Bastille Frontman Dan Smith Opens up About Politics, Panic Attacks, and ‘Wild, Wild World Tour’

Char Little

From gracing the stage at festivals around the globe to kicking off a the European leg of their “Wild, Wild World Tour” in support of their 2016 album “Wild World,” indie pop band Bastille has been on the road non-stop. And they don’t have any plans of slowing down as they get ready to embark of the North American leg of the tour. Entertainment Voice spoke with Bastille frontman Dan Smith. Smith opened up about how this tour is different than any other, as well as how the group finds creative ways to express their political views on stage.

Bastille has been touring in support of your newest album “Wild World.” What can North American fans expect from the tour?

We put together a tour that we felt was representative of this era of where we’re at as a band. We wanted to make it feel current and exciting and visually stimulating, and as a representation of our first and second album and our mixtape that we’ve done as a band. We also wanted to show that we have something to say. We’ve put a lot of work for the entire show and fans will see it when they come. It’s been really fun doing it in Europe, so we’re really excited to bring it to North America. It’s always fun standing in front of a different video wall (Laughs). On our first album, we did a lot of tours and the album kind of blew up. This is the first time we kind of thought through a tour in its own right and put together a show that we’ll do on this run, and this run only.

 “Wild World” builds on the sound of your debut album, but it’s in a lane of its own. Does the same apply for this tour as far as providing a different experience for your fans?

Since this is our second album, we kind realize if we’re lucky enough to do a third and maybe have a career, we’d really want to mark the different areas of what we’ve done and do that with the sound of the record and have that flow with the tour. There’s a lot of visual motifs. We have a wide sculpture of the two guys on our album cover who sit on the stage. There’s a lot of intertwined energy, and we love being able to make videos and make our work and songs. I think it’s important to me to make them feel cohesive. Any fan of ours can be transformed into our world for a minute. I think like with all of our stuff, if you like a couple of our songs, you’ll really enjoy it if you care enough. We like to have fun with it.

Bastille’s songs “Warmth” and “Snakes” speak on the political state of the world. How do you integrate themes like this into the tour?

In a not-too-heavy way, we comment on how the world is at the moment. It was important to us in terms of a political element to not be over-political. With the album, it was reaction to the world as a human being – you know, trying to get your head around seeing messed up events in the news and how to respond it. I think it was kind of important to make it honest and human instead of shoving an agenda down people’s throats. We’re just four idiots who make music and we wanted to extend that with the show. Visually, it’s making a comment on news, media, and how we see the world. It is very much just about living in this big, mad, world. Everybody has to get up the next day and go to work regardless of what’s happened. Everybody’s had friendships and relationships so it’s just trying to find positivity in spite of things being quite bleak. I think the show kind of speaks to itself as well. I’m probably making it sound super-intense. On one level it’s a series of images that are really cool. If you choose to read into it, it’s a really subtle narrative.

The “Good Grief” video sparked some controversy because of partial nudity. What does the video represent to you?

We worked with a Spanish director whom, from his perspective, didn’t really see anything remotely controversial. I don’t think it was meant to be controversial. It was meant to be kind of a visual game and a dream sequence – the images, some of which you’re really used to, and some you’re not, and turning situations on your head. It’s playing with stereotypes. It’s interesting to me that people reacted to the nudity mixed in but not to the violence. It was interesting for us to see the reaction that it provoked. People commented on the nudity, but were completely fine with the violence and the guns and I think that speaks to what we’ve come to expect with videos and the culture. We live in a world where videos sexualize women and are far more suggestive than anything in that video. So it was really interesting to see that anybody would react like that. But we loved working with Jesus, the director, and it was kind of his big, ambitious, mad vision for that video.

You have collaborated with artists like Angel Haze and Haim in the past. Do you have any collaborations in the works for upcoming releases?

Yeah we do! None that I can talk about. But when we make our songs it’s quite a kind of ‘uncollaborative.’ I kind of write the songs and we work with the band. We quite like the idea of trying to push ourselves to do different things rather than lean on other people. The mixtapes and remixes have been the fun place to work with other people and find things to collaborate. That’s the kind of separate lane of our music that I hope we get to keep doing. And it’s really fun! It kind of pushes you to do stuff that you wouldn’t think of doing.

You suffered panic attacks while performing at Glastonbury last summer, and have said the moments of panic were because you’re not an extrovert so it’s a lot of pressure to perform. How have you coped with this since due to your non-stop schedule?

I think people react differently to situations when there’s a lot of pressure. Going up on stage in front of a lot of people – it’s not the most normal thing to do. But I’m very lucky to be in a band with friends and be surrounded by a touring crew who I’ve known for years. We started small and kind of steadily worked up through venues so it’s been a long process. I think everyone around us is really cool and supportive and we’re so lucky to have fans who come to shows and love our songs. That’s been the thing that’s been able to help me ease from being a bedroom producer into a singer in a band. But I’m very keen to point out that I don’t have any mental health issues. I just feel anxious like a lot of people feel. There are particular big moments like Glastonbury and headline shows that make me feel anxious. There are people who just love being on stage and feed off of it. I want to stress that I’m so lucky to be in a band, I enjoy it a lot of time, but every now and then it can creep up on me and make me feel anxious.

What has been your most memorable tour experience so far?

I love traveling. I love how being able to tour so much has allowed us to visit different countries. In the United States, being able to play Coachella and Lollapalooza and seeing N.A.S.A, it was an amazing experience. It’s hard to pinpoint, because I think we’re very fortunate – we get to travel and see different things.

Does Bastille have anything special planned for Coachella?

I’m so excited to head back to Coachella! The lineup looks so brilliant. I can’t wait to go and be in the field and watch the other bands.

Bastille kicks off the North American leg of their “Wild, Wild World Tour” March 24. They play Brooklyn’s Barclays Center March 30, L.A.’s The Novo April 19, and Coachella April 15 and April 22.