INTERVIEW: Bleeding Knees Club

Loud, raw and raucously fun; there are no subtleties when it comes to Gold Coast duo Alex Wall and Jordan Malane, aka BLEEDING KNEES CLUB.

To the uninitiated, these 22-year olds began their surf-garage-punk outfit as a way of relieving boredom, a mere two years ago. Just when they were about to call it quits, Triple J took a chance on their sole recorded demo at the time, track ‘Have Fun’. From then on, it’s been a smorgasbord of overseas showcases, a record labels signing and praise from the holiest of musical bibles: Rolling Stone, NME and Spin Magazine.

Purple Sneakers: How has 2012 been for the band so far? What with SXSW and a national headline tour recently wrapping up.

Jordan Malane: So fun, we have already done about 60 shows. SXSW was pretty awesome, we got to see heaps of rad bands and our national tour with Dune Rats was the funnest tour ever. We never want to tour again unless it’s with them, everyday was funnier than the last.

Bleeding Knees Club has gained a reputation for being a straight up, no bullshit band. Do you think that’s due to the whole "complicated" and "mysterious" persona that most upcoming acts try to portray?

Yeah we are ballin'! Haha, nah, I don’t think we worry about other acts, we just keep things simple and know what we like.

There’s been a recent change around within the band, introducing a new drummer. What happened to your previous guy?

He had a bad attitude, now we have Brett Jansch. He is a legend!

Is new single ‘Girls Can Do Anything’  an attempt to suck up to the female population?

I don’t know. We just froth girls.

PS: You guys recently posted on Facebook that you’re demoing a new album. How soon can we expect new material to drop?

Yeah we are in the studio right now, it’s sounding a lot bigger and different. We are psyched. Hopefully will release a new single after Splendour.

You’re in your early 20s. Do you think there’s an impending age limit for you guys to stop playing as Bleeding Knees Club?

Yeah, we both agreed that if we are still playing at 25 we’re gonna end it.

It seems like Bleeding Knees Club fans would do anything you tell them to. Any suggestions for them to fulfil at your CAN'T SAY gig?

Do you reckon they would? Maybe tell them to bring us an Xbox 360. That would be tight!

Words by Alean Penaflor.