On the ‘about' section of Bellevue Days' Facebook page, the band list their interests as follows: "Beer. Girls. Knitting." Those first two are hardly surprising, but knitting? Come on, lads, that's not very rock'n'roll. "Beer, girls and knitting are our three favourite things," confesses frontman Alan Smith. "Knitting is up there because Dan does it on tour," bassist Joe Blackford adds, "or it's something like knitting, anyway!" Explaining his hobby, guitarist Dan Lukes says: "It was driving me insane just sitting in a van all day with these amazing people, so I decided to take up crochet, which is pretty much knitting. I just sat in the van making this scarf, and at gigs I'd put it on the mic stand to show everyone the progress, but I don't think anyone noticed… it'll turn into a blanket one day!"
If Bellevue Days' 2017 goes as planned, Dan will have a lot more time on the road to work on his scarf-come-blanket. The self-proclaimed "sludge-pop" four-piece have plans to release new material before the summer, and they're hoping that their new songs – the follow-up to last year's ‘Sad Boy' EP - will give them enough momentum to justify plenty of time on tour. "We've got some definite ideas for a few single releases," Alan explains, "so I think the first half of the year we'll be releasing two or three singles, and then the body of work we'll release mid-year. Whether that's an EP or album, we're still unsure. We've got some festivals lined-up, and touring-wise, we're going to try to organise a DIY tour on our own, once we release the singles."
Bellevue Days have been riding the crest of a wave for the past twelve months, and when asked why they think their music is connecting with people, the band reckon it's their hard to pin-down sound that helps. "There are a lot of indie bands out there right now," Dan claims, "and maybe we're a bit different; a bit rockier, and filling a different niche." Dan is right to point out his band's gruffer take on indie-rock, as Bellevue Days' tunes share as much, if not more, with Nirvana as they do with The Strokes. And when quizzed on the band's influences, it becomes apparent why their interpretation of indie-rock is slightly rough around the edges. "When we started the band, I just wanted us to sound like The Xcerts," Alan explains. Dan, meanwhile, cites Brand New as a huge influence, though he does have a slight confession about Bellevue Days' song-writing: "There's this one song we always rip-off, ‘Where Is My Mind?' by The Pixies, which just always finds its way into everything somehow!"
