums (Airlie Beach)
Sat 31 Oct - Harvey Road Tavern (Gladstone)
Fri 6 Nov - Entrance Leagues Club (Entrance)
Sat 7 Nov - Uni Bar (Wollongong)
Fri 13 Nov - Solbar (Sunshine Coast)
Sat 14 Nov - Coolangatta Hotel (Gold Coast)
Fri 20 Nov - HQ Complex (Adelaide)
Sat 21 Nov - The Metro (Sydney)
Fri 27 Nov - The Forum (Melbourne)
Sat 28 Nov - ANU Bar (Canberra)
Fri 18 Dec - Theatre Royal (Castlemaine)
Sat 26 Dec - Lorne Hotel
Sun 27 Dec - Barwon Heads Hotel
Tue 29 Dec - Grand Hotel (Mornington)
