Blindness & Light is an impressive musical collective, creating amazing tunes with a hint of indie, pop-rock and post-punk, making for something very unique nowadays! Their track, Time For Something Drastic, really caught my attention, making me want to find out more about this captivating band! Check out our interview below to see how I got on!
By Jane Howkins
Where did the name Blindness & Light come from? It’s an interesting moniker!
Well we’re massive Joy Division fans so there had to be some kind of reference to that, even though it’s quite obscure. Atmosphere by Joy Division was originally released on a French label called Sordide Sentimental as Licht Und Blindheit, which is Light and Blindness when translated from German. Blindness & Light was our spin on it, and it’s unique, which is really important.
You recently released a new song, titled Time For Something Drastic. What can you tell us about the track?
The track is an exploration of our modern world using the landscape of cult film Apocalypse Now and everything connected to the film, such as Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, T.S. Elliot and The Doors. Humanity seems to have stagnated in its social development and is in danger of self destruction in the coming centuries if we don’t learn from our mistakes.
How has the reception to Time For Something Drastic been so far, and where can the track be purchased?
It’s had a lot of attention so far and a host of positive reviews which you can read here on our Linktree and it’s also a lot of radio play across the world. This track is the first track on our debut album which came out in July 2023. It’s available on all streaming platforms and can be purchased on digital / CD / limited edition vinyl on BandCamp.
The album’s also available in a few shops – Vinyl Exchange, Manchester, 81 Renshaw St., Liverpool and Mudshark Records in Bangor.
Do you plan to release any more singles in the near future?
My Rolex Is Better Than Yours will be released on 7th December. This is quite a different style to our usual guitar based tracks. It was entirely created from samples, which we like to do from time to time. This track provides quite a scathing snap-shot of the current state of humanity. We aim to release a track at least once every 2 months which will generally be guitar based post-punk.
Are there any plans to release a full length album or EP soon?
Yeah the album’s out and doing well. We’ve had a lot of praise from some of the gods of post-punk,such as Henry Priestman (Yachts, It’s Immaterial, Echo and The Bunnymen) and Paul Simpson (The Teardrop Explodes, The Wild Swans, Care), so we’re made up with that. There are still some vinyl copies of the album left so it’d be great if we can sell them all – we
need to get our money back to keep the momentum going and to fund the next album. Don’t expect to make money in this industry, you’ve got to love it primarily, though it’d be nice to break even.
The songs for the next album are already written and 2 of those have already been recorded. We’ll just keep going and the follow-up album should be available about December 2024. There will be at least 6 singles before then for sure. We’re very conscious that there are a lot of dud second albums out there, so we’re putting everything into making it even better. Let’s see!
You’re a collective of musicians, stretching from North West Wales to North West England. How did you get together as a band? How does the writing and recording work?
We’re basically a bunch of like minded musicians who are able to work together. People contribute if they want. They come and go as they please. This informality works well for us as it has done in the past for Yorkshire’s very own The Mekons. Blindness & Light are all friends and family of singer/songwriter/guitarist Colin M Potter. I’ve never realised this before but the band members form a string from Hull to Holyhead including Barnsley, Manchester, Warrington, Liverpool, Wirral, Denbigh then Anglesey.
Tony Denmade is the producer and has a studio based in Warrington. Colin has written all the music so far and also all the lyrics apart from a joint effort with Manchester based artist Andy Gahan on the words for The First Light Of Day. Andy also did the artwork for Time For Something Drastic. Songs are generally created on a Faith Blood Moon acoustic guitar and words are fitted over the top. This can take 10 years or 10 minutes! Hard to predict.
The occasional song does write itself!! The Ballad Of Them and Us was one of those. These tracks are demoed in Colin’s home studio on Anglesey and then developed into the full sound of Blindness & Light by Tony. Mastering is done by a Canadian AI. These days, tracks can be contributed to totally independently and shared over the net. It’d be good to get together from time to time though and throw the odd TV out of a window, but it just isn’t as much fun these days with flat panel LED screens and our bungalow chic. What happened to rock ‘n’ roll?
Time For Something Drastic has a dreamy indie-rock sound. What/who are you most influenced by? What have you been listening to recently?
The list is massive! Many bands from 4AD records such as Leeds band Pale Saints, also Creation and Factory Records. I think the biggest influence has to be The Velvet Underground though. John Cale is a musical genius and has yet to receive the recognition he deserves.
Recently, Radiohead and The Smile, I’ll certainly be seeing them in March at the Apollo in Manchester. A mate of ours called Junior started a band in Runcorn earlier this year called The Brindley Rats. They’re in the studio at the moment so they’ll release a string of singles next year. Their progress has been impressive so well worth keeping an eye out for them in 2024.
Do you have anything else exciting coming up this year?
Not much of the year left but we’re waiting for the outcome of the Omega songwriter award 2023 because Colin has been nominated.
Do you have any tour dates lined up for the UK?
We’re trying to sort this out at the mo but this is the downside of an informal collective, it makes it crazy-complicated trying to sort out gigs.
Any last words for the fans?
Have a great Xmas and 2024. Thanks for all the support in 2023. As a little gift, we will send a free signed copy of the album on CD and limited edition vinyl to the first 3 people to email us on blindnessandlight@gmail.com.