Exclusive Interview: Blight Town talk “It Lives”!

Its been a whirlwind of a couple of years for Nottingham Progressive Post-Hardcore quintet Blight Town, a band who have gone from taking their math-infusions to the rehearsal space to playing festivals and announcing a co-headlining tour with You Win Again Gravity. Just sixteen months after the release of their self titled debut EP saw them playing Tech-Fest this summer, sophomore EP “It Lives” has swept away the cobwebs of the plague years in refreshing style. So here’s an exclusive interview with the band about their past, present and future activities…

How have you found the reaction to “It Lives” so far? “We’ve found the reaction to the new songs to be amazing in general to be honest. Alyx Holcombe was kind enough to play both “Al Gore Rhythm” and “Hawaii Six-0” on her BBC Radio 1 Introducing show and that was a massive moment for us. We were nervous about stepping in a more extreme direction in terms of variation on this EP and it’s really paid off as I think there’s a little bit of something for everyone. People are already singing the words to our two latest singles at shows and seem to be really enjoying the new sound, which is great”

How did the writing process change between the self titled record and this new release? “Our first EP was a bit more focused on the heavier and more technical side of what we tend to gravitate towards, so for our second release we wanted to keep some of the intricacies while also making what we thought to be a more easily accessible and pop structured listening experience. We spent more time writing as a whole group for this EP, and I think because of that and our diverse range of inspiration as individuals in terms of our music tastes we ended up with a really nice blend of heavy and poppy”

What made you choose to return to Myroslav Borys (Last Hounds, Confessions Of A Traitor) at Jigsaw Audio to produce, mix and master once again? “I’ve always worked with Myroslav in bands I’ve been in and he always blows me away with how he can bring your music to life and make it sound so professional every time. He always tells you if he isn’t keen on a particular part or certain aspects of the song and he ensures our releases always run as smooth as possible with nothing thrown in that doesn’t flow or aid the song, which I think is a crucial asset to using him”

The artwork for the record is incredible, painting Blight as a creature of darkness with the Town mounted on it’s back. Who did you work with on that? It works really well with the lyrical narrative. “Thanks! We really love it too. The artist is Simon Curd who’s another local artist. We’ve been looking for an artist with a distinctive and consistent style to work with for a while now and we’re really happy with how it came out. We’re hoping this is the start of a continuing partnership with him. He has some sweet prints for sale so everyone should definitely check his work out”

There is a real contrast between darker moods in the lyrics and much brighter music within your sound. How do you go about getting the balance between those right? “Basically, the music always comes first and then we write vocals. We often shoot for a sarcastic, melodramatic kind of vibe and while a lot of the lyrics can some pretty bleak, there’s usually a positive silver lining underneath the imagery”

What impact did playing Tech-Fest this summer have on your career to date? Do you consider getting involved in festivals for the first time a milestone moment? “Tech-Fest was a huge deal for us, and it was for sure a milestone! We’d had our eye on it for a while and were over the moon when we were approached to play. It’s definitely been a step up for us too as we’ve been approached for other shows and opportunities off the back of our performance and it kind of made us start to look at things on a larger scale of what we were capable of achieving as a band. Huge shout out to Simon Garrod for all of his support in us!”

What’s next for Blight Town? “Next up we’re going to be writing fresh music and playing live as much as we can. The response from ‘It Lives…’ has already been fantastic, and has shown us that people like us at both our most heavy, and poppiest, so we’ll be pushing ourselves to make our boldest, most exciting music, and see where it takes us”

“It Lives” by Blight Town is out now, everywhere you’d expect it to be.