With comparisons to bands like DIIV, Beach Fossils, Deerhunter, The Cure, Radiohead, and Ride, I think the best descriptor for the band could be something like: “BDRMM: Recommended if you like good music.” In all seriousness, though, BDRMM frontman Ryan Smith started writing his early material solo in his bedroom. Smith then added his brother Jordan on bass, Joe Vickers on guitar, Danny Hull on synths, and Luke Irvin on drums. This current five-piece British band with an ear for atmospheric dream-pop is one of THE bands to watch in 2020.
All BDRMM physical product has been selling out online as quickly as it can be produced. To my ear, the ten tracks on Bedroom draw inspiration from all the best elements of the shoegazer bands dominating the UK alternative scene from 1990-1993. Anyone into shoegazer will love this record a minute into “Momo,” the first track on the album. Crank it up and let that hair fall forward over your eyes!!
We’re delighted to announce our new 7-track EP, ‘the bedroom tapes’ out on Sonic Cathedral on white 12” vinyl and black cassette, released on october 23rd. The five-piece guitar driven rockers bdrmm blend nineties inspired songcraft and lush contemporary production to create an exhilarating blend of shoegaze, dream-pop and new wave. The second single taken from bdrmm’s debut album ‘Bedroom’.
Speaking on July release A Reason To Celebrate, bdrmm’s Ryan Smith explains: ‘The lyrics come from a place of realisation and understanding. It’s a battle between what you want and what you need to do. It’s about proudly, yet stupidly, letting go – and the voice in your head giving you all the different reasons why you should.’ This features 4 stripped down versions of previous releases that were recorded during lockdown between Ryan & Jordan, they are the most natural and raw versions of themselves they possibly can be, which we felt was fitting for the current situation,
On the b-side, we have included all the remixes that we have been blessed with by some outstanding artists, including Andy Bell, DITZ and International Teachers of Pop.
the artwork, as always (col), is a gorgeous creation from our very own jordan!
Hull / Leeds-based shoegazers bdrmm follow their hugely acclaimed debut album “Bedroom” with “The Bedroom Tapes”, a limited-edition 12” EP that rounds up remixes and lockdown live sessions. The first side features stripped-down versions of “Gush, A Reason To Celebrate” and “Forget The Credits” from the album, plus a version of 2019 single “Question Mark”. Originally recorded at home by the band’s Ryan and Jordan Smith for various radio sessions, these versions feel fragile and expose the feelings that are buried under the noise of Bedroom.
The flip features Andy Bell’s radical reworking of “A Reason To Celebrate” under his GLOK guise, which finds the previously unexplored middle ground between the late Andrew Weatherall and underrated 4AD outfit Ultra Vivid Scene. It is joined by Ditz’s dynamic deconstruction of If.… and International Teachers Of Pop’s almost obscenely cheerful ‘de-mix’ of Happy.
It’s devastating in more ways than one as bdrmm launch into their debut album ‘Bedroom’ at Hull venue, The Dive. Firstly, there’s the sound itself that knocks you for six; pulsing synths, emotive guitar lines and agony-steeped vocals, you’re instantly left longing to be in the same muggy room as the shoegazers.
Then there’s the reminder of the devastation felt by local venues across the country due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This showcase to raise funds comes on the same night as the We Make Events Campaign lights up venues across the country red, raising awareness for the situation facing the events industry. Hull has seen first hand the severity of this crisis, with pillar venues The Welly and The Polar Bear recently closing its doors for good.
An enthused presenter hosting the live stream announces that 2020 was to be this particular band’s year and it’s hard to disagree. After all, NME declared it a “modern shoegaze classic” as they earned the five-star treatment back in July. A quick interview before they commence details the weirdness of dropping a record four years in the making without any live shows to keep momentum flowing. “Of course we wanted to be playing shows,” says frontman Ryan Smith. “We had a tour sorted which fell through, all you’ve got to do is keep optimistic and keep pushing it back until we actually can do it.”
bdrmm on their meditative debut: “It’s a hybrid of relationships, mental health and growing up”
Tonight such worries are cast aside and we’re gifted the band’s first live performance since their album dropped in July, and it’s mesmerising stuff. Instrumental opener ‘Momo’ is a gripping introduction, deeply pensive whirling guitars set a tone much like that on the album itself – the band are animated and locked into the impactful whirring groove from the get-go. The haunting ‘Push / Pull’ follows with a brooding tone matching some of the stark themes on the record, which range from substance abuse through to unplanned pregnancies and mental health issues.
Ryan Smith brings to mind Nothing’s Dominic Palermo throughout with his painfully soft vocal lines – much like those noise-rockers, the fragile moments are pulled into heavier, scrappier territory here. Perhaps it’s due to the heatwave but the band themselves look stifled after a couple tracks, something in itself which is a reminder of the power of intimate gigs, crammed in with only the warm dregs of a pint for hydration. We’d take it right now.
The number of textures on the album are done justice throughout this seven-song set, and a quick peak at the array of pedals framing the stage demonstrate just how meticulously-crafted this sound is. ‘A Reason To Celebrate’ delivers their most towering and commercial punch, with a piercing chorus to dredge up all sorts of feelings.
This is a profound encapsulation of those intimate shows bdrmm would have been playing, and here they prove just how staggering those moments will be once they can return. A wholesome and brutally nostalgic live stream for an imperative cause, ultimately showing that bdrmm can summon all the power of their stunning debut in the live setting.
Band Members:
Ryan Smith,
Jordan Smith,
Joe Vickers,
Danny Hull,
Luke Irvin,
The freshly released debut album by these Brits isn’t reinventing any wheels. In fact it could have also been released in the early 90s sounding exactly like this and you can take that as a compliment. bdrmm sound like the lost love child of Slowdive and The Cure, mixing mighty shoegaze moments with dark wave spirit. If you love the sound of those classics and also new groups like DIIV then “Bedroom” is the album for you. It’s a record for the hopelessly romantic indie kid in you, one that chooses a certain nostalgic timelessness over state-of-the-art innovation. bdrmm are doing a great job in recreating this very specific sound and personally I don’t need any innovation here as long as the music is as good as on this one.
With an awkward, vowelless name that has to be constantly explained, it is unsurprising that the titling of Hull / Leeds-based quintet bdrmm’s debut album is eponymous. “We have been pronounced as Boredom, Bdum and my old boss actually thought we were a ska band called Bad Riddim. We’re all sarcastic cunts, so Bedroom spelt correctly seemed like the perfect title,” explains frontman Ryan Smith. Widely praised for their innovative approach to shoegaze in their early singles, the group have taken a sonic and lyrical step up from last year’s If Not, When? EP. With named influences such as RIDE, Radiohead, The Cure, Deerhunter, Slowdive, Beach House, Alex G, Björk, John Maus and DIIV, the album spans krautrock, post-punk, proto-shoegaze and their cross-fading of some tracks means the album is an almost seamless listen.
As intimate as the name suggests, the whole album spans the violent ups and downs of being in your early twenties: “mental health, alcohol abuse, unplanned pregnancy, drugs… basically every cliché topic that you could think of,” reveals Smith. “But that doesn’t mean they ever stop being relevant. It’s a fucker growing up, but I’m lucky enough to have been able to project my feelings in the form of this band, surrounded by four of the best people I’ve ever met.” These four include his younger brother and bassist, Jordan, an old bandmate, Joe, synth player Dan, and drummer Luke. Ranging in age from teenagers to their mid-30s, they played incessantly over the last couple of years, supporting the likes of Fat White Family, Her’s and Viagra Boys. They found themselves on the radar of indie label Sonic Cathedral last January, who initially offered them a show at The Social and asked if they’d be up for contributing to the Sonic Cathedral Singles Club series of 7”s. From there, they went on to release debut EP, If Not, When? and it hit a nerve with BBC Radio presenters, critics and their peers from the palpable and universal feeling of “everything being too good, that it’s inevitably going to come to an end” (Smith).
Four months in and out of the studio resulted in something truly remarkable, at once elating and dark. More than just a genre record, as something stamped with the label ‘shoegaze’ so often is, Bedroom works its way from fuzzy indie-pop to heavier dirges via sound collages and a distorted sample of a Megabus driver. We’ve been sent this exclusive track by track of the album, so delve into bdrmm’s world as you listen:
‘Momo’ is named after a pretty fucked-up online hoax – a viral game that allegedly got sent to students’ phones that would goad them into violence and suicide. Our manager works in a school and he got really convinced that it was real, and to this day we’ll never let him live it down. It seemed only fitting that it be cemented in history as the first track on an album he helped create. I’ve always been a fan of instrumental openings to albums, I feel they’re like the opening credits, and set the mood of what the listener is in for.
Push/Pull
We really wanted to make an album that flowed seamlessly throughout, so hearing ‘Momo’ going into ‘Push/Pull’ like it does is something special. It’s not an album filled with random tracks, it’s meant to be listened to in full, in order. We spent so much time deciding on the tracklisting, there were so many different combinations. ‘Push/Pull’ is a recollection of the first time you meet somebody. It’s quite dark as it’s not a generic ‘how I met the love of my life’ story. It’s remembering them from the End.
A Reason To Celebrate
A reason to celebrate was actually going to be the name of the album. This is our ode to the genre, I think; we wanted to make a proper shoegaze record. I was sat in my old house about two years ago just messing about on an acoustic guitar with five strings and came up with the chord progression and sent it onto Joe [Vickers, bdrmm guitarist]. We agreed it needed to be something. It’s about proudly, yet stupidly, letting go. It’s the voice in your head giving you all the different reasons why you should. I love this track, it’s a personal favourite. When we play it live, we never want to stop.
Gush
‘Gush’ is a very, very, very old song. It’s a very personal track, too, probably the most I’ve ever delved into my own life with a track. As much as I would love to share this topic, I feel it’s too much. I shared something very special with somebody, which we lost. It was a very upsetting couple of months for us, but we got through it. This track is filled with optimism because things do get better, no matter how bad they get. Be there for your loved ones, always.
Happy
Ahhh, ‘Happy’. This is our song. We have been playing it live, practicing it, working on it since we started playing together. It’s one of the first tracks I ever wrote and has proudly stood the test of time. I actually have a video of the first show we ever played which includes it. This song is all about bitterly yet humbly wishing somebody who has hurt you the best. You’re sick of fighting, you’re tired, you just want to move on, and if that means you have to be the bigger person, so be it. You deserve to be.
(The Silence)
‘(The Silence)’ was created in the studio. It was a day when it was just me and Alex [Greaves, producer], working on some guitar parts and some extra synth. I think we got a bit carried away in dragging out the ending of ‘Happy’, which can happen when you’re working with a Space Echo. They’re like crack for anybody making this kind of music. Alex added layers and layers of synth, and a beautiful guitar line. Nothing about it is in time, it’s very disjointed, especially when the drums come in. We’re both huge Deerhunter fans, so took a lot of inspiration from them. I went into the vocal booth and it was a proper turn all the lights off moment. The vocals were recorded in pitch darkness. “The silence, you speak, in my ear. Proves that, you can’t, be here”.
It’s literally about somebody having nothing to say. There’s nothing to be heard.
(Un)Happy
We always follow ‘Happy’ with a little jam, which is playing the same chords in half time, kinda just trudging along. It’s very moody. I didn’t expect it to make its way on the album, but I’m so glad it did. It’s a part of ‘Happy’ now. ‘Happy’, ‘(The Silence)’ and ‘(Un)Happy’ are a trilogy. There is a sample underneath at the end which you can hear which is a voice recording I took of the driver of the Megabus from Manchester to Leeds. I’d had the worst night, I had to steal a phone charger from Poundland to book a coach home because I had no money. I was stealing food from Tesco, it was raining and it was a real low point for me. I had a real problem with alcohol and drug abuse, this was the day I realised it needed to sort it out, which I’m definitely on the road with. But when I was on the bus home, the driver was having a conversation on the phone with his mate about meeting up after his final journey. It brightened up what was a very bleak day, I’m glad I stole that charger now.
If….
This track is named after the 1968 Lindsay Anderson film If….. Not because it’s about Malcolm McDowell or school shootings, but because I watched it a lot during the period when I was getting over somebody. Its sheer bleakness made me realise that there are a lot more fucked up things in the world than getting out of a relationship, so stop moping about and do something about it. It’s now become one of my favourite films of all time. I’m a big film enthusiast, so I am indebted to who showed me it. She’s great, too.
Is That What You Wanted To Hear?
This is the first track we completely finished in the studio. It all came together so beautifully; it was a symphony of one-takes. This is another one we love playing live, it’s got all the parts to be a really pretty song, but it’s not. It’s about standing up for yourself. “Fine, you win, I never felt what you felt. Is that what you wanted to hear?”. After constantly reassuring someone that you love them, but they don’t believe it, you just give up. There’s only so much truth telling you can withstand before you start lying to yourself.
Forget The Credits
This was originally just called ‘Forget’. It’s almost like a weight being lifted from your shoulders. The chords drift off into space taking everything that’s just happened with it. It was always meant to be the last song on the album. I remember when I recorded the first demo, it was the first time I played drums for a track. It’s very open ended. It’s the end of a chapter, not the end of the story.
bdrmm release debut full-length album Bedroom on Sonic Cathedral on 3rd July 2020.
The West Yorkshire quintet’s long awaited debut lp is an immediately gratifying shot of nocturnal dream-pop and shoegaze that evokes low shutter-speed journeys through infrastructure at midnight.
it’s a hugely accomplished debut and a real step up both sonically and lyrically from their early singles, which were rounded up on 2019’s ‘if not, when’? ep. musically, there are nods to the cure’s Disintegration, Deerhunter and Diiv, while the band reference Ride and Radiohead. there are also echoes of krautrock and post-punk, from the Chameleons to Protomartyr, plus the proto shoegaze of the pale saints’ the comforts of madness, not least in the cross fading of some tracks, meaning the album is an almost seamless listen. “elements of Slowdive, the Cure, Jesus and Mary chain, ride all wrapped up in delicious bitter sweet melancholy of shoegaze and wanderlust,
Debut album from promising new UK shoegaze band who have clearly studied the classics, Hailing from Hull/Leeds, shoegazers bdrmm are young but they clearly understand the power and allure of distorted, effects-laden guitars and the loud-quiet-loud dynamic. Following a number of singles and EPs, they’ve now released their debut album, “Bedroom”(a title that also serves as a pronunciation guide for their voweless name), which is out via Sonic Cathedral, a label that has all but cornered the market on classic-sounding shoegaze.
I don’t think bdrmm have quite figured out their own sound just yet, but they are currently expert borrowers and have studied the classics, from Disintegration,Nowhere and Siamese Dream, to slightly more obscure groups like The Chameleons, Straightjacket Fits and Clearlake. They’ve got a good handle on dynamics, and show it off as they play through a few different sub-styles: mopey and spacious (“Push/Pull”), bright and propulsive (“Happy”), and the towering skyscraper of guitars (“Time to Celebrate,” “If…”).
Lyrics and vocals seem to be beside the point here, mixed low for the most part, if there at all. Opening track “Momo,” one of the album’s most sweeping songs, is an instrumental. That’s fine, as bdrmm are playing to their many strengths with their guitars saying enough for now.
Limited-edition clear and black marble vinyl pressing of the debut album by bdrmm. The first 50 copies were posted out with ‘Creating Bedroom’, a photo zine documenting the recording of the album, plus a bdrmm pin badge.
The Fat Angel Sings 