Riffed

Synth-pop fueled band Ballet School chatted to us recently. Ballet School are best described as Haim and 80's/90's pop mashed into one, and are tip-toeing forever closer to the release of their album this September so we grabbed an interview with them on their forthcoming release and much more:

1) Who are Ballet School's biggest inspirations?

The magic hour, like 7-9pm in the summer when the sky turns peach.

A beautiful face. I guess I watched too much Disney as a little girl or read Death In Venice too many times or watched Hustler White too often cos I really have a thing about beautiful boys.

Musically, I love melody. Some people love beats first but for me it's melody first.

Pop music. From every era. And the history of pop music. Owen Pallett and Paul Gambaccini - these are the type of people I'd invite round for tea.

Crossover. Artists and music that began in the underground and translated to the masses. You know the story of Gee Street? Like how PM Dawn sold millions of records in America? It always really moved me that little clip in Live!Tonight!SoldOut! where Prince Be says 'I really, really like Nirvana' Nirvana were the ultimate crossover band. They smashed the door of everyone's heart. I love that.

2) Favourite gig of which you've played?

We feel like we're on the rise with our live thing right now so everytime we play it's a new fave. Legendary moments have been Tampere, Finland. Tallin music week, The Great Escape and then our first ever show in New York when the whole Bella Union crew was in town and we played with Marissa Nadler who is a goddess. Omg.

3) Personal favourite of the songs you've produced?

Production-wise I feel that the album version of Heartbeat Overdrive is the best thing we've done so far. Me and Louis worked on it and we were really in the zone. The template was the classic extended mixes that used to be in vogue back in the day before 12" vinyl singles became a specialist purchase. My fave 12" mix of all time is probably The Cure's Lullaby. That one is genius. But because I am the biggest Madonna fan ever obviously I love Madonna's entire extended mix catalogue. And also the one that changed my life is probably Nile Rodger's 12" mix of Carly Simon's Why. I've always thought that Rihanna should cover that. That iconic Bernie Edwards bassline gives me Rihanna-life. Anyway, basically I had all these ideas and Louis was vibing hard with his epic production skill and we just sat in front of the computer for about three nights and bashed it out.

4) Your album is out this September, any plans for the summer?

Yes our album is out in September! And we'll be playing plenty of festivals this summer.

5) Who's on your playlist 

I've been listening to Ellen Alien's Weiss Mix again. And also Mya. She had incredible pitch, on her early records, you know. Great purity and control. I love good singers. Always learning.

Big thanks to Ballet School for the interview. 

You can find links to all of Ballet Schools music and socials via their webpage: http://www.balletschoolband.com/

RIFFED x